Romantic Maui Wedding at the Olowalu Plantation House
When a charming, vintage wedding meets the stunning shoreline of Maui, we tend to pay attention. So when this beauty (planned to perfection by Lori Lawrence Of Tropical Maui Weddings and styled by Opihi Love) landed in our laps, we couldn't help but put everything aside and devour all the sweet details snapped up by Kaua Wedding Photography. This gallery is pure pretty, and you can see it all here.
From the Bride...Maui was the perfect destination for us. The island is gorgeous, the weather is fabulous, and the spirit of the island and its people are exactly what we envisioned for our big day. We decided on our venue -- the Olowalu Plantation House -- the second we visited it. We had read about it online but when we saw it in person, we knew it would be our spot. Because it is such a naturally beautiful venue, we knew that we wanted to keep our decorations soft, rustic, and romantic, so that everything would blend seamlessly with the ocean, the vegetation, and the gorgeous plantation house on the property. We chose neutral tones for Mike and his brother’s suits and a soft buff color for the bridesmaids (and for the handmade ties worn by all the boys), and we combined rustic elements such as burlap runners and old wooden tables, with softer, more romantic touches such as lace, old books, and vintage vases. My stepmother made linen flower girl dresses and ring bearers’ shirts, along with an adorable linen ring pillow, which was adorned with lace, a handmade wooden heart with our initials and wedding date, and a buff fabric flower to match the ones on the bridesmaid hair clips, the flower girl headbands, and the flower girl belts (all of which made by my amazingly talented cousin). The gorgeous flowers on the tables and in the bouquets tied all of the colors and themes together and were absolutely stunning.
The most important thing to us, though, was that the wedding be as personal and meaningful as possible. We wrote every word of our ceremony and our vows, and we asked one of Mike’s childhood friends to officiate for us. It was such a special way for us to share with all of our family and friends exactly how we feel about each other – and also how we feel about all of them. It was a truly magical ceremony and we will never forget a moment of it.
We also wanted to incorporate personal touches throughout the wedding décor. We have two small dogs who we absolutely adore and, although we couldn’t fly them out to Hawaii, we wanted to make sure they were there in spirit. So, we had professional photos taken of them (wearing tuxedos, of course) and displayed the photos at both the welcome dinner and wedding. We also put a picture of the four of us on the back of our programs, along with an explanation that our “kiddos” had requested that we make a donation to the ASPCA on their behalf in lieu of a wedding favor. We also incorporated our love for travel with a vintage globe and suitcase, and placed books about knowledge and exploration on each of the tables. Our brilliant stylist, Melissa Padilla, also came up with the super creative idea of cutting out pages of old books and using those to wrap each of the napkins. She also individually potted succulents for each of our guests in lieu of escort cards, which turned out exactly as we had envisioned. (At the welcome dinner the night before, we used old pictures of us with each of our guests as escort cards, and although it was insanely time consuming to find pictures of us with each of our 100+ guests, they turned out great!).
A few other small personal touches that we loved: our save the dates looked like vintage Hawaii postcards (tying together our love of travel and our vintage theme); I hand wrapped each of our invitations in lace and ribbon to make each one slightly different and personal; we made super fun welcome bags for all of our guests and stuffed them with lots of goodies and a detailed itinerary for the week; my amazing sister had an adorable sign made for my nephew to carry down the aisle letting Mike know that his bride was on her way; Mike and I wrote and exchanged private, handwritten notes just before the ceremony (and we wrote them in awesome, handmade books that we’ll use each year to write notes to each other on our anniversary); we had a rubber stamp made with our initials and wedding date that we incorporated into various decorative elements, from the invitations to the welcome bags to the fans provided to the guests at the ceremony; we made “ring security” shirts for the ring bearers (which they wore very proudly!); we had a bananas foster station that was way more fun than a cake; and we served doughnuts as late night treats since doughnuts hold a special place in each of our hearts (my dad used to leave doughnuts for me and my sisters on Saturday mornings before he would head off to work, and then later on in life, during law school finals, Mike and I would often eat doughnuts from a shop right near our law school).
Honestly, we couldn’t have envisioned a more perfect wedding and are so thankful to all of our family and friends who joined us in Maui to celebrate, and to all of our incredible vendors who made the day as beautiful and as seamless as it was. We will cherish the memories from that day for the rest of our lives.
The most important thing to us, though, was that the wedding be as personal and meaningful as possible. We wrote every word of our ceremony and our vows, and we asked one of Mike’s childhood friends to officiate for us. It was such a special way for us to share with all of our family and friends exactly how we feel about each other – and also how we feel about all of them. It was a truly magical ceremony and we will never forget a moment of it.
We also wanted to incorporate personal touches throughout the wedding décor. We have two small dogs who we absolutely adore and, although we couldn’t fly them out to Hawaii, we wanted to make sure they were there in spirit. So, we had professional photos taken of them (wearing tuxedos, of course) and displayed the photos at both the welcome dinner and wedding. We also put a picture of the four of us on the back of our programs, along with an explanation that our “kiddos” had requested that we make a donation to the ASPCA on their behalf in lieu of a wedding favor. We also incorporated our love for travel with a vintage globe and suitcase, and placed books about knowledge and exploration on each of the tables. Our brilliant stylist, Melissa Padilla, also came up with the super creative idea of cutting out pages of old books and using those to wrap each of the napkins. She also individually potted succulents for each of our guests in lieu of escort cards, which turned out exactly as we had envisioned. (At the welcome dinner the night before, we used old pictures of us with each of our guests as escort cards, and although it was insanely time consuming to find pictures of us with each of our 100+ guests, they turned out great!).
A few other small personal touches that we loved: our save the dates looked like vintage Hawaii postcards (tying together our love of travel and our vintage theme); I hand wrapped each of our invitations in lace and ribbon to make each one slightly different and personal; we made super fun welcome bags for all of our guests and stuffed them with lots of goodies and a detailed itinerary for the week; my amazing sister had an adorable sign made for my nephew to carry down the aisle letting Mike know that his bride was on her way; Mike and I wrote and exchanged private, handwritten notes just before the ceremony (and we wrote them in awesome, handmade books that we’ll use each year to write notes to each other on our anniversary); we had a rubber stamp made with our initials and wedding date that we incorporated into various decorative elements, from the invitations to the welcome bags to the fans provided to the guests at the ceremony; we made “ring security” shirts for the ring bearers (which they wore very proudly!); we had a bananas foster station that was way more fun than a cake; and we served doughnuts as late night treats since doughnuts hold a special place in each of our hearts (my dad used to leave doughnuts for me and my sisters on Saturday mornings before he would head off to work, and then later on in life, during law school finals, Mike and I would often eat doughnuts from a shop right near our law school).
Honestly, we couldn’t have envisioned a more perfect wedding and are so thankful to all of our family and friends who joined us in Maui to celebrate, and to all of our incredible vendors who made the day as beautiful and as seamless as it was. We will cherish the memories from that day for the rest of our lives.