Questions for janeq re alohabridalgallery.com
 

Hi Janeq
I hope you dont mind me directing this post specifically at you. I read a post in which you spoke of how you used alohabridalgallery for your wedding. Would you be prepared to share your experiences ?
Thanks K.

Hello kheirokid, I just now came across this.Hope its not too late.

Yes, I used Kathy Porter of Aloha Bridal Gallery 2 yrs ago. I wanted to get married at Paradise Cove and do the luau afterwards, and she had a package that I liked better than the one Paradise Cove itself offered. She responded promptly to my emails,and provided everything she said she would, no problems on the wedding day. The photographer she used took mostly the standard shots, with a couple of creative poses, but the package included the photo CD, so we could get our own reprints and enlargements at home and not pay an exorbitant price. If you are someone who wants to add alot of your own personalized details and needs a lot of hand holding,or you want some more stylized type photos, then her co. and packages might not be for you. For me, I wanted a simple, stress-free wedding and planning, so it worked very well. I've no regrets! If you have more detailed questions, let me know.
Best wishes for your wedding.

Hi Janeq. No, you're not too late :0) Thanks for responding. A simple stress free wedding sounds just the thing we are looking for ! We are thinking about the Hawaiian i package at Waimanalo beach. This will be our first trip to Hawaii so we have ahd to go by what we can find on the net but Waimanalo looks absolutely amazing. You mentioned the photography. We had a look at the photos on the site and they looked fine.Would you say that your photos came out pretty similar ? When you had your photos printed from the disc was there a maximum size that they could be printed at before the quality of the image started to suffer ? Did you have a DVD / Video made ? If you did what did you think of it ? Did they include edited shots of the location etc ? We don't really need any hand holding just as long as we know in advance what is expected of us and what we can leave to aloha bridal gallery.Did you meet with them before the ceremony or just on the day to sort out who needed to stand where etc ? Did you have them supply your flowers ? We are thinking of having them supply the bouquet and bride / groom leis but taking a trip to Chinatown for the guest leis to save a little on the cost, although we will only have a small party of approx 12.
Oh my gosh I just read all that back and it sounds like a quickfire quiz show !! Sorry 'bout that ! Do you have plans to return to Hawaii. So many of the posters here have said that once you have been you have to keep ging back. I have a feeling that we will be the same !

K- I don't mind answering your questions. I remember I had insecurities with planning a wedding from so far away, with people you don't meet face to face--- and I'd been to Hawaii several times.

1.Waimanolo Beach-- I've never been to that particular beach, but have driven by there on our way to staying in Kailua. It is a pretty area. My only concerns are (and you should discuss these with whoever you end up choosing for your planner, or post it on the forum for the locals) a)it is a beach that is easily accessible to the public, so you may want to avoid a weekend wedding day so as not to be too crowded there, and b) I don't know what time of year you are planning for, but the windward side of the island is wetter, and winter time is wetter, so consider the weather.

2. Photos- Our photos were similar to as advertised on the website. The photographer was also conscientious of getting particular shots I wanted (family groupings, etc), as well as coming up with his own ideas that turned out well. I did not get any reprints greater than 8x10, and that photo was fine. He used a high end digital camera, with 5 megapixels, which was a lot 2yrs ago.

3.Did not do the video/dvd, so can't comment.

4.Opted to not have a "rehearsal" as we were staying kind of far from our wedding site, and only arrived in Oahu 2 days before wedding. I was not concerned about this because I did not have a bridal party, was walking myself down the aisle, and doing the standard vows, so it was just a matter of pointing me in the right direction once I got there. My husband's limo arrived first, and the minister asked him about our beliefs,etc.
Worked out fine.

5. Flowers/leis: Kathy emailed me a slideshow of diffrent bouquets to choose from, it was a nice variety to choose from, and I was happy with how the bouquet looked in person. A nice touch- we went to luau afterwards as our reception( where you get a flower lei with your admission), she got the leis from them before the ceremony, and draped them over the ceremony chairs which made for some extra decoration, and then our guests had them for the pics. I can't imagine it would be trouble to pick them up in Chinatown yourselves since your going to need to head into downtown Honolulu anyways to get your license.

6. Hawaii-- my favorite place. I've been to all the major islands except Lanai, they are all wonderful in their own way. Even Waikiki, which some people don't care for. My husband's first trip there was for the wedding, and he fell in love with Hawaii too-- good thing!

We had a small wedding too, 12 guests, having watched friends plan big, traditional weddings, I knew that was not for me, I have no regrets getting married in Hawaii, and our guests said it was the best wedding they'd been to (other than their own).

If you have further questions, you can email me: hig8r(at)yahoo.com.

Cheers janeq. That was really helpful. I have emailed Kathy and she has said that we can get a sample DVD for $14.95 which I have asked for more details on and which should hopefully help us to make up our minds. So many companies to choose from and so many nice people !

Hey...mind if i jump i?? :).....I am considering using alohabridalgallery..what location was your ceremony on Janeq?

we may do Wailea (sp?)

hw07- we got married on Oahu at Paradise Cove (the same place as the luau)- it is in the Ko Olina area (leeward/southwest part of Oahu).

I know of Wailea Beach on Maui-- it is very pretty there,is that what you are thinking of? I can't think of a Wailea on Oahu right now, there is Waimea Bch on north shore of Oahu.

Congrats on your wedding!

Hey Janeq...Thanks for the Congrats. It is actuall Waialae Beach Park In Ohau. I spelled it wrong. We went ahead and booked with Aloha Bridal Gallery. I could not find any bad things about them on the web or from others who used them so I feel confident.

I have never been to that beach, but I remember seeing nice pictures when doing my wedding research. I found Kathy at ABG to be reliable-- my worries that things would go wrong ended up being unneccessary. Hope you have a beautiful wedding day in Hawaii!