Wondering how to allocate your budget in order to have the best wedding experience? Here are 5 things to splurge on for on your wedding in Maui!
1. Heavenly Bites
From small bites at your cocktail hour to your dinner service and the late-night bites at your after party! Amazing food prepared by a skillfully trained staff is key to creating an unforgettable food and beverage experience at your wedding! Every bite that you and your guests taste during your wedding day enhances the experience at every turn. Your guests will be talking about the amazing food they ate at your wedding for years to come. If you are romantics like us, you can recreate your wedding day menu when you celebrate your anniversary together.
2. Experienced Bar Staff
Again, food and beverage are a huge experience touch point at your wedding! Having top-notch bar staff at your wedding will ensure that each and every signature cocktail comes out tasting just as delicious as the last. It also allows your guests to order their typical “go-to” drink without worrying about whether it’s watered down, too strong, or just overall unpleasant. Once your ceremony is over, your guests will head directly into your cocktail hour. Here, drinks and small bites will be the first thing to tantalize their taste buds for the evening. This will set the tone for your dinner service or afterparty. So having an amazing cocktail hour, overseen by an experienced bar staff is a wonderful way to set the tone for your wedding, while also saying thank you to your guests for honoring you on your best day ever!
3. Great Entertainment
You’ve evoked your guest’s taste buds with amazing flavors and fabulous drinks. Now it’s time to pull them deeper into your wedding day experience! Whether it’s an immersive form of entertainment that will pull them onto the dance floor and into the action or a fresh welcome lei that will be bestowed upon them at arrival, great entertainment is a fabulous way to up-level your wedding day experience! If you’re not quite sure where to start when it comes to hiring entertainment for your wedding in Maui, we have a few recommendations of experienced entertainers that we know will bring the party while also celebrating your love story!
4. Ceremony Statement Piece
We are not talking about your run-of-the-mill ceremony decor! We are talking about that true WOW factor! A statement piece. One that can be repurposed at your reception. By the way, floral arches are wonderful for this! Your statement piece should enhance (without obstructing) the natural backdrop of your wedding in Maui. AND it should be a wonderful investment that can also be used for your wedding portraits, including your formal family photos!
5. An Amazing Wedding Photographer
There are very few physical things left over after your wedding day. Your dress and flowers can be preserved for a period of time, but your wedding photos are forever! We know it can be a whole new, unknown experience when trying to find the right wedding photographer to capture your special moment. You jump around from site to site checking their rates, and their work. All the while picturing yourself in place of the couples featured on their website. It’s a huge decision to make, and it’s also a big portion of your wedding budget.
Altogether, your wedding budget should dedicate around 10%-15% to photography. If your total wedding budget is around $40k, that means you are looking to book a photographer for around $6k. But that’s just at a minimum. If you are booking a luxury photographer that includes a second shooter on your wedding day (we always recommend requesting a package with a second shooter by the way!) that means your budget should be closer to $10k. Wedding photography is, by far, one of the most important items to “splurge” on for your wedding in Maui. Your photos will last a lifetime and be passed down from generation to generation!
