Dreaming of an island wedding in Hawaii? Is a destination wedding in your future? Not sure where to start or what kind of possibilities exist for weddings on Maui? If you decide you are getting married on Maui, the first thing you want to do is choose a Maui wedding location. Knowing the type of wedding you want makes it easier to select a wedding location matched to your preferences. Maui beach weddings are the most popular for small weddings while sometimes giving up the opportunity to save money by combining the accommodations with an on-site wedding venue. Our full service Maui catering and wedding planning team compiled a short list outlining the types of Maui weddings available and included a few tips to consider for the size of your guest list and budget in addition to ideas for saving money on Maui weddings:

1. Beach Wedding – Maui beach weddings are wonderful for small weddings and may be perfect if your dream is a toes in the sand wedding ceremony. Because all Maui beaches are public and the wedding industry has grown, Maui County requires all weddings occurring on public beaches in Maui County to obtain a permit. The permit process is fairly easy but the wedding will be required to abide by restrictions on the time for the ceremony and limiting the number of people attending including the wedding officiate, wedding service providers, wedding party, wedding guests and the couple getting married. If your wedding will include more than 15 guests plus attendees, you’ll probably need a wedding location adjacent to a beach for the wedding ceremony. With the county beach wedding permits allowing a short time for the ceremony itself with no chairs or structures permitted on the beach, the wedding party and guests move the wedding to an adjacent wedding reception location. One of my personal favorites for Maui beach weddings is the Outrigger Cabana on North Kaanapali beach. Only a short walk away from the main Kaanapali beach and just on the other side of the Sheraton at Black Rock, the stunning oceanfront wedding location provides unobstructed views across the channel to the islands of Lanai and Molokai. For small weddings, a toes in the sand wedding ceremony can be performed on the beach. For larger groups, the adjacent grass lawn area is beautiful for the wedding ceremony and still provides an unobstructed oceanfront wedding location. After the wedding on the beach or the lawn, the wedding reception is held in the cabana with plenty of room for dancing after the catered reception dinner. Your wedding reception can’t be any closer to the water than this Maui wedding venue! You will need to book at least a couple rooms at the Kaanapali Outrigger Eldorado Resort in order to use the cabana.Maui wedding image by Meow Meow Studios.
2. Private Estate Weddings – With the growing wedding trend of combining the destination wedding with wedding guests vacation it makes sense to consider accommodations where everyone can stay together before and after the wedding. Private estate weddings with onsite wedding ceremony and reception venue are often the best choice. If you are housing guests in the resort hotels in Kaanapali or elsewhere, there are also several private estates for weddings without accommodations. Each venue has their own restrictions and some must be booked through a wedding planner or require you to only work with their list of wedding providers. Be cautious to verify costs would be similar if wedding services were booked directly or independently of the wedding planner or other wedding service providers. Don’t pay an extra $200. per night more than you would pay if you made reservations directly and don’t pay more for catering than if you booked it directly with a Maui catering company! Ask for advice about private estate wedding locations with accommodations and without additional referral markups. Housing your guests onsite at the same place the wedding takes place allows you to save money when wedding equipment rentals are used for multiple functions such as the welcome barbecue and wedding reception. You may also be able to find vacation rental property owners willing to allow the wedding ceremony and reception especially if you are booking rooms for the wedding party and a group of suites for guests attending the wedding, too.
3. Restaurant Weddings – Most Maui restaurants offer private rooms for weddings or have options to buyout a restaurant for a wedding or other private event. Before booking a restaurant for a wedding or wedding reception, be sure to compare the cost of a private catered wedding reception. You may find it surprising a personal chef prepared private dinner on Maui may cost less or only slightly more than a restaurant dinner for a wedding reception.
4. Hotel Ballroom Wedding – Although Maui offers plenty of hotel resorts with large ballrooms, getting married in a hotel ballroom is one of the least popular options for Maui weddings. Most couples getting married on Maui are seeking an outdoor wedding and reception. Yes, the resorts are beautiful and capable of transforming the ballrooms into gorgeous wedding reception venues. But, why come all the way to Maui for a wedding in a hotel ballroom? If you are staying in a resort, ask the resort about outdoor wedding locations and inquire about customizing inclusive wedding packages. Options will likely be limited to the resort chef and catering menus but there are a few hotels which permit external professional chefs and catering companies or external wedding providers. If you are planning a resort wedding, inquire about what is necessary to utilize offsite wedding providers or if the hotel supplies approved wedding suppliers you may select from.
5. Private Wedding Venues on Maui – Though there aren’t many large private wedding banquet halls on Maui, there are a few private wedding facilities including the Olowalu Plantation House, the upcountry Haiku Mill and other private gardens scattered around the island. Consider creating your own private wedding venue at one of the estate homes available for day use weddings on Maui but without accommodations. The Kaanapali Coffee Farm or the Dragon Fruit Farm in West Maui offer rural settings with ocean views across the channel to the neighbor islands. You may also find vacation rental property owners or condo vacation rentals willing to allow a wedding especially when blocks of rooms are being booked for wedding guests. For example, take a look at the Sunseeker vacation rental in South Maui and pictured in the images here from the Maui Wedding Association membership meeting we recently catered.
6. Church Weddings – While church weddings aren’t as popular as outdoor weddings on Maui, churches of every religion are available. Because catholic and a few other religions require wedding services to be performed in church and do not permit outdoor or out of church weddings, numerous churches on Maui accommodate visitors wishing to use their church for a wedding ceremony. Check with each church you are considering ensuring your wedding will be able to adhere to the religious and specific church protocol. After the church wedding ceremony, most couples opt for an alternative wedding reception location on Maui. Transportation may be arranged for easy travel shuttles between guest accommodations, the church and wedding reception venues.

The list above will assist you in narrowing the type of weddings available on Maui. Share your favorite in the comments section below. Did you get married on Maui? Let future couples know if you would do the same thing again or have a different type of Maui wedding. Ready to find a beachfront wedding location on Maui? Download our FREE Maui Beach Weddings Locations ebook for more than 50 images with descriptions of the best beach wedding locations on Maui:

Wondering how much to budget for a complete Maui wedding packages? One call (or email) does it all! Our Maui wedding packages include a wedding location, the ceremony and a catered wedding reception. And, we’ll help you plan it as much or as little as you want. Customize our catering menus and wedding planning services as much or as little as you like to create the perfect Maui wedding package matched to your wedding budget! It’s easy to find out how much a wedding on Maui will cost: Just hit the button below and we’ll guide you through answering a few short questions to enable us to assemble a wedding catering cost estimate.

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