4 Ways to Save Money on Maui Catering to Stay within Wedding Budgets

4 Ways to Save Money on Maui Catering to Stay within Wedding Budgets

A West Maui wedding reception.It’s down to the final wedding arrangements: You’ve found the perfect Maui wedding location to get married; you’ve arranged for an officiate for the wedding ceremony; tropical flowers will be delivered; you’ve obtained quotes from caterers and found a chef who shares your vision for the catered wedding reception service. Then, while reviewing the budget and to your dismay you suddenly realize the wedding plans exceed the budget for the wedding. What to do?

How can you get married in Maui and stay within the wedding budget? Don’t despair! Instead of giving up or deciding to plan a wedding closer to home, scan through the short list of 4 options to reduce the wedding budget! Afterwards, use the comments section to share any of your own ideas for saving money on a Maui wedding:

  1. Reduce the number of guests attending the wedding on Maui – if you the menu has been selected with the final cost per head set, among the limited options available is to reduce the number of guests attending the wedding. Eliminating guests from the guest list is probably the most common option for Maui weddings and fortunately you may not need to make the difficult decisions yourself. With travel expenses and logistics of travel, destination guest counts are generally smaller than attending mainland weddings. We find the average wedding size on Maui is between 40 and 60 people. So, instead of eliminating guests before you invite them, let the guests opt out on their own.A fruit and cheese spread for a Do It Yourself Wedding on Maui.
  2. Adjust the Wedding Reception Menu – Ask the catering chef for suggestions for adjusting the menu or service to reduce costs to stay within your wedding budget. If you are planning a seated dinner with wait staff, opting for a buffet will reduce the number of serving staff and costs. If you were planning on serving steak and lobster to guests attending a seated wedding reception dinner, they will probably be just as happy with fresh fish or barbecued shrimp and local style Huli Huli chicken served with locally grown gourmet upcountry greens. Interactive chef stations where guests serve themselves may also reduce the costs.
  3. Eliminate the full service reception dinner or scale it back a little – opt for passed appetizers or a buffet dinner instead of a sit down plated dinner for the wedding reception. Consider hosting a beach barbecue reception with island barbecue flavors served luau style. Since some families of destination wedding couples may be meeting for the very first time after arriving on Maui, another option is to host a welcome barbecue instead of the wedding reception. A champagne toast or passed pupus at the wedding reception may be all that is necessary. If your wedding overlaps dinner hour or ends just prior to dinner time, most wedding guests will be disappointed if some sort of food service is not provided. For the most affordable catering on Maui and ideal for Do it Yourself Wedding planners, our self-service catering packages may be the best option for a catered event on Maui!
  4. Get married in the morning or early afternoon – Save money on catering for Maui weddings by getting married in the morning or early afternoon. Guests attending a morning or early afternoon wedding are happy when served a light catered breakfast or lunch. A Norwegian Salmon for bagels with lox at catered event on Maui.morning wedding followed by a wedding brunch is another perfect way to reduce destination wedding costs. Who can resist a homemade hollandaise sauce on eggs Benedict served with Norwegian salmon or traditional style with smoked Canadian Bacon? Catering for after wedding brunch costs are usually less than an evening dinner service and guest expectations are easily fulfilled with less extravagant menus.

Are you ready to get married on Maui? Hit the button below and we’ll help as much or as little as you need. Provide a few details about your Maui wedding plans and we’ll do the rest! Get the party started now:

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Maui Catering Makes A Maui Wedding Day Dream Come True

What better way to make dreams of a Maui wedding day reality than a beautiful beachfront wedding on Maui!

We'll help you every step of the way, from finding a Maui wedding venue or event location and matching event and wedding service providers to preparing and serving our catered dishes at your Maui event or Maui wedding reception.

For Full Service Maui Catering with FREE event Planning, RESERVE YOUR MAUI CATERED EVENT NOW!

Or call (808)419-0889 for personal wedding planning advice from Maui Chef Christian Jorgensen.

CJ’s Kaanapali Diner Review

My daughter and I visited Maui a couple of weeks ago and came to your restaurant 3 times. I just wanted to thank you for your willingness to meet our gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free requirements. We loved being able to eat out safely and wish we had a CJ’s at home! I just wrote you a stellar review on Trip Advisor. Hope you have a wonderful rest of the summer!

Kelley MacCabe
CJ’s Maui Restaurant Review

Wonderful for a Sunday Brunch since you can order breakfast until 11:00am! Had a ‘custom’ 3 ingredient omelette (I chose mushrooms, feta and spinach) with nicely crunchy on the outside and soft inside home potatoes, yummy. Hubby had the pancakes with fresh fruit! These are light fluffy slightly sweet batter pancakes, not those heavy bland ones (OK I admit it, I had to have a few bites of his breakfast…) Service was fast and friendly :0). The menu is EXTENSIVE, we live here and love it!

Kathy, Lahaina, Maui
CJ’s Deli and Diner Maui Restaurant Review

Fact: CJ’s Maui onion soup will melt your face off it’s so good. Best I’ve ever had. It gets 20 stars.
Alas, it’s not on the menu every day… But when my fiancee and I went this past summer and were lucky to meet Chef CJ in person and mentioned that we had been thinking about the onion soup since the last time we visited two years earlier, he was kind enough to put it on the next day’s menu. We went back the following day and ordered it, and it was amazing, just as we had remembered. Another fact: the onion soup at CJ’s is better than the onion soup at Mama’s Fish House (and at like 1/4th of the price). Really. It’s that good. Part of me wants to reverse engineer CJ’s onion soup recipe, quit my job, and make millions selling onion soup to the mainland masses! (or: CJ, wanna make a deal?)
I think that the loco moco gravy is made from the same goodness. So that’s great too. The potato salad is tasty as well.
The to-go lunch plate is respectable.

Jonny S, San Diego, CA
Maui Chef CJ Prepares Mushroom Soup for Kaanapali Restaurant Guest

On a previous visit to Maui, I had the most delicious mushroom soup at CJ’s Deli and Diner in Kaanapali. When I arrived in Maui this week, I emailed the restaurant and asked what day they might have the soup. The owner and chef, Christian Jorgensen (CJ), promptly replied even though he was on vacation in Vegas. He gave me a number to call to check on the soup of the day. Then when he returned to Maui on Friday, he emailed me to let me know he would have the soup for me on Saturday. When I got there, he was so friendly and the soup was even more scrumptious than I had remembered. I really appreciated how valued he made me feel as a customer.

Linda D.
CJs Maui Restaurant Customer

Good Morning, My wife and I spent last week in Maui. Your early bird special was the best. After we found you, we ate breakfast there every morning. You had two regular coffees that we just loved.

James T Wilson Jr
Maui Restaurant Customer

The best burger I ever had! Great Service! Fantastic Food!! Simply Awesome.

Pat Janostin, Champlin MN
Kaanapali Restaurant Customer Comment

Thanks for all the Good Food. Best we have ad since we hit the island 5 days ago!

Jeff and Myra V., Ontario, Ohio

CJ’s Maui Restaurant Customer Comments on CJ’s Private Luau in her Blog

Aloha, Just wanted to let you know that this post was up last Friday and it will be included (linked) with all of our Hawaii properties. Thank you both for excellent service. You made our trip to Maui very memorable! Feel free to comment on the post. It’s always good to have additional information and your input.

https://www.ciaobambino.com/ciaobambinoblog/index.php/2010/01/photo-friday-special-activities-in-maui/

Nancy Solomon, Travel Writer
CJ’s Maui Restaurant Customer Comment

Aloha, We were in to see you many times during our stay last month in Ka’anapali, couple of things for you:
Need to order some more of your CJ’s roasted Kona Coffee. I see it’s not yet on your website, only the Maui Coffee Co. stuff. We ran out last weekend and are having withdrawls, please help!! Need 2 bags urgently!!
Secondly, your claim about having the best corned beef hash on the island. I think you’ve understated this because it’s the best I’ve had any where in the world! And that covers a lot of ground as I’ve been to every continent multiple times. Just the best anywhere, period!! Don’t suppose you would have that for delivery to Indiana would you? Maybe by the pound(s)?
Great people and even better food, Mahalo CJ’s. Seriously though, please let me know about that coffee. How do we get some ordered and shipped to Indiana?

Bill Clark, Valparaiso, In.
CJ’s Maui Restaurant Customer Comment

​CJ’s Deli & Diner Rocks! Been here several times while visiting Maui – each time we tried different meals and each time we LOVED the food, service and atmosphere. Only suggestion would be to provide regular dinner napkins along with this paper type – because we’re messy!

Aloha and Mahalo from Detroit