This is going to be quite lengthy, but please continue reading. To set the stage, I am the mother of the groom, Type A and a former Analyst/Project Manager. We started our long-d...istance planning about 18 months prior to the wedding. Even though I have the skills to plan a wedding, I did not have the contacts, relationships with vendors, or local knowledge. After finding our venue, Paradise Cove – Ocean Gardens, I asked them for planner referrals. Hands down they suggested Mina at Cherish in HI (CIH). After being on the phone with Mina for 5 minutes, I was hooked and wanted to send her full payment to book Cherish.
Mina, Jayvee, Allison, Pam, Elena, and the rest of the Cherish in Hawaii team are true professionals with an eye for style and deatil to make your wedding a “magical day”, “fairytale wedding” as our guests have deemed our event. They recommended the best vendors – caterer, florist, shave ice, DJ, photographer, and equipment vendor.
We had three ZOOM calls (and many emails) along the process and each time we met, we could see our special day come closer to fruition. They took our pictures and ideas and helped us design the venue (which was a total blank canvas – an empty lawn overlooking the ocean), flowers and décor. They managed our vendors so we didn’t have to worry about anything.
If you don’t use their full services, please use someone for the day of. Jayvee, Allison, and Elena were truly incredible the day of the wedding. They were there the entire time during set up overseeing the equipment and catering people. Literally at the end of the evening, we walked out without a worry while they stayed and supervised clean up and packed our personal items to return to us. They even tied 225 tiny little bows to complete the table thank you notes. Every detail was covered. Many of our guests have had their own kids’ weddings and all commented how our coordinators were sensational. All three of them moved around our venue swiftly and communicating with each other via earphones in full coordination. It was a little like the secret service moving the bride and groom around to their different places.
In summary, CIH is the best in the industry and aside from their attention to detail and efficiency, the thing I appreciated the most was their kindness and calmness during the whole process, especially the day of. Each time I would go to them with a change or anxiously with a problem, they would say, “we will take care of it”, with a genuine smile on their faces. I will be forever grateful to the CIH team!