Fairmont Orchid

orked with Mew, who was sooo fantastic! She took care of every detail and made wedding planning totally stress free for me. This was especially helpful, as we live over 4,000 miles away, and had never visited the location. She did everything from contacting vendors, to giving recommendations, making restaurant reservations, to re-pinning my hair before walking down the aisle. She planned an absolutely perfect wedding day, and we couldn't be more grateful. All the vendors were great. Flowers were beautiful, photographer was really easy to work with, food and cake were great. We had a beautiful ceremony performed by Dean. We only met him about 10 minutes before I walked down the aisle, but spoke like he'd known us for years, what a pleasant surprise. There were definite perks booking a wedding and staying at the hotel. We had an affordable room block for our guests, suite upgrade for us, Cabana use for a day and little surprises throughout the week in our room. We can't say enough great things about our experience at the Fairmont Orchid! I would recommend it to anyone.

de our dream wedding come true. This is a gorgeous location at a gorgeous resort and I highly suggest everyone get married here. The staff are extremely helpful and it is well worth every penny.

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tunately it was too windy on our wedding day that we had to move the reception inside. It was so windy my hair and veil was everywhere and people got sand in their eyes. We loved working with Mau, she was very helpful. We were surprised to hear that the Coconut Grove needed lighting. Apparently there some flood lighting but not enough to see very much. But we didn't find this out until a month before the wedding. I didn't like the plastic chairs that they offer but we found a rental company and got bamboo ones. The hotel wouldn't let us rent the dance floor for the Coconut Grove but the renal company did. The food was amazing but oh so expensive. We got the BBQ buffet. The set up of the wedding was perfect and the cake was amazing! They let us send a recipe from our favorite bakery back home. Problems included needing to change to the honeymoon suite during the dinner reception. We were so surprised that we had to move right away. I had to send my bridesmaids to move my things and so did my groom. They missed dinner and the cutting of the cake! Also we were bothered with questions about what to do with the decorations during the reception. I would think that should have been planned ahead of time or to ask us later. I didn't get to say hi to all of my guests before I had to handle the next question. The hotel is amazing but oh so expensive to stay there. Our wedding deal for our guests was a joke. The Internet prices were better and some guests stayed at the condos which were just as nice but bigger in size. The rooms were smaller than average at the hotel.

There was a transition of planners in the beginning, but the planning staff handled it so well and made the transition to Katie seamless. Katie handled everything, start to finish, and even rolled with it when we had an additional 6 guests decide to come 7 days before the wedding ;) We had our ceremony and reception at the Coconut Grove and loved getting married with our feet in the sand. Actually, when researching other wedding venues in Hawaii, the Orchid was the only one we could find that allowed us to set up chairs and an arch on the beach - apparently there is a law against that, but the Orchid found a loophole. If you want to do the same, this place is the way to go! Our guests loved the beach, the stay, and the relaxed mood of the wedding week. Cost wise, the alcohol is very expensive - I know, it is EVERYWHERE, but it seems that with the shipping costs of getting alcohol to Hawaii it is a lot more expensive than what it is back on the mainland. That would be our only whine or groan, but everything else was fantastic - we were told by many of our guests that the food was the best they had ever tasted, and I have to agree. Food, recommended vendors, lighting, service, this place knows how to throw a party! Highly recommend.

when visiting the property right after our engagement, we knew that Ashley the wedding coordinator "got" us and the casual celebration we envisioned. Even though she was out on maternity leave for a few months between our first meeting and our big day, our planning process didn't skip a beat and she made sure everything the day-of went just as we'd planned. The food at Brown's is amazing, sitting right on the ocean was an added bonus!

Had dinner in Browns Beach House Knoll. Coordinator - Mewlan Seto was our coordinator and was very helpful given we had to work remotely with her. For the most part she was helpful and efficient although she forgot one of our appointments and i had to closely check the bill which had mistakes on it at the end. Minister - The ceremony was performed by Kahu Dean Kauka and was beautiful although, and although it was a small wedding of 24 people, the back row couldn't hear him due to the wind (there were only 3 rows!). I wish Mew had told us to microphone him up. He included Hawaiian elements and the vows were lovely and moving. Musician - The guitarist had the same sound issue and I am not sure he even played the correct recessional song at the end but its hard cos they give you a list of 100 songs with no artist listed and most Hawaiian songs I have never heard of. So very hard to choose from. Photographer - The photographer Fletch seems good (haven't seen photos yet) was good as he brought his wife to do extra shots. Seemed disorganized on what group shots we should do - I didn't bring a list as we assumed he would do standard ones but he left it to us at the time and it was a bit of a mess. He never asked for a list. Did a lot of candids which might be good I hope! Food and drink - We had a welcome and post cocktail reception and the food and drinks were great. As was the food at Browns. We had a five course meal for $94 including amuse bouche and dessert, as well as wedding cake. The servers were attentive and professional (We had three at browns for a group of 24) and even asked us to get up and have a dance on this stone area beside the restaurant. They were great timing the courses around the speeches too. Only thing was they weren't warned by Mew that we had tweaked the menu a bit and so were telling guests the wrong menu items (although it was listed on their menus and the chef knew) so we had to fix that. The chef at Browns came out to see us afterward and even signed our menus. Cake - The cake made by the hotel was great both looks and taste (lilikoi poppyseed with kalamansi curd filling top tier, and vanilla with macadamia bavarian bottom tier) topped with matching fresh flowers and a hand drawn monogram from the chef. Although they put it on a plate instead of the silver cake stand they normally use. (didn't spot that till I saw guest photos afterward). Also the drinks were based on consumption and it wasn't till I spoke to guests after that I realized the servers were bring out drinks and taking them away half full and bringing out "fresh ones" which meant our drinks bill was high. Florist - the in-house florist did a great job given we did everything by email. The colours and designs were exactly what i had specified in photos and tweaked with her help. I loved the bouquets and centrepieces. The mens boutonnieres seemed really big though and she almost forgot the bouquet charms I gave her and ran up to the room with them just before the ceremony. Conch shell blower - included in the package, the "beach boy" blows the shell to announce the arrival of the bride. Except he was 10 minutes late and so was I as a result. Was cool though. It sounds bad but it was still a perfect day, these were minor and none noticed.Just make sure you chec

lon staff was a lot of fun. The room was comfortable. Most importantly, the ceremony site was everything I hoped it would be. I would definitely recommend The Fairmont Orchid for any bride considering it!

abulous job coordinating everything from photographer, flowers, Officiant, cake, romantic dinner for two in the gazebo, hair, makeup...everything! It was perfect in every way. We stayed for 2 weeks and had a room on the Gold floor. Perfect, as you have a personal concierge available 24 hrs a day and they will do anything you ask. The Gold floor also provided breakfast, afternoon tea, evening cocktails in a nice private area of the hotel on the 6th floor. Very, Very nice. My only suggestion would be that if you want a quiet and private honeymoon, the hotel is pretty large and was hosting several conventions which made the pool area very busy and loud.

m home. The service we received from Check in all the way through the wedding was nothing short of stellar! The staff at the Fairmont were awesome, we had our Luau there a few days before the wedding and Lucie, was a server there, she was also serving at our wedding and took such great care of our son, she made him cheese and cracker sanwiches and made him happy (he's 4). The food that was prepared was sensational! That extra mile service is what you can expect from the Fairmont. The ceremony was breathtaking, the detail was great, and all of the vendors that she recommended were top notch. I could not even eat enough, there was sooooo much food and ALL of it was awesome! Not only would we do it again, we will very likely go back for anniversaries because of the service we received. If you have your wedding here, I assure you, you will not regret it for a second!

a year and everyone is still raving about the food!! I can't believe that everything flowers, food, open bar, ceremony outside, ballroom reception, microphones everything was only 11,000. Great deal for Hawaii:)