Moana Belle Events

It has taken me over 2 years to write this review, because I didn't want to relive my experience working with Morgan and Moana Events. But I feel like I owe it to other brides to know what kind of person Morgan is. Hiring her was the worst mistake I've ever made. After hiring her, the first thing we asked Morgan for was an estimate. We sent her the venue, our guest count (120), and a Pinterest page that had images of all of the most extravagant "dream scenario" options for the style of wedding we were looking for. Morgan gave us a quote based off of all this information, and said she quoted it "high" just to be safe. Over the next 7 or so months, every conversation with Morgan and interaction with her was a cause of intense stress and anxiety (which is the opposite of what a wedding planner is supposed to do). Because she was slow to make any progress or book vendors (we lost first choices because she kept stalling), and she would give us a quote and then raise the price and pretend like she didn't. She wound up raising the cost of our wedding by 30k over her initial quote (after our guest count was lowered by 20!), and this didn't even get us the wedding we initially planned for. We had email trails that showed conversations proving what she originally quoted us based off of my Pinterest page and our discussions, and then in the end when we were months down the line (6-7 months in) she raised the price and then said we couldn't even have anything we originally planned for (like even flowers! she wanted to charge us $17,000 for greens!). So it would cost us more to have less. And when we talked to her about it, she was rude and condescending and cold. It was a hard decision, but we had to fire her and lose the $4,000+ that we had already put down for a deposit. Now I want to focus on how unprofessional and immature she was after we fired her (just 4 months before our wedding, that's not an easy decision to make). Once we found a new planner on Kauai (who was a DREAM!), we found out that Morgan had called all of our vendors and told them not to work with us... There are not that many vendors on Kauai, so when she did this, she risked us literally not having a wedding (and most of our guests were flying from the East Coast where we're from, and had already booked flights and lodging). My husband and I were very respectful with her when we parted ways, and were matter of fact with how misleading she was and showed emails where she contradicted herself to explain our decision. But she is such a vindictive and cold human being, that she wanted to sabotage our wedding so badly, she felt that we should no longer have one if she wasn't our planner. What kind of person does that?? Thank God our new planner had great relationships with the vendors and was able to explain to them that we're good, nice people and our new planner was able to do damage control... Then we also found out, that vendors charge Morgan's clients more money than other wedding planner's clients. The vendors assume Morgan's clients have a lot of money so they upcharge (though she'll constantly tell you she's getting the best price). It made me so sad that we wasted any time on Morgan, when our 2 other planners (for the wedding and our welcome party) were so fun and made the process less stressful. They showed me how easy it can and should be. Are planning weddings stressful in general? Yes. Should a planner make them a more so? No. Find someone else with more class.

If you're thinking about eloping in Hawaii, like we did in November 2018, I would highly recommend working with Modern Elopement/Moana Events. We did most of our planning from Boston, MA, with a 6 hour time difference. Our coordinator, Kayleigh, was Amazing!!! Super responsive to our emails and flexible with times to call her. She did everything for us and was so easy to work with. The team of vendors ME works with is Awesome!! From the venue we wanted, the minister, the photographer (Christie Pham), hair and makeup (Cheryl Hazelgrove), the music, the travel agent, she even organized transportation and a private dinner. We truly had the dream team and the dream wedding in Oahu. Everything was exactly as she said it would be, all we had to do was show up. :)

Your wedding day is the biggest day of your life and I'm so glad I had the ladies of Moana events to organize my entire destination wedding from the welcome baskets to the rehearsal dinner to the big day it's self. I couldn't have done any of it with out them. They were so resourceful with the vendors on all the islands. They sourced all of my glassware and stemware and dishes from Maui and found exactly what I was dreaming of. They made my ceremony and reception absolutely stunning.Being a wedding florist myself, my expectations were extremely high but they exceeded every expectation I had and made my dreams come true. They kept me calm and organized all year long. They have impeccable style and truely are the sweetest ladies I have ever met. They made the day of perfect and it went so smoothly. All our our guests loved them. They even surprised us with custom chair designs and we were amazing when we walked into our reception. I can't say enough nice things about them. Highly recommend them. They're the best. Made planning a wedding so easy and fun. Wish we could do it all over again.

After searching high and low to find wedding coordinators who fit our style, budget, and who I felt a connection with, we finally ended up with Moana Events. It was the best decision and although my husband was somewhat wary because of the cost (in general of wedding coordination), he now says it was our best investment. They had worked many events at our venue in Kauai so we felt comfortable hiring them, even if we didn't get to meet them in person. We were able to hire Moana for short term & day of coordination so our communication with them did not ramp up until then. At the same time, if I was really stuck on a particular area and having trouble finding a vendor, Morgan was quick to respond with a name. All communication was extremely professional (occasionally, almost overly so) and completely opposite of what I had heard of with "Hawaiian" time! You can tell they take their professionalism seriously and were incredibly organized, using many online tools that were convenient for me. Although I was feeling a bit apprehensive before the wedding, staring with our rehearsal, they showed me why Moana was such a great team of folks. From the moment I actually met her, Morgan settled my nerves and made me feel like she was entirely present with me. She was warm, friendly and incredibly organized. I know my family is a little bit crazy but she did a great job settling their nerves as well and providing wonderful customer service. When we arrived to cocktail hour, it blew my mind how perfectly they had read my mind. After planning a wedding long distance for a year, I just kind of shoved all my decorations at them and said, "Here you go!" Everything was decorated beautifully and I could've cried tears of joy with how wonderfully it all worked out. During the reception, Morgan and Amber were constantly buzzing around, making sure everything was ready to go (I'm assuming) and make sure the bride & groom were happy. I was never without a drink, a smile, and never had to think about anything except having a wonderful time! At the end of the evening, they made sure everything was packed up into our shuttle and sent us on our way. There was nothing else I needed to worry about and it was just such a wonderful experience overall. I'm getting a bit emotional looking back as we are so grateful for such a heartfelt, wonderful job Morgan and Amber did the day of our wedding. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!