Liz and Steven’s wedding at Olowalu Plantation House

Liz and Steven wanted an intimate wedding with their closest family and friends. Their hometown of Vancouver doesn’t offer very nice weather in the month of March so the couple took their affair abroad and celebrated at Olowalu Plantation House in Hawaii. The couple totally planned their destination event remotely with the help of Opihi Love Wedding and Events—and Pinterest and Instagram of course. Feminine, pink florals by Bella Bloom  dressed the ceremony and reception and personalized details like the traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony,  Hula show during sunset and a late-night fire dancer added to the outdoor event. Lucky for the couple, their photographer Melia Lucida Photography had just moved from Vancouver to Maui and was able to capture them beautifully in these lovely images.

What made the wedding special and unique?

We wanted an intimate wedding with our closest friends and family but many of our guests were from out of town and Vancouver is not the nicest during the month of March. Consequently, we decided on having a destination wedding in Maui, a much more tropical location that would be relatively convenient for our guests in Asia and the East Coast. The first time that either of us have been to Hawaii was literally four days before our wedding, so this was a huge adventure for us and made the experience extra unique. Thanks to Pinterest and Instagram, we were able to plan our dream wedding entirely remotely and with the exception of our amazing photographer, we didn’t meet any of our other vendors until days before the wedding if at all. We lucked out with our photographer because she used to be based out of Vancouver so we were able to meet her in person and get our engagement photos done locally prior to her moving to Maui.

Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!

I love watching the various wedding dress shows on TV and thought I had a really good idea of what my dream gown would be like. However, even though I only went to a couple of places, once I started trying them on, the options seemed endless and it was difficult to remember which was which. Thankfully, I had my mom with me and there was this one dress that both of us kept referring back to so that ended up being the dress I selected. The best part of the dress was that it came with pockets. We got the dress from a very small boutique that carried the particular brand but that was when the nightmare began. The owner ordered the dress one size too small and there was not enough time to order a new one by the time we found out. We had to take the sample dress and went through multiple rounds of cleaning. It was not ideal but luckily our dry cleaner pulled through and then came our next obstacles – having to pass customs, hand-carrying the gown onto the plane and finding adequate overhead compartment space. At the end of the day though, all of the stress and extra effort was worthwhile as I love my dress and wouldn’t have picked any other one. Furthermore, I was able to wear it again for the day-after shoot and although the dress came home the worse for wear with some torn tulle and mud/grass stains here and there, I’m ecstatic that I was able to make the most out of it.

What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?

Since our wedding in Maui was relatively small, we were able to give our guests very personalized wedding favors. We ordered leather luggage tags for our guests that had their names embossed on it. Furthermore, each tag was unique as the color of the tag and the strap were different for each guest depending on their favorite colors.

What was the most memorable part of the day?

The entire day was very memorable. There was something special during each part of the day – the mad rush from the writing of my personal vows on the morning of to the Hula Show during sunset to the fire dancer in the pitch-dark night. However, if I were to pick a moment, it would be when we performed the traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony outside by the gorgeous tree at Olowalu.

Tell us how you met and became engaged.

Two of our mutual friends introduced us. The first time we met was over dinner with these two friends and we always joke about how they were our “chaperones” that night. We bonded very quickly over our similarities and were engaged within the year on my birthday.

Photography: Melia Lucida Photography // Wedding Coordination + Event Design: Opihi Love Wedding and Events // Florals: Bella Bloom // Venue: Olowalu Plantation House // Dress: Rosa Clara Two Enebro // Video: Driftwood Films // Officiant: Ernest Pua’a // Catering: Sugar Beach Events // Bar Services: Garnish Craft Cocktail Catering // Entertainment: Marvin Tevaga // Rentals: Rio Event Design // Tabletop Decor: Set Maui // Linen: Winters Events // Disc Jockey: Ace Beats