Photography by Wendy Laurel.

This is the ultimate destination wedding - relaxed, effortless, and fun! After Kristy & David chose Maui's Olowalu Plantation House as their venue, everything fell into place. Where better to celebrate your whole day, from the ceremony to dancing (surrounded by sparklers!), than right by the ocean? Bridesmaids in modern white dresses, the bride going barefoot for photos, and dinner at farm tables under the stars only added to the easy, low-key feel.

The Ceremony

Why did you choose this location for your ceremony? We love Maui and jumped at the opportunity to have a destination wedding and a chance to vacation with our closest friends and family. We had done a lot of research online and fell in love with the Ololwalu Plantation House. The moment we saw it in person we knew it was the perfect choice for us. The tropical plants, trees and ocean backdrop provided the perfect setting for a Hawaiian wedding.

Who officiated your ceremony? How did you choose him/her? Loki Kaahumanu - a Maui wedding superstar! He is very well known on the island and a popular choice for Maui weddings. Dave saw him on an episode of Modern Family which pretty much sealed the deal for us!

How did you go about planning your ceremony? We let our officiant call all the shots at our ceremony, he provided us with an outline of what he was going to say and how the ceremony was going to flow. My only request was that our guests were comfortable and had a drink in their hand.

What was your ceremony music? As guests arrived and were seated our DJ played Jack Garratt's Weathere, Cat Power's Sea of Love, Birdy's cover of Skinny Love, Ingrid Michelson's Can't Help Falling in Love, The Cinematic Orchestra's To Build a Home, Angus and Julia's You're The One That I Want and Imogen Heap's Wait It Out. Dave and the groomsmen walked down the aisle to Start a Riot by Banners, and the bride and bridesmaids walked down to an acoustic version of Kiss Me by Jason Walker. Our recessional song was Young Blood by The Naked and Famous.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding ceremony? Walking down the aisle with my dad, we kept trying to make each other laugh to keep back the tears; it's something I will never forget. Seeing Dave's face as he saw me for the first time was pretty awesome too.

Your ceremony in three words. Intimate, humorous, acoustic.

What were your vows like? We ended up letting our officiant provide the vows for us. We intended to write them ourselves but decided last minute that we wanted to take the easy (less stressful!) option.

Did you include any traditions in your ceremony? I really wanted to get married on a rug that we could later keep in our house and pass along to our children - a new tradition that I hope they carry on.

What was the best advice you received as a bride? My best friend reminded me throughout the day to look around and take what we call "mental snap shots" a way to stop and take a second to remember certain moments of the day because it goes by so quickly.

After their ceremony, the couple took off to the ocean, just the two of them and their photographer, for these beautiful shots.

Please tell us about any other special details or moments from your wedding. The sunset was incredible, I have never seen anything like it - we couldn't have planned it better. The clouds parted and it looked like a small piece of heaven was shining down on us, it was something straight out of a movie.

Also, a few days after our wedding, we took a blanket and a bottle of wine down to the beach and wrote some promises to each other and our marriage together. It felt really special to write them together after the wedding and after all the craziness had died down.

The Reception

How would you describe your reception? Our reception felt like one big family dinner, it was super intimate and laidback with long family tables and string lights. It was important to me that Dave and I and the bridal party were able to attend the cocktail hour. We had an awesome musician playing contemporary music and some really wonderful appetizers and drinks being served so we wanted to make sure we got to enjoy them and the extra time with our guests. Dave and I are very fortunate to have a lot of mutual friends so we included our bridal party's spouses at our head table which was also really fun.

Did you have a signature cocktail? Yes, our incredible bartenders from Perfect Pour Maui created five custom craft cocktails for us!
"Gangsters in Paradise" - lilikoi, calamansi citrus, Dominican rum, house ginger beer and mint
"Mrs. Mai Tai" - mac nut orgeat, guava, lime, Hawaiian dark rum, curacao and lilikoi whip
"How much is the fruit?" - yuzu, thai basil, grapefruit, botanical gin, Hawaiian sea salt and black pepper

We also had two special cocktails that we dedicated to our parents who are no longer with us:
"Penny Sue Gimlet" - Tahitian lime, Hawaiin chilli, Maui sugar and vodka
"The David Sr." - Kentucky bourbon, vanilla infused carpano antica, house bitters and mesquite smoked

Are there any DIY details you'd like to tell us about? Being a destination wedding I wanted to stay away from DIY's as much as possible because I didn't want to have the hassle of packing them with us. However I had a few things I managed to fit into our suitcases including a wooden bar sign and a wooden card box hand made by one of our awesome groomsmen. I also made place cards out of marble kitchen tiles and had award ribbons that we handed out at our next day brunch, a nice and simple way to recognize some of our wedding guest MVP's.

We love seeing these award ribbons! You might remember this playful DIY we featured last year. Beyonce of the dance floor?! Yes!

What inspired you when you were planning your wedding? From the beginning I had a pretty strong vision of what I wanted our reception to be like, acoustic music on an outdoor lawn with white linen and lots of greenery and deep coloured flowers. I wanted to incorporate a hint of Hawaii with palm leaf place settings and bamboo chairs while still keeping it clean and beautiful with the white and gold accents. Aside from the décor, two of the most important things to me were the food and the drinks. I wanted to make sure there were plenty of appetizers to go around and that the cocktails were equally impressive.

What type of cake or dessert did you serve? We set up a Krispy Kreme donut bar and mini dessert bites.

What was your first dance song? Father/daughter or mother/son dance?
First dance: Angel by Jack Johnson
Father/daughter: That's My Daughter in the Water by Loudon Wainwright
Mother/son: What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

What advice do you have for other couples in the midst of planning a wedding? Don't sweat the small stuff! Once the big day comes around you will be so occupied with everything else that your failed DIY projects or your unrehearsed first dance won't even be on your or your guest's radar.

If you had it to do over again, is there anything you would do differently? Not one thing. It was absolutely perfect in every way possible.