Wedding Planning with the Stylish Evonne Wong

I recently was introduced to Evonne, Events by Evonne, who happens to plan some amazing weddings in Hawaii & San Francisco.  We immediately hit it off and of course, I asked her to be a feature here on Fly Away so we could share her gorgeous weddings with everyone.  If you’re not familiar with Evonne, she’s a very talented planner who was living in San Francisco at the time, planning her own destination wedding in Hawaii.   Now she and her husband reside in Hawaii.

I asked her a few questions about Hawaii as a destination wedding spot, advice for brides planning a destination wedding as well as, a few details about her boutique style event planning services.  But first, here are a few images, shot by Element Studios, from a recent wedding designed by Evonne.

1.    General advice to a bride planning a destination wedding in Hawaii?  Can include age of guests to consider, language differences or customs.

 

First, a bride should sit down with her fiancé and discuss the budget, then decide on the number of guests they’d like to invite.  Then they should figure out which island they’d want their wedding on since every Hawaiian island has different things to offer.  The Hawaii’s Visitors  & Convention Bureau is a good place to start - http://www.gohawaii.com/. 

 

A bride should do her homework and research.  The most important thing is to find a reputable wedding planner who can handle all the intricate details of the wedding.  The planner has knowledge of who the best vendors and where the best locations are.  Once you hire the planner, the rest of the planning will be seamless.

 

2.    What is the % of your clients who are traveling from US?  Many from Asia or Australia?

               

                Most of my clients are traveling from the mainland U.S and some from Canada, but none from Asia or Australia just yet.  However, a lot of my clients are of Chinese descent, and I have to communicate with their families in Chinese.  My language skills definitely come in handy!

 

3.    What are some great ways a bride can keep her guests informed of the events when maybe they’ve never been to Hawaii?

 

Almost all of my brides have a wedding website, which includes all the details and information of the wedding week.  They usually have tons of activities planned throughout the week from a welcome dinner to a rehearsal dinner to a spa day with the girls/golf day with the boys, snorkeling trip, a luau, post-wedding brunch…etc.  Their website also includes travel information such as airlines and hotels/condos recommendations.

 

In addition to a wedding website, brides sometimes put together info packets and mail to the guests in advance, or they add inserts to their wedding invitations as well.

 

4.    Challenges you as a planner deal with and overcame when working with a destination bride?

 

When the wedding couple is from out of town, they are not familiar with the locations and the vendors, unless they fly out to their destination prior to the wedding to scout out the ceremony/reception site and meet with vendors.  They totally have to rely on the wedding planner to help then with all those details.

 

About 90% of the wedding couples that I work with do fly out to Hawaii to do their scouting trip about 9 to 12 months prior to their wedding.  I highly recommend that because it gives me an opportunity to meet with them in person, get to know them better and spend some time with them while checking out all the locations and meeting with vendors and having food tasting… etc.

 

5.    Budget wise what are the advantages and disadvantages to choosing Hawaii?

 

Maui has been voted as one of the best island in the world by the Conde Nast Traveler magazine a few years in a row now.  Every year we have thousands of couples coming to the islands to tie the knot.  We have so much to offer here – the weather, beautiful resorts and beaches, amazing scenery, great activities and wonderful people of course!  The best thing is you don’t need to get a passport or exchange your currencies when you come here, and you can start your honeymoon right away.  A lot of couples choose to have their wedding on the islands because that will give all the guests a chance to plan their vacation as well.  Who doesn’t want to come to Hawaii, right?

 

The disadvantages is that not a lot of guests will be able to travel to Hawaii, so the guest list is usually smaller than if the wedding is going to be at home (it could be an advantage too)!  Also, we have limited resources here on the islands, and a lot of times we have to fly in certain décor elements or certain types of flowers because they are not locally grown here.  That might add to the cost of the wedding.

 

6.    Most memorable event you planned and why?

 

My most memorable event was the one I did on September 15^th 2007 for Anna and Elan.  It was my very first wedding since I branched out on my own, and it was also the very first time I did a wedding at the beautiful Haiku Mill.  The greatest thing that came out of that wedding is that Anna and Elan moved to Maui just 6 weeks before their big day, and my hubby and I have become really good friends with them.  I will never forget being a part of their special day.

 Thank you Evonne for taking the time to answer our questions.  We love highlighting such amazing planners like you and I can’t wait to see more from you & your team in Hawaii.  If you’d like to visit her site and blog, or even contact her, here’s the information:

Evonne Wong, Events by Evonne & her blog