Paradise Weddings Hawaii

Paradise Weddings is unethical and dishonest.. The owner may sound nice and caring, but when it comes down to it she will be pushy when it comes to the vendors she chooses, and vague and minimizing when you have concerns. Based on our experience, she has demonstrated that she cares about how much money she can make off of you, even if this involves being dishonest and unethical. Paradise Weddings pads their services, lies, and will nickel and dime you for every phone call and email. Go with any other weddings planner, even if you need to fly one in from another island, or plan your wedding yourself. Paradise Weddings should be called Weddings in Hell because that's what trying to get our money back from them has been like. I regret going by the fact that she is listed in Fodors - big mistake. I should have looked at other reviews.

She describes assigning a videographer and photographer to our wedding date as "providing referrals." However, she only told me who the photographer was AFTER I asked so that I could see samples of his work. I was never told who the videographer or make up person was: she never provided this information or even a contract with these vendors, yet she is billing us for doing "all the legwork for our wedding." She calls vendors "confirmed" yet in her one and only statement that she sent in the 3 months she worked for us the videographer and photographer as listed as "pending."



If you can afford to be nickeled and dimed, lied to, and are ok with being minimized when you have concerns and given vague answers; if you are ok with taking that risk with your wedding and your money - she's the one to go to. If you don't mind being charged for every email or phone call, she's your wedding planner.



After we terminated her wedding planning services, she had the nerve to say that if we only used her for referrals, she charged $250/hr for this service. First of all, that is not written ANYWHERE on the contract, the website, or her price list. Second of all, I hired her as a wedding planner and then chose to terminate services with her. Initially, I felt a little bad about letting her go because I thought that she was at least a decent person who was doing the best she could; however, her response afterwards has confirmed that she is not.



The new planner we hired to replace her has provided us with a detailed budget that includes floral breakdown; bar; catering; monthly conference call; inspiration board; and itemization of all charges (lists what will happen the day of, the day before, etc). The new planner has given me at least 2 names of photographers and videographers to consider. That is what it means to give referrals. This new planner has done more in the few weeks we have worked together, yet CHARGES LESS, than Paradise Weddings. This new planner is not counting minutes or phone calls or emails.



I am just thankful that I finally trusted my intuition and terminated services with Paradise Weddings.. It would have been a complete ripoff and loss if we had continued with her; and although she has stolen from us, I do not regret letting her go. She may think she is gaining because she is refusing to refund us the money weare owed (we acknowledged that she keeps her $300 nonrefundable deposit, per the contract), but in the end, she is the biggest loser. Individuals who do business like this end up losing in the end.