The Kahala Hotel & Resort

We LOVED having our wedding here on 5/22/2010! They created our dream wedding and thought of little details we never would have considered on our own. Jamie Ing was a great coordinator. Thank you, Kahala! It was perfect. Wish we could do it all over again! :)

I had my ceremony on the Lagoon Lawn and my reception on the Lurline Lawn. The senior event coordinator that I worked with at the Ihilani was helpful throughout the entire process, although at times it was a bit difficult to get a hold of her. It turns out that a lot of people get married here! The location could not have been more beautiful. The only draw back of getting married on a resort is that other people at the resort can sneak a peek into our wedding festivities.

The Kahala is a gorgeous property where I had always dreamed of getting married. You do not need flowers for the ceremony (ok, maybe very few) because the gazebos have a beautiful oceanview backdrop. Dealing with the Kahala from the beginning was a frustrating process, but I love the property so we decided to get married there despite the annoyances. We met with one catering manager who acted as if she was doing us a favor by showing us the grounds. The catering manager we eventually worked with, Charles, was initially quite unresponsive, but later became very responsive to our needs. One thing to note is that our catering manager was pretty unresponsive with emails until the month before the wedding. I think this is pretty characteristic of the catering managers since my friends had the same experience. Wedding Ceremony PackageThe hotel requires brides/grooms to purchase one of their weddings ceremony packages, the lowest priced of which is approximately $4k. This fee includes an hour of photography, a minister, bride's bouquet/groom's bout by Evan Morita, and a musical soloist of your choosing. You will have to choose from their approved list of photographers, otherwise, you must pay $1k for an outside photographer. In addition to the vendors, the package comes with 40 chairs, so if you have more than 40 guests, you will need to pay an additional $4/chair.The ceremony went flawlessly. Our catering manager was punctual in meeting us at the bridal suite to escort us down to the Kokohead Gazebo. The ukelele player that Kika Inc. arranged for us was amazing, as was the bouquet and boutonniere that Evan Morita provided to us. Our officiant, Reverend Michael Nelson was extremely organized in directing the ceremony (during rehearsal and the day of) and I highly recommend him. Cocktail hour/ReceptionWe held our reception in the Maile ballroom. Like other hotels, there is a minimum revenue requirement for the ballroom. The ceremony package does not count towards the minimum revenue for the reception, so the costs can escalate quite quickly. During the cocktail hour we had a welcome drink passionfruit bellini, which was a huge hit. We also had four canapes, all of which were quite good - ahi tartare, crab salad with avocado, mushroom cap, and bbq chicken with pineapple. For the reception, we had the ahi trio (the sashimi was kind of old), endive salad, a duet of beef tenderloin and mahi mahu, and wedding cake as dessert. I do not expect much from reception food and I would say the food was good, but not exceptional. The highlight was definitely the cake. We had a three tier cake, with red velvet as the first tier, coconut as the second tier, and vanilla with coconut filling as the third tier. The cake was moist and light, and I still dream about that cake! I am still so regretful that I did not get to have a full slice of the cake.We also had a late night snack bar, which consisted of malasadas, kalua pig quesadillas, crabcakes, red velvet cupcakes and a chocolate fountain. All of the items were delicious...except for the malasadas-- steer clear of those! All in all, we have many foodie friends and there were pretty surprised by how good the food was.Hotel RoomsWe negotiated with the hotel for a good 5-6 months before we reached a deal on the room rates for our guests. At first, they gave us a 10% discount on the rack rates, and they required us to sign a draconian contract whereby we had to guarantee a number of rooms. After several months of negotiating, they finally gave us a rate that was around 30% off their rack rate, which was not bad considering we got married during the high season. PRO/CONSCharles went above and beyond his normal scope of responsibilities and helped with laying the programs, fans and parasols by the chairs for the ceremony. The Kahala also helped set up the escort cards, place cards, table names, wedding favors and certain candles I wanted on the reception tables. I was extremely pleased with this aspect. The ceremony and reception flowed very smoothly and the table service was very good.There were two things that put a damper on our experience. One is that we could not extend the ballroom for another hour the day of the wedding, and two, the catering and banquet managers were breathing down the groom�s back about alcohol consumption. Our speeches ran long so we wanted more time for dancing. While we were willing to pay the extra $500 cost for each hour of the ballroom, the hotel did not allow us to since we had given too short of notice. With regard to the alcohol consumption, the bartender refused to serve us liberally. We had an open bar at the reception, and while our guests consume a lot of alcohol, they were not acting belligerently. I was disappointed to hear that the consensus amongst my friends was that the hotel was trying to contain their good time. While the groom shielded me from the foregoing issues during the reception, in retrospect I wish we had hired a wedding coordinator to assist in this regard. AdvicePick a low season and a weeknight to get married at the Kahala Resort. Your may be able to get a lower room rate and minimum revenue requirement for the reception. If we had gotten married during a weeknight and in June, as opposed to August, the room rate and minimum revenue would have been less than what we had paid for.

The best customer service, location and food.. A bit pricey but worth every penny. Just be sure to look over the photographer list. To bring in an outside photographer will cost an extra $1000. Luckily, my first choice was available and on the list.. The catering manager (Jamie Ing) is the best.. Easy to work with, fast email reply, very hands on. Awesome place to get married!!

Awesome place. We had a room near the dolphin lagoon and were awestruck.

It's away from Waikiki which is a + and a - ....beaches are very private and quiet but it's also about a 1/2 drive to any good restaurants (other than the hotel's) or night life.

I think this is just called The Kahala Resort now (they used to be the Mandarin Oriental). This is where my fiance and I got engaged! We loved the location...away from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki, but still close enough to go visit. Swim with the dolphins at the resort...you won't be disappointed. Great breakfast, but the Cabanas Restaurant was just okay.