Travis and Chantelle hail from opposite sides of the globe, so traveling for their wedding was a natural and convenient idea. “With Travis from Edmonton, Canada and my being from Sydney, Australia, Maui was the perfect location to bring our families together for a week of celebrations!” Not only was Maui a sensible middle ground, geographically, it also held special meaning for the couple. “We were engaged on Maui earlier in the year whilst on holiday, so it seemed the perfect location to bring our families together to celebrate our wedding.” 

Once getting engaged on their Hawaiian vacation, these two love birds hit the ground running. “Whilst we were in Maui on our engagement trip, we were lucky enough to be recommended to Lorrie from Maui’s Angels and then started a whirlwind planning session! Before we had left our vacation, we had booked the wedding planner, venue and caterer! With the big decisions made, everything else was easy and it was lovely that we had a chance to actually see the venue before the wedding.” There was one downside to the couple moving so quickly through the planning process.

“The challenge we faced was that we had a relatively short engagement of six months,” says the bride. “Many of our friends and family members would have been grateful for more time to plan and save for the overseas trip. That being said, we decided that as a couple we didn’t want an overly long engagement and, at the end of the day, we were blessed to have 70 guests join us in Maui for our wedding! We could not have been more grateful that people were able to join us in Maui and we were thrilled that we had half Canadians and half Aussies! It made for a really fun week!”

A lack of time was a general theme for this couple’s engagement and wedding. “As we both run our own businesses, time is precious,” explains the couple. “One of the lovely things about having a destination wedding is that, in many ways, everything became simpler. If we were getting married at home, we would have had dozens of bands to choose from, dozens of caterers, dozens of photographers. By choosing a destination wedding, we loved that our wonderful wedding planner gave us a few recommendations for us to choose from. Instead of dozens of choices that would have taken hours of researching, we were able to choose between the best two caterers, the best two photographers. We loved the ease and were thrilled with the results!”

Because the couple didn’t give their guests much time to plan, they helped in any way they could. “Bringing our family to Maui was easy! We subscribed to multiple airline notifications and when a great fare sale came out, we notified everyone via SMS so they could jump on the good deals! We also negotiated a fantastic group booking discount at a hotel, which the majority of our guests took advantage of.” The couple also had lots of info handy upon their guests’ arrival.

“We created a PDF Wedding Handbook for our guests, which was given to them when they checked into the hotel. We included a map of the island, an outline of the week’s events with times and addresses, as well as driving directions and important details. On the back page was a list of all 70 guests so that they could remember everyone’s names!”

Come W-Day the couple hosted their loved ones at a chic, all-white wedding. Looking back, the couple gives credit to their amazing team of vendors for pulling off the wedding of their dreams. “Lorrie [with Maui’s Angels], our wedding planner, handled everything to perfection,” says the bride. “She was the idyllic combination of efficiency plus genuine excitement for our big day. There wasn’t a single stressful moment or a single detail we would change – our wedding exceeded our expectations on every level. [Also,] our videographer actually flew out from Canada to film the wedding. The year before, Matt had produced the wedding video for Travis’ sister and the whole family was so in love with the results, that we asked him to come to Maui to film ours!” 

While the couple says there’s nothing they would change about their destination wedding experience, we did ask them what made up their fondest memories. “Our favorite part of the wedding was that we were able to spend an entire week celebrating and connecting with our guests! Usually at a wedding you have one day together and then you go back to your ordinary lives. This was especially important for us as our families live on opposite sides of the world. Our aunts and uncles, cousins and friends were able to form friendships. From sunset welcome drinks at a spectacular penthouse in Lahaina, going to a luau, a snorkeling trip, hula lessons, rounds of golf – even evenings spent with a glass of wine next to the pool – it was a weeklong party!”

In conclusion, we asked Travis and Chantelle what advice they would share with other couples currently planning a destination wedding. Not surprisingly, they referenced the importance of hiring strong vendors. “Find the best wedding planner you can. Without a doubt, the joy and ease of our wedding was largely due to Lorrie’s superb planning. The greatest gift Lorrie gave us was that we were able to smile all day long! We had nothing to think about other than each other and treasuring each moment of the most important day of our lives.”

Vendors: Photographer: Love + Water Photography, Wedding Planner: Maui’s Angels Destination Weddings & Events, Ceremony/Reception Site: Sugarman Estate (Honua Kai Lani) in Wailea, Florist: Damselfly Designs Pacific, Cake: Cake Fanatics Maui, Hair & Makeup: Maui Makeup Artistry, Gown Designer: Erin Clare, Groom’s Clothing Designer: Hugo Boss, Catering: Celebrations Catering, Event Rentals: Hawaiian Style Event Rentals, Music: Shea Derrick and Full Flavor Band, Design: Rio Event Design, Videographer: Integra Films