Kandice met Grant in a rather serendipitous way– while enjoying dinner with a dear friend at a golf club. Grant asked to sit with Kandice and her friend Alison, and they chatted for six hours! Kandice gave Grant her number at the end of the night, and the relationship blossomed. Little did Kandice or Grant know, just two years later Alison would be officiating their wedding in “The Rainbow State.”

“My mom, who passed away four years before our wedding, loved the beach and the Hawaiian islands. Maui, which is Heaven on Earth, felt like the perfect destination for us,” Kandice says.

Beyond the destination, the couple lacked a specific vision for the wedding. Although Kandice had an idea to dawn three dresses throughout the wedding day. For the ceremony, the bride envisioned herself in a princess gown, then switching to a sexier gown for the reception and finishing the night in a fun, after-party dress.

“Thankfully for us,” the couple says, “we had the world’s best wedding planner, MaryAnn Blanchard, who literally planned every detail of our 200-person wedding from thousands of miles away with minimal help from us. All we really told MaryAnn was that we wanted our wedding to be the best party our guests have ever gone to.”

After all, with guests flying into Maui from all over (including Amsterdam, Ireland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and the mainland U.S.), the travel logistics turned out to be a bit tricky. Kandice and Grant made sure to stay in touch with their wedding planner and Maui County’s Health Department for up-to-date COVID-related protocol and relayed the information to guests.

In the end, everything panned out as they’d hoped, and Kandice got to marry her man in a location that she knew her mom would’ve adored. Having a destination wedding turned out to be more than worth it.

“We just don’t think our wedding weekend would have been as magical [had it been at home]. We got to spend three days with our closest friends and family on the world’s most beautiful island,” the couple says. “Also, we wouldn’t have met our amazing wedding planner and photographer, Matias Ezcurra, both of whom have our hearts!”

For couples looking for pointers for their destination nuptials, Kandice and Grant believe a welcome party/reception is a must– especially for a destination wedding! There’s something incredibly special about having your friends and family spend time together informally the night before the big day.

“Also, try to use local creatives,” the bride says. “It was really important for us to only use creatives from Maui because we wanted to highlight the wonderful people of Maui!”

Vendors: Photographer: Matias Ezcurra Photography; Wedding Planner: MaryAnn Blanchard; Venue & Cake: Fairmont Kea Lani; Florist: Lois Hiranaga Floral Design; Hair & Makeup: Meili Autumn Beauty; Ceremony Dress: Allure; Reception Dress: Casablanca Bridal; Bridesmaids Dresses: Azazie; Videography: Zeb Films; Entertainment: Sol Maui Events & Kanuihele; Decor: Miss B Calligraphy, Stephen Kusmit Designs; Rentals: Signature Maui, M&D Party Rentals & Winters Events; Photo Booth: Bamboo Shootz Photo Booth