Ever since vacationing in Maui at age 19, Stacey knew she would return someday with the love of her life for an idyllic island wedding. Years down the road, a swipe right on Bumble led her to meet Luis, and the two hit it off right away. While she may not have known it then, this was the man she’d soon journey back to that magical place with.

“Luis and I both love Maui,” Stacey says, “so it was an easy sell when I told him about my dream wedding.”

The only concern for the couple: the pandemic era restricts. Hawaii required vaccinations and three booster shots at the time, and a few of the couple’s guests briefly backed out. That is, until that requirement was abolished.

“By the time our wedding date had arrived, travel was almost back to normal,” the couple says.

At the beginning of the planning process, the couple had a list of requirements for the ideal venue, including wheelchair accessibility (for Luis’s parents) and a location on the Wailea side of the island. At first, Stacey had her heart set on a golf course venue. But, after hearing of a local gem called Gannon’s and finding out they offered on-site rentals (which would save the couple some money to put towards something else), she was sold.

“By the time we had signed on with our wedding planners, I had already found our photographer and venue,” says the bride.

Once planning got thoroughly underway, the couple flew to Maui to see the venue in real life, meet the florist and have a hair and makeup trial. Returning home with renewed excitement and plenty of inspiration!

While Isle Love Weddings & Events handled the main things, Stacey focused on the little details and personalizations for her special day.

“I scoured Instagram, Pinterest and Etsy for ideas for months,” the bride says.

Gold etched leather luggage tags doubled as place cards with each guest’s name on one side and the Hawaiian word for “family” – which is “ohana” – on the other. After all, “family” would be a huge theme of Stacey and Luis’s wedding as the celebration would be intimate and include tributes to the couple’s kiddos and the bride’s late father.

“A friend had a ribbon with a locket made that held a picture of my dad so he could still ‘walk me down the aisle,’” Stacey says.

Upon arriving in Maui, the couple took their blended family, to a glass blowing shop (Moana Glass), and everyone contributed to making a glass bowl in the shape of a heart to use during the sand ceremony portion of the wedding.

“Our initials are on the bowl. This was a very meaningful task for us as a family, especially for the kids (ages 9, 9, 6, 6, two are his, two are mine, now all are ours),” the couple says.

On the day of the wedding, the aisle was lined with pineapples and coconuts (a touch the bride added because she calls her two boys “Pineapple Parker” and “Coconut Cohen”). Stacey walked down the aisle to “Feeling Good”, a remix by Avicci – which set a fun, relaxed tone for the day.

“We incorporated a lei exchange for the children, Luis and myself,” the bride says.

During the ceremony, the couple and their four kids poured sand they’d each collected as into the glass bowl they made together. The blending of the sand symbolized the blending of their family, which Stacey says really impacted the kids in a positive way and helped to cement the new family together. While the reception following the ceremony gave the couple a chance to spend time with guests in Maui, they plan to host another reception back home for everyone to attend.

“There were a couple of things I could have changed, but looking at the big picture, those things don’t even matter – everything came together,” the bride says. “We were there on Maui with our entire family and very close friends, the kids did exactly what they needed to do and even posed for photos with little complaining and I married the man of my dreams!
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