Changing the Future of Maui Weddings

This may not necessarily be directly related to Maui weddings, Maui wedding videos or webcasts, but in some way our attending this weekend’s TEDx event at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) may just help change Maui weddings afterall.

Here is the event description:

TEDxMaui is an independently organized TED event. In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” this all-day event will present innovative and inspiring speakers and performers who have the courage to dream and change the world with revolutionary ideas. TEDxMaui is an opportunity to broaden understanding and knowledge in our community. Attendees will hear new ways of thinking, learn about break-throughs and be motivated by those accelerating innovation and improving the lives of citizens around the world. The goal is to have each person walk away feeling enlightened, motivated and dedicated to making a difference in their lives as well as the lives of others. Guest speakers include Elizabeth Lindsey, Art Medeiros, Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele, W.S. Merwin, Byron Washom and Susan Casey.

We’re always looking for ways to better ourselves as individuals, our art and craft, and to hone our technological edge. Attending seminars like this aims to help us in this mission. Who knows, we may need to enhance our Maui wedding mission statement by the time Sunday is through!

You will be able to tune into the live webcast of the event right here…

TedX Live Webcast (not an example of a Maui Weddings Webcast)

Maui Wedding WeddingWire Bride Choice Award

I just received as a good news as any Maui wedding professional can receive. WeddingWire.com has awarded Live Maui Webcasts and DVD the 2012 Bride’s Choice Award! That means we’ve received the best reviews from past brides and grooms and are in the top 5 percentile of thousands and thousands of WeddingWire professionals.

We are honored to receive this recognition and take it as validation of the Maui wedding work we do and the people we serve. As outlined in our Maui wedding mission statement, we focus our service attention on:

• our brides and grooms;
• their viewing audience;
• our wedding coordinators;
• our video team.

Maui wedding Ohana: Thank you!

We love our work and do the best we can every day to spread happiness, creativity, reliability and value to people’s lives.

How are the WeddingWire.com Bride’s Choice Award winners determined?
The WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards ™ recognizes the top local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the organization, the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ are awarded solely based on the reviews from over 1.2 million newlyweds. Awards are determined by a combination of four factors: Overall rating (quality), total number of reviews (quantity), review performace from 2011 (recency), and consistency of reviews from year to year (consistency). This year’s recipients represent the top 5% of WeddingWire’s vendor community, across all service categories and all regions throughout the US and Canada.

Hawaii Civil Unions Legal January 1st, 2012

On Monday, January 1st, 2012, Hawaii gives same-sex and opposite-sex couples filing for Hawaii civil unions many of the same rights and responsibilities as married couples. It is only the 7th state in the union to have signed such a measure into law.

“Here in Hawaii, we do not let our diversity divide us. It indeed defines us.” Governor Neil Abercrombie

For the record, Live Maui Webcasts and DVD fully supports this bill and the idea that all people should have the right to love whomever they want and to pursue their own sense of peace and fulfillment in union with another adult. We also support and have found it long overdue that the law recognizes this right.

Governor Neil Abercrombie signs the Hawaii Civil Unions Bill

We have many friends who are in committed and loving relationships with partners of the same sex and we have also shot many commitment ceremonies of same-sex couples. Their expressions of love are as true and present as any opposite-sex couples’ weddings we have witnessed and worked (I got married to my wife Kazuko in 2009 on Maui). Notions that somehow gay marriage in Hawaii or the Hawaii Civil Unions bill undermines or hurts our social fabric seem ill-conceived and baseless. To the contrary if you ask me: unequal treatment of same-sex couples feels hurtful and hateful.

Hawaii Civil Unions Legal: Now What?

You will need to apply for a Civil Union license with the Department of Healthy just like you would for a marriage license. We have done some digging and it seems the official website https://civilunion.ehawaii.gov is not working. The only official information we could find is here: http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/vital-records/civilunion/index.html

Concerning us working together: to anyone philosophically opposed to our position on the Hawaii Civil Unions matter, that’s OK. If you cannot respect our position and it’s a sticking point for us working together, we are not a good fit for one another and perhaps you’re better served by another videography company.

To anyone wishing to have their wedding or legal Hawaii Civil Union webcast or a DVD/ Blu-Ray production made, it would be an honor to work with you on your special day. Just give us a call or email us.

To read more about what we stand for, checkout our Maui Wedding Mission Statement.

Check out more on the Hawaii Civil Unions news at the Star Advisor.

We wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year and hope that you can share it with the ones you love.

Questions, comments, an open and respectful debate are welcome. Just use the comment section below.

Stephan writes for Live Maui Webcasts blog to pass along pertinent information on all things weddings, Maui and Hawaii. Read more about him here.

 

US Weekly Features Our Photo

No, no, we were not shooting a celebrity Maui wedding video, nor were we paparazzi hanging out in the bushes with long lenses shooting celebrities down in Wailea. Nope, we were actually called upon by the Four Seasons Resort Maui to do the photo shoot of a yoga retreat they were hosting and whose Hollywood Star Power included Vanessa Hudgens (who has starred in various musicals and Disney Movies) and Perrey Reeves of the hit series Entourage, as well as Old School and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

And yes, there actually were paparazzi in the bushes that day. It sure felt good to be “the official photographers!”

Here is a photo of Vanessa published in US Weekly Magazine October 3rd:

This shot came quite organically. Vanessa is naturally bubbly and gave us many looks, always having fun with it. The setting was tough though, since the assignment was to be handled at around 2:00-4:00PM, which of course meant the sun was high up in the sky and the trade winds were whipping through. Luckily, we were blessed with some clouds that rolled in to take out the harsh shadows. We then threw a gold reflector on her face and that’s the image which came out.

You may be asking yourself: what’s the deal? Do you do video or photo? The answer is: we do Maui wedding videos and webcasts, however, every-so-often, when we’re asked to do still photography for a select few clients, we oblige.

We recommend a handful of photographers here on Maui for weddings, so give us a call and we’ll share those with you!

read more

Geek Alert! Mobile Platform Ready

***GEEK ALERT*** (this post may only be suitable for tech-geeks)

We have worked hard to bring our technology to the cutting edge.

We began migrating our content delivery platform from flash — a format with which mobile platforms are generally not very compatible —  to HTML 5 which is way more mobile friendly. During our last few live Maui wedding internet broadcasts, our audiences reported watching from their DROID phones and iPhones out on the go.

How cool is that? Train delayed and you can’t get to your home computer in time to watch your best friend’s Maui Wedding? No Problem! Just tap in to the stream with your iPhone, Droid, Windows Phone, Symbian, iPad, etc… and watch it on the go!

Now, we still highly recommend our audience rely on high speed cable  or DSL internet connections, because mobile ISP’s (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc…) network bandwidth may not make for the most reliable & sustained connection to the internet. In addition, some mobile internet users need to keep their bandwidth quotas in mind, lest they get charged up the wazzoo by their carrier.

Here is a real comment from a recent wedding…

… and — oddly enough — actual live and in-person guests at one of our weddings have been guilty of tapping into the stream and having it play live on their iPhones AS THE WEDDING WAS UNFOLDING right in front of them. Now, I don’t know, but those guilty guys may have a bit of a technology addiction, wouldn’t you say?

Crazy. Haha…

But we are flattered that so many people actually endeavor to try our services on their various devices! The smiles on the wedding couple’s faces, the grateful viewing audience and the technology junkies all validate the work we do.

Thank you!

Stephan writes for Live Maui Webcasts blog to pass along pertinent information on all things weddings, Maui and Hawaii. Read more about him here.

 

Maui Wedding, Perfect Weather, Love and… Death?

You come here to Paradise to get married to the person you love more than anything. Intoxicating scent of flowers, romantic beach walks, perfect sunny weather, Mai Tais and love love love is what you have on your mind and in your heart. A Maui wedding is why you come here.

But did you know that every year, visitors actually die here in Paradise?

After your Maui wedding, go explore the island!

Recent drownings of two San Francisco Bay area residents, one at Nakalele Point blowhole on the west side of Maui and another falling from an oceanside cliff on the Big Island reminds us, that – posted warning sign or no posted warning sign- nature can seriously injure or take away life with one fell swoop. One step too close to the edge, one foolhardy jump in to a shorebreak, one scamper across wet rocks on a stream bed, or one dive down a waterfall can all end up in a Hawaiian nightmare.

It’s understandable that we have our guard down when we travel. Some people see locals hike with slippers, jump into the shallowest of waters, head out in what looks like manageable surf and feel empowered to emulate them. Much like a tourist in the urban jungle on the streets of New York or LA or anywhere in the world, walking around with a loose purse dangling or a wallet in an easily picked pocket is vulnerable to theft and assault, so too are unsuspecting visitors lulled into a false sense of security by the seemingly docile and Paradise-like island elements.

But it is imperative to remember — especially during a dreamy, stary-eyed Maui wedding trip — that nature is inherently unpredictable and dangerous. It cannot be sued or held liable for negligence.

So, just be aware of some of the following dangers when you are here for your Maui wedding:

• ocean currents can tire a person and cause them to drown (if you are caught in a rip current, you should swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the rip, THEN in; keep CALM; frequent beaches with lifeguards);
• afternoon tradewinds can blow you far out to sea (if you’re kayaking in the morning and see the wind line out at sea, return to shore immediately);
• shore break and waves in general can break your neck (certain beaches like Big Beach in Makena can have vicious shore break that should be avoided unless you are very comfortable in the ocean and have experience);
• waterfalls are slippery and pools shallow (do not jump);
• flash floods happen in an instant (keep your eye on the weather and have an escape route to higher ground planned);
• distracted drivers gawking at the beautiful scenery are a hazard (keep your eyes on the road);
• do NOT EXPECT warning signage to be posted in potentially dangerous areas (just like you do not see “do not flaunt your valuables in the  city” signs everywhere you go in urban jungles);
• and many more…

This is not to scare you or keep you from enjoying your Maui wedding vacation. It’s merely aimed at sparking awareness that you are entering a new, possibly unfamiliar world that has real dangers and can make for real nightmares.

Live the Maui Wedding Dream, not the Maui Wedding Nightmare.

Stephan writes for Live Maui Webcasts blog to pass along pertinent information on all things weddings, Maui and Hawaii. Read more about him here.

 

Verizon 4G to Help Maui Wedding Webcasts

Well, it’s official: Verizon joins Sprint and Clear in the world of 4G mobile broadband coverage here on Maui. That means that we are now able to offer  Maui wedding webcasts in more places and with even higher quality than ever before. You can be sure that we’re lining up at the Verizon store today to get our hands on this newest technology… that’s just how we roll as tech geeks and video buffs. Your Maui wedding will never look clearer!

Here is the Verizon Press Release

HONOLULU, July 18, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Starting Thursday, Verizon Wireless customers on Maui will be able to surf the web, download files and share music and photos up to 10 times faster than before with Verizon Wireless’ 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The network launches on July 21 and will be available to customers in the following cities and towns:

• Kaanapali
• Kahului
• Kihei
• Lahaina
• Napili
• Wailea
• Wailuku

“We are proud to help lead Maui into the 4G LTE wireless broadband world, helping residents, small businesses and local government connect faster and more fully with each other and those outside our community,” said Kevin Zavaglia, region president for Verizon Wireless. “Our 4G LTE network is revolutionizing the way people communicate, and we know this connectivity will be a key communications and technology enabler for many years to come.”

[...]

Coverage

In real-world, fully-loaded network environments, 4G LTE users should experience average data rates of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink, so customers from Napili to Wailea can enjoy the fast speeds of the world’s first large-scale 4G LTE network. Verizon Wireless began introducing the globe’s first large-scale LTE network on December 5, 2010, covering more than 110 million Americans, and is quickly expanding national coverage. In addition to expanding eight markets, the company is adding 28 new markets this week, for a total of 102 areas covered. The company is rapidly building out its 4G LTE network, and is on course to deliver 4G LTE to its entire 3G wireless footprint by the end of 2013.

In addition, the company is working with rural communications companies to collaboratively build and operate a 4G network in those areas using the tower and backhaul assets of the rural company and Verizon Wireless’ core 4G LTE equipment and premium 700 MHz spectrum. To date, 10 rural carriers have announced their participation in the LTE in Rural America program and have leased spectrum covering, in total, more than 2.1 million people in rural communities and nearly 72,000 square miles.

When customers travel outside of a 4G coverage area, the devices automatically connect to Verizon Wireless’ 3G network, enabling customers to stay connected from coast to coast. Verizon Wireless’ 3G network is the most reliable network in the country, allowing customers with laptops, tablets and smartphones to download and use cool apps, from mobile social networking platforms to GPS-enabled maps; rapidly browse the web to keep up with news, sports, stock quotes, Hollywood gossip and more; work on-the-go with fast file sharing; and stream must-see video and customized radio stations.

Reuters Blogs “Maui Wedding Easy Financially”

I just stumbled across this blog article on Reuters. It examines who ends up flipping the bill for weddings (a Maui Wedding or otherwise) in these mid/ post recession days: the bride’s parents? The grooms? The couple themselves?

In the case of the Royal Wedding, the British tax payer is on the hook, but if you’re not royalty, then the trend is that couples themselves are taking more and more responsibility for the cost of their wedding.

That’s when I stumbled across this paragraph that talks about Maui weddings:

The trend has provided some financial respite for parents like 67-year-old Linda Emmons and her husband Lewis, whose two sons and their future wives paid most of their own wedding expenses. When her younger son and his fiancée got married earlier this year, their choice of a destination wedding in Maui saved the couple a lot of money by limiting the number of guests to those who could fly out. “At first I was a little concerned about a destination wedding,” she says. “But it turned out beautifully, and it was very easy on us financially.”

At first glance it may sound counterintuitive: how can a Maui wedding in the middle of the Pacific be cheaper than closer to home?

Easy: with a lower headcount of a Maui wedding (because of the higher cost of travel), the reception costs go way down.

But then the drawback is of course that people you love and care for won’t be able to attend your Maui wedding and the festivities. Bummer!

I have to admit, that we have the best job in the world. We face happiness and gratitude from all sides:

• brides and grooms are so thankful that ailing grandparents can tune in, college friends and work colleagues could tune in and feel a part of it all;
• the audience sends us emails, comments, and chatroom comments of gratitude for having connected them;
• wedding coordinators are happy that we provide a professional service that’s reliable and exhibits genuine care for their clients;
• our employees are happy that they get to be out in the field, in the fresh air, out on the beach working and having it contribute to an honest living and positive impact on our world.

I’ve worked all over the world and consulted for many different clients, and nothing compares to providing the service of a live webcast and DVD production to people who are in love and are truly grateful. Add to that our gratitude to them for entrusting us with their wedding video production and you’ve got a beautiful symbiosis.

Yes indeed, a Maui wedding can be a lot easier on your pocketbook and does not sentence you to leave the ones you love behind.

You CAN have your cake and eat it too!

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Thoughts on the Royal Wedding and Maui Weddings

The media attention to and public fervor for the Royal Wedding betwixt  Prince William and Catherine Middleton was so enormous that it took over the internet and the airwaves for many days. What is it about the fascination of “royalty” and their weddings?

No doubt it is human nature to worship celebrity and look up to those with “status” and to consequently hunger for such attention in ones own life. Watching Kate arrive at the Abbey, thousands of adoring fans and listening to the swooning television commentators gushing platitudes (watch the BBC coverage of Kate’s arrival), I couldn’t help but feel that somehow the spectators have merely fallen in love with the mere IDEA of love, that somehow these two people — who last time I checked were flesh and blood like you and I — were the embodiment of a love we all yearn for, but never seem to reach.

And therein lies the problem to which I sense many of us have succumb: rather than be the love and give the love we wish to receive in kind, we look for it externally. From expecting it from our family and friends to craving it when we see it seemingly confirmed on the TV coverage of a royal wedding, we have forgotten that LOVE IS AN ACTION VERB for us as individuals to feel in our hearts and then give freely to our fellow human being.

I know, I know… I’ve lived on Maui for quite some time now. This place seems to encourage self-reflection and helps us contemplate what is important in life.

And it’s in this self-reflection that I believe Maui is such a fitting place for couples to get married. It is here that we slow down and let the societal pressures wash off and oftentimes what is left is a deeper understanding of what is truly important in life. When you find Maui weddings professionals who hold steadfast to this understanding of love — as opposed to those who phone it in — then I believe there is no better place in the world to make your commitment to the one you love. Professionals who “get it” from Maui wedding videographers to photographers and of course Maui wedding planners, will be able to capture your commitment to true love so that you may remind yourselves years down the line.

I am so grateful that I get to see wedding couples communicate to each other what is really important to them. Many times while looking through the camera lens and hearing words spoken through the wireless mics, I sense the deep connection and the commitment to love one another ACTIVELY and to GIVE THE LOVE freely. Yes sure, sometimes I witness couples who are more in love with the idea of love – as opposed to feeling and sharing love — but that just galvanizes my own understanding of what love really is and what it is not.

Swooning and glorifying a royal wedding, most certainly is NOT related to love.

How To Avoid a Horrible Maui Wedding

Many of our past wedding clients and online Maui wedding viewers have been writing in asking whether we were OK after the tsunami scare. I am happy to report that Hawaii and Maui specifically was spared the worst of it and most locations were up and running just a few days after the surge. My wife’s family in Japan is also OK, however, as you can image, that nation is reeling right now. They can use all the positive energy and love that people have to give.

Now, another topic that’s been on my mind… bad Maui Wedding (not so) professionals.

Having lived in Hawaii for over 10 years now and having worked in Maui weddings for 8 of them, I have seen a lot of things that would downright shock most wedding couples.

Here are just a few:

• Photographers who show up in tank tops and ripped shorts (and reeking of BO);
• ministers who breeze through a ceremony in a matter of minutes just to rush down the beach and start another ceremony;
• wedding coordinators who are so hands-off, the itinerary is left squarely in the vendor’s hands to direct and guide;
• wedding coordinators who are so dictatorial that it’s embarrassingly cloying and mood destroying;
• hula dancers who can only be described as beginners (not in and of itself a problem, except for when the couple believes they’re going to have the pleasure of seeing someone learned and beautiful at their craft;
• ceremonies in the pouring rain without any effort to relocate or consider a plan B (probably because there never was a plan B).

There are so many more examples of weddings that made me sad for the couple.

How did couples fall for some of these so-called “professionals?” There are many possible reasons, but one that come to mind is that all of us — whether it’s the director of the CIA falling for a phishing scam or couples falling for scam artists — can fall in to a trap from time to time. We are all susceptible to buying into propositions that are too good to be true. That’s no different in the world of Hawaiian weddings. You’ll stumble across offers like:

“Free videos!”

“All inclusive wedding packages for just $300!”

“Free webcasts!”

“World-class photography for just $100!”

And then when you actually finally experience the service and see the product, you are reminded of the old saying: “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”  And by then it’s too late;The only thing you can do is grin and bear it.

There is, however, some good news. For one, the recent recession has shaken up the wedding landscape on Maui, sending many of professionals with lacking ethics or skills closing shop and scrambling back to the mainland. Only the stronger survived and came out even stronger.

Secondly, there’s the Internet. In my early Maui wedding video days, the Internet was not quite as informative as it is today. Information on vendors — from user reviews to their professional associations — was not as readily available as it is today. There were no such sites as http://weddingwire.com or Google local reviews or http://tripadvisor.com.

Today, wedding couples have more ability to research and find information about the wedding professionals they are considering than ever before and that gives them power to make the right decision. From restaurants to caterers, videographers to photographers, the information is being compiled and there are not many rocks left to hide under for unscrupulous or unethical wedding vendors.

So, I encourage you to …

1. ask the vendors you are considering to provide you with samples of their most recent work,
2. ask them to explain their neutral or negative reviews,
3. ask them to see what their budget or “in-house” services REALLY look like;
4. compare those services to other professionals;
5. ask them whether they have a money-back guarantee (this separates the cream from the rest).

And most importantly, as  you’re talking with a Maui wedding professional, listen to your intuition on how you feel. Does it feel like the coordinator or photographer, or videographer VIBES with you? Does he/ she ask questions to understand your needs? Does he have a warm disposition or could he be faking it? Is the prospective wedding coordinator calm and informative or high energy and pushy (it would seem to me that the ideal organization person is someone cool at all times)?

Take your time in the process. Set aside dedicated time to research and call vendors. Get to know them, feel their Aloha and you will most likely be rewarded on your wedding day.