Marriage Licence Stats for 2009

The State Department of Health has released the statistics for marriage licenses issued for 2009. Not surprisingly, the numbers are down over 1000 marriages from 2008 in Maui, and way down from the hay-days of the early 2000's. Our hope is that these numbers will not continue to drop in 2010... hopefully the numbers will level out or increase. As 2009 was the worst economic year for weddings here in Hawaii, we have to ask ourselves if the Hawaii Visitors Bureau is doing all that they can to try to increase visitors to Hawaii. Yes, sure Hawaii can be expensive, but there are plenty of deals out there as well. Hawaii doesn't need to be looked at as "only for the rich", it's still affordable if you know where to look. Days of spending $750 a night on a hotel room are gone. Instead look for deals with small condominiums, bed & breakfasts and cheaper hotels.

One package that we offer, which is a great value, is our Gold Coast Luxury Wedding. When you are bringing guests, this package can be as little as $192.59 pp per day and that includes the wedding for the bride & groom. I've stayed at the Ritz Carlton and paid $750/ night for a regular hotel room, that's $375 each day for 2 adults. I would much rather been staying at the Luxury 3 bedroom villas right on the beach in sunny South Maui (it rain's a lot in Kapalua where the Ritz Carlton is located). Wedding couples who are planning to bring between 4 and 24 guests and are looking for a value would we well advised about this package, see http://www.hawaiianislandweddings.com/maui_weddings/villas.html for more information.