2008 MAUI WEDDING TERMS & SERVICE CONDITIONS
These terms become a binding agreement between Merry Maui Weddings (hereinafter referred to as "MMW") and the receipient of event services, called a customer once the person has paid MMW any funds towards services, per the following conditions, limitations and disclaimers:
MMW services outlined in email confirmations and subject to the terms within this agreement and customer’s acceptance of said agreement by the paying for said services creates a legally binding contract. Additionally, by checking the box on the credit card authorization/service agreement form signifying that the customer has read and agrees to be bound by the terms and conditions is the same as if the customer had signed this Agreement and gave, mailed or faxed it to MMW.
BOOKING SERVICES: To reserve a date and begin our event coordination services, a minimal wedding package purchase of our "White Gazebo" garden wedding for $395 + tax or our "Summer Romance" beach wedding package for $495 + tax must be made and paid in full. You may always upgrade and add services at a later date, so long as they are ordered within the allotable time. See section on ordering services, below. You may not downgrade a package, once selected and ordered.
Customer understands that he/she/they are responsible to pay any late, overtime or change charges that may be imposed by any Maui wedding service provider, as per their policies. If your wedding is complex, you may receive a wedding itinerary. This is only a guideline to help everyone to keep on schedule. No promises are made that your Maui wedding will go according this schedule, due to circumstances beyond our control, such as your limo getting stuck in traffic. Thus, please DO NOT be late to your wedding, as it will reduce your photo taking time and possibly cause late charges to be imposed by MMW and outside service providers. Allow extra time for possible delays – especially if you plan to travel to or from the Maui’s Westside (Lahaina, Ka’anapali, Kahana, Napili, and Kapalua). If you are so late to your wedding that it cannot take place due to darkness or running out of paid space time, the wedding may be rescheduled, but you will have to pay for a new wedding package or service.
PAYMENTS, AGREEMENT & FEES: We accept secure online payments by all credit and debit cards, plus e-checks, through PayPal or directly by phone with a MasterCard or Visa credit or debit card. Payments made on Maui wedding services will be fully applied towards your Maui wedding package or "a la carte" service(s), and, though payments (and deposits) on packages are non-refundable, all payments can be applied to future dates, should unavoidable changes in your plans occur. (Why are payments made to us non-refundable?) A partial, non-refundable payment deposit (full payment deposit on White Gazebo and Daisy packages) on your Maui wedding package is required 90 days prior to your ceremony. (Why do we require a down payment deposit?)
Final payment (remaining balance) on Maui wedding packages is due 60 days prior to the ceremony. Final payments on wedding packages must be made no later than 14 days prior to your wedding date, or wedding services by Merry Maui Weddings, hereinafter called "MMW," or its sub-contracted, independent service providers may NOT be rendered due to failure to pay by the aforementioned due dates.
Any customer who provides a credit card charge back in response to a an amount charged due to an order made to MMW will be subject to collections and legal action. Charge backs are NEVER an acceptable means of attaining a refund. Further, by ordering any service through MMW you are bound by these terms and conditions and must follow and agree to them. The following fees will be assessed for all charge back:
$250 + tax charge back processing fee
$1500 + tax penalty for charge back usage
If collections action is required, a 22% collections fee will be assessed as well for the total amount.
CONTRACTS/AGREEMENTS/INVOICES: We normally work with e-agreements to confirm our services. If you require a written contract, there will be a $25 + tax processing charge, and the signed contract MUST be mailed or faxed back to us at (808)878-8580 no sooner than 60 days prior to the wedding or event.
OUR LIABILITY:
Although MMW carries its own liability insurance, it is limited in scope and not fully inclusive of all possible injuries or damage to property that may occur at any event. MMW recommends that you purchase insurance for your wedding, reception or event, just to be sure. Due to the inherent unsafe nature of outdoor public locations, such as sudden and unexpected ocean waves, uneven sand and ground surfaces, undeveloped trails and slippery ocean cliffs without railings, MMW does not and cannot accept responsibility for the physical safety of the bride or groom or of their family or guests, during, before or after your event on Maui. MMW specifically disclaims all responsibility for any physical injury or damage to your personal property, inconvenience or unanticipated necessary additional expenses that may occur at any wedding location, or while you are on Maui.
YOUR SERVICE PROVIDERS:
Most services provided in our Maui wedding and vow renewal packages, your wedding reception and from our “a la carte” menu are provided by independently sub-contracted wedding service providers of our choice. The services we provide in-house are: in-office planning services and on-site event coordination, wedding attendants, ministers and photographers. Each individual outside service provider is, ultimately, responsible for your satisfaction with their service, however, since we are your representative, we will always strongly defend your position as a customer. This means that we will do everything in our power to ensure that your service will be performed or provided in the highest quality manner and that if it is not, we will take steps to make sure that some sort of recompense be made. We will always take every conceivable step and procedure to ensure that the service rendered will be excellent. However, because it is impossible for us to assume the responsibility of the actions of subcontracted service providers, MMW cannot guarantee the services rendered by outside wedding service providers shall be flawless in nature or to your full expectations. Our commitment is limited to arranging and coordinating the services you require for your wedding day based upon the Maui wedding package or wedding/reception services you have chosen - we cannot be responsible for the actions of other companies whom we arrange to provide a service to you. However, to protect our reputation and to ensure your satisfaction, we always employ tried-and-true preferred service providers with whom we have had positive past experiences with and with whom we’ve heard continual positive feedback from our customers. This is why we do not allow outside service providers that we have not hired for your event, as explained in more detail under the next heading.
USING NON-RECOMMENDED SERVICE PROVIDERS:
Unless pre-approved by MMW, clients may not provide (book and pay for) their own choice of event service providers, except those that are included in MMW’s list of recommended providers, who regularly provide many of the services in our event packages. The exception to this rule is using your own minister or providing your own bouquet, which we would need to be informed about, as soon as you know about it. Our "worry-free" wedding packages are designed so that the purchaser has to do nothing, but answer a few questions and provide information to us, and we do all of the work setting everything up. Our goal is that you simply show up to your wedding, and everything will have been taken care of, without your having to have worried about a thing.
We do not allow service providers outside of those booked by MMW at our events because it is not possible for us to accept any responsibility, whatsoever, for services provided by companies or individuals whom we are not familiar with nor accustomed to working with, nor can we be responsible for your satisfaction with these providers. It is our goal to ensure that you will experience the highest quality wedding possible. Thus, we only work with companies that we regularly employ, as these are the only service providers we know well enough that we can vouch for them and can stand behind the quality of their services. Our service providers have proven themselves to be reliable, trustworthy, cheerful and generous, providing an excellent service every time. Because we cannot be certain of the promptness, reliability, outcome or quality of non-MMW recommended or pre-approved service provider's work, we will not work with them, because any problems or dissatisfactions that could arise from using other companies are out of MMW’s control and could impede our ability to provide you with a quality wedding. If you utilize an outside company to provide a wedding service to you without our knowledge, such as a limo, cake or florist, be it stated that it is the responsibility of that company to provide your service to you completely, from beginning to end. For example, MMW does not offer delivery or clean-up service for flowers or cakes ordered from another company. For instance, MMW will only provide cake service for a cake purchased from another company, if MMW cake service is purchased.
SUBMITTING “A la Carte” ORDERS, CHANGES, QUESTIONS & REQUESTS:
All orders, changes, stated preferences, determined choices and every request of any and all kinds are required to be submitted by email to info@merrymauiweddings.com or by fax (808-878-8580 24 hrs 7 days). Please do not consider your changes or requests as confirmed without the receipt of an emailed or faxed confirmation from MMW. Telephone orders, changes or requests cannot be guaranteed! Please do not assume that, because you send an email to us, it was received. The only way to guarantee that we have received your requests is by a return confirmation from MMW. Should you not receive a confirmation within 96 hours from your request, please call (888)588-0400, toll-free, asap. It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that your list of wedding services includes everything you are expecting. Submitted material for ceremony: All submitted transcripts, poems, notes, special vows, etc., by client to MMW that are to be used in your ceremony, must be provided in copy form. Do not submit originals, as their return is not assured.
“A la Carte” ORDERS, CANCELLATIONS/REFUNDS* & UPGRADES:
Should you desire to request, change or cancel ordered additional services, the request must be made in writing by fax or sent by email and confirmed prior to being considered accepted by MMW. Full payment for those additional services will be due immediately, or, if approved by MMW, no later than 14 days prior to the actual wedding date, but are NOT CONFIRMED until paid in full. We do NOT accept most new “a la carte” orders, changes OR ANY cancellations, nor most upgrade orders or changes within 7 days of your wedding!!!
All Prices are plus 4.166% HI State GET tax. Credit given from deleted services included in wedding packages are credited 60% of above “a la carte” prices. Services not confirmed, nor prices frozen, until “a la carte” services are paid in full! Those purchasing “a la carte” items without a paid-for wedding package will be required to purchase a minimum of $495 worth of goods or services. Depending on distance of location, certain on-site services may be subject to gasoline surcharges. Services ordered on holidays may be subject to additional charges starting at $100 per service. Changes or cancellations of ordered but not paid-for “a la carte” services will be subject to a $50 + tax charge fee per change/cancellation. Cancellations of ALL paid-for “a la carte” services - including activities such as luaus - will have your account credited 60% of the items/services cost before tax. We do not provide refunds, but only credit towards your account with us, which can be applied to other services.
SPECIAL NOTE: Acitivities, such as luaus, booked through Merry Maui Weddings and cancelled will be subject to cancellation policies of the individual activity provider. Thus, cancelling an activity may result in no credit or refund. Even if the provider offers a refund, Merry Maui Weddings will charge a 40% fee to process the cancellation.
* ATTEMPTING TO FORCE A REFUND BY A CREDIT CARD CHARGE BACK: Any customer who provides a credit card charge back in response to a an amount charged due to an order made to MMW will be subject to collections and legal action. Charge backs are NEVER an acceptable means of attaining a refund. Further, by ordering any service through MMW you are bound by these terms and conditions and must follow and agree to them. The following fees will be assessed for all charge back:
$250 + tax charge back processing fee
$1500 + tax penalty for charge back usage
If collections action is required, a 22% collections fee will be assessed as well for the total amount.
Thus, please consider carefully what items/services you wish to add to your package BEFORE you order them to avoid change/cancellation charges. We recommend ordering your “a la carte” services 60 DAYS prior to your event, except for private locations, activities, specific minister, musician, photographer or videographer, due to their limited availability. No last minute orders accepted. All “a la carte” items/services pricing subject to change until paid in full. Even once ordered, we cannot guarantee services will be provided by the originally-booked provider, but do guarantee the service will be re-booked, if necessary, with an equivalent provider. For example, a specific Hawaiian-style ukulele player or duo may become unavailable after you book their services. Our recourse is to book a different Hawaiian-style ukulele player or duo for you. Many “a la carte” services, such as activities, transportation (limo or mini-bus) bookings, large or exotic floral orders, specific musicians, ministers, photographers, in-room hair & make-up services, etc., may require to be ordered by email or fax and paid for no later than 60 days prior to your event to confirm the service.
WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED:
All of our Maui wedding packages, except the Wailele package, include ONLY free, open to the public wedding locations, but do not include the possible cost of a County of Maui permit that may be required to have a larger event on popular public lands. Premium, private Maui wedding sites require additional charges, which are to be paid in full at the time of the required deposit. As priced without "a la carte" upgrades, MMW wedding packages DO NOT include a separate REHEARSAL meeting, nor a reception nor any other service not outlined in the finalized outline invoice of services ordered. Our higher-end packages include an onsite wedding coordinator present at your ceremony and a special, Pre-Wedding Planning Meeting, which is a 1-hour long meeting in our office or at a public location of our choice, where we go over everything. Special meetings or rehearsals at your chosen outside Maui wedding location require an additional minimum payment of $300 plus tax, per hour. Two wedding planners would be present at these meetings. Gratuities (tips) to service providers are NOT included, but appropriate. Additional items/services required at certain weddings, such as tents, chairs, water, or additional on-site MMW personnel dedicated to the needs of your guests, are NOT included in the pricing of our wedding packages. Our wedding packages are priced for groups of only 2-10, depending on the package chosen. Weddings with over 20 persons are suggested to be held at private locations and require a wedding (guest) attendant.
CONDITIONAL CHARGES:
In most cases, we do not recommend outdoor Hawaii weddings that take place at sea level to begin before 4pm, due to extreme climate conditions (excessive heat and bright lighting) that are not conducive to pleasant weddings, or good photography. Outdoor weddings on the beach or at lower elevations are ideally set for 1 to 2 hours before sunset. Although the most desirable time slot, the sunset time slot does not carry any extra charges. However, weddings booked on a national holiday will be charged a $300 surcharge, due to the higher cost of doing business during holidays, and are subject to availability. Weddings on Maui's far East Side (Hana, Kipahulu) are subject to a minimum $300 distance charge, which would be added to your Maui wedding package's price. “A la carte” services do not include possible distance charges imposed by outside service providers. Please call our office to see if your Maui wedding package or “a la carte” service might be subject to distance charges and what those charges may be.
MOBILE (FUEL SURCHARGE) FEES:
At the present time, there are no additional fuel surcharges for gasoline costs incurred by traveling to your wedding location, besides the distance charges outlined, above. Should there be a hike of gasoline costs, where the price of regular gasoline goes over $4.89 per gallon in Maui, we will be forced to add a $25 + tax fuel surcharge to all wedding services, even services that have been paid in full. Additionally, should there be a fuel price hike to over $4.89 per gallon, there may be fuel/distance charges imposed by your outside wedding service providers, as well. As of 3/5/08, Maui Regular-Grade fuel costs are averaging $4.09 per gallon.
GUEST RULES:
Guests at weddings require special attention and needs, some of which are not always initially considered by the bride & groom. We at MMW care about your guests and want to ensure that your Maui wedding is a joyful and comfortable experience for them, too. With guests numbering 20 and over, we require that their needs and comfort be attended to. MMW requires that you book a wedding attendant for every 20 guests at your wedding or vow renewal. Guest attendants are available “a la carte,” starting at $175 + tax, per attendant. We require one attendant per 20 guests. We also offer wonderful guest packages: Package #1) On-site MMW staff member(s) dedicated to the comfort and needs of your guests + 1 bottle of cold, filtered water = $12 + tax per guest. Package #2) Same as Package #1 with the addition of a white, padded, resin chair = $25 + tax per person. Package #3) Same as Package #2 with the addition of a chilled, moist cloth face towel to cool guests off = $29 + tax per guest. Additional “a la carte” guest amenities include: Amplification of ceremony = $50-$95 + tax; Guest toast served in a plastic cup = $3 + tax per guest or in a glass or crystal champagne flute = $6 + tax per guest; Fresh flower guest leis = $15 + tax per guest. Please be considerate of your guests and ensure that you bring a cooler with cold water for each guest.
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Due to difficult outdoor lighting conditions sometimes encountered during weddings in Hawaii, complete satisfaction of outdoor photography cannot be guaranteed – nor will any refund be made. We do NOT recommend photo shoots taken at sea level &/or outdoors before 4pm due to eye squinting & sweating that makes for undesirable photos. If you choose a time before 4pm for your photo shoot and are not satisfied with your photos, we will NOT refund your money. Photographic services promised/guaranteed are limited to the fulfillment of the agreed upon photo image/print commitment, (# of prints or images promised based on your specific wedding or photo package). Our refund liability: In the extremely rare event that there is a technical problem that results in no photographic images being taken or coming out to the satisfaction of the photographer, or, if there is an instance of where your photographer is not able to make it to the event, due to a severe traffic tie-up, disaster, sudden sickness, etc., our refund liability to you is limited. Under no circumstance, shall MMW be liable for more than the purchase price of the photographic service. In the case of Maui wedding photography services purchased as part of a Maui wedding package, our liability is limited to a maximum of $200.00. MMW will not compensate customer nor provide partial refunds if less images or if less time is consumed for photo taking than promised in a package, due to the customer being late to their wedding or other circumstance occurs that causes the start time to be so delayed that darkness or the agreed upon photo taking time becomes reduced because of a late starting time. Be it understood that MMW photo taking time starts at the appointed and set start time, regardless if the wedding or event starts late. Therefore, every minute the event starts late, it is a minute removed from your package's photo taking time limit. Images or Prints: Due to the onset of digital photographic technology and in keeping with our exceptionally low pro-photography pricing in our Maui wedding packages, some of MMW’s lower-priced wedding packages do NOT include prints or albums. Please be careful in choosing your package, with this in mind. If your package promises a certain number of images – and does not mention prints – you do not receive prints. Be assured, however, that it costs less than 20¢ per print to have your photos printed at your local Wal-Mart or Costco stores. Photographic style policy: MMW’s photographers employ a mix of “photojournalistic” and composed (directed and arranged) styles of capturing imagery, where a complete story gets told in the pictures, because you will receive excellent images/prints taken from the very beginning, throughout, even to the very end of the event, if time permits. Studio-type photography is available at extra cost. Photo Rights Policy: Our policy in regard to whom retains photo rights to your wedding pictures is simple. We both do. It is our normal policy to share photo rights with you, although we will also make special arrangements for full photo rights release on a case-by-case basis, and, sometimes at additional charge. Normally, however, we permit full and unlimited printing, publishing, displaying and sharing of your images with whomever you please, so long as you state somewhere on the image that the picture was taken by and copyrighted by Vincent Salamander, if you use the picture on a contest or commercially. We do not ask for financial compensation from you if your picture wins you a financial prize in a photo contest. We also will not offer you nor be obligated or liable to pay you a financial compensation of any kind if we win a financial prize from the submission of your photo to a photo contest or if the image is purchased by a media buyer. We routinely retain the right to publish or display your picture on our websites and all other promotional media without explicit permission from the subject in the photo used. Utilizatiion of our services constitutes your acceptance of these terms. Photo shoot length policy: The “Summer Romance” and “White Gazebo” packages include 45 minutes of photography time. Most other MMW wedding packages include a 1 to 2 hour photo shoot at one location and include one photographer, only. Our Wailele package includes a separate (1 hr limit) photo shoot at a South Maui beach location. Additional time or multi-camera shoots are available for $100 + tax, per ½ hour, per photographer and includes appx 40+ additional images/prints, per photographer, per ½ hour. Photo shoot may or may not include pre or post wedding pictures, depending on the time of day the wedding takes place, how much overtime photography time is purchased (or included in wedding packages) and whether people show up on time to the wedding. Weddings with 20+ guests in attendance may require additional photography time to adequately cover post-wedding festivities and group shots. Over-time policy: Photo overtime is available for $100 per ½ hour + tax and includes appx 40+ additional images/prints and an additional location, in most cases. Any overtime verbally requested and authorized at the wedding or event by the bride, groom or their parents, will be charged to the credit card on file. So, please consider any overtime charges you may expect will be necessary, prior to your event. Special shots requests: Please provide the photographer with a list of specific shots you desire captured, i.e. groupings, angles, etc., by emailing your requests to vincent@merrymauiweddings.com. There is no extra charge for specially requested shots. Event location policy: MMW’s photographer will recommend the most idyllic location(s) at your Maui wedding site for optimal photographic results. If your choice of location is less than idyllic, according to the photographer’s assessment, you may not be fully satisfied with the photographs. Late morning, mid-day and early afternoon photography is not recommended, as the lighting during these times is less than idyllic (extreme brightness/shadows and heat, resulting in sweating & eye squinting, not to mention overcrowded beaches). Photo equipment policy: Event will be shot using a pro-digital SLR camera, unless a 35mm film SLR camera is specifically requested. The cameras are mounted with a top-of-the-line professional electronic flash. Unless you request b&w photos, they will all be shot in color. With each photo shoot, you may request up to 10 b&w images/prints at no additional charge. However, any individual image can be converted to b&w for a small additional charge, or all your images/photos can be b&w at no extra charge. Photo optimization policy: Special indirect reflective lighting is available to achieve superior results at $200, plus tax, per shoot. Special effect post-wedding production (such as bouquet in color, all else in b&w) can be ordered at $100 + tax, per image. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: MMW’s professional photographic staff recommends the purchase of our in-house PhotoShop image enhancement & correction for all photo orders involving outdoor weddings. This process will correct, enhance and optimize every image, which, otherwise, might not be optimal without optimization. PhotoShop optimization is available at $150-$400 per photo order + tax. Enlargements policy: With packages offering enlargements, customer is responsible to notify MMW by email which images to enlarge, within 30 days from ceremony date. If MMW does not get notified within 30 days, MMW’s photographer(s) reserve the right to choose their own favorite image(s) to enlarge. Turn-over time policy: Photo CD's take 24 hrs to 2 weeks to be received by client. Photo albums and prints, including enlargements, typically take 3-60 days to be received, depending on our work-load and the size of your photo package. If you are in a hurry to get your prints or photo album, the processing time can be shortened to 72-96 hrs = $200 + tax or 97-120 hrs = $100 + tax. The completed, rushed photo album (minus enlargements or photo gallery) will be available for pick-up at our office. Photo rush with delivery to Kahului (a central Maui location) please add $50 + tax. Enlargements are not included in the rush option. Custom published coffee table picture books will be delivered to your door 8-12 weeks (including shipping time) after your event date, due to the extra time required to custom design each page in your book and get it printed and shipped. Picture choosing policy: MMW’s regular policy is that our professional photographers use their own discretion in deciding which images/prints are presented to you. This is true in all cases except with packages where only roll(s) of film are shot, then given to the customer at the end of the wedding. In every other case, you may elect to choose your own images/prints, if you prefer, at an additional charge of $100 + tax to cover the special in-office meeting required to do this. Please note - we do not usually recommend client’s choosing their own images/prints, because MMW already presents you with all the pictures worth presenting – and the number of images/prints that you will receive “most often” exceeds the number promised in your package by sometimes up to 50% or more. Our advice is that you receive all the images/prints we give you, then omit/delete any images/prints which do not appeal to you. Website gallery policy: Galleries are comprised of our top favorite images from your wedding. They shall be completed within 4 weeks from your wedding date, in most cases, and sometimes in less than 2 weeks. You will be notified by email when the gallery is completed, and you will be emailed a special email designed to be forwarded to your friends and family, worldwide, with a link to your site, for their easy viewing pleasure. Web galleries are viewable for 3 months after they have been completed, after which they become deleted. You may extend your gallery for 9 additional months, or we can permanently upload the files onto the computer of your choice, for $75 + tax
VIDEOGRAPHY:
Professional videography is included in our higher-end Maui wedding packages, and includes a 1½ to 2 hour video shoot, depending on package. Over-time policy: Overtime may be required, if you have guests numbering over 20, as complete coverage of weddings with larger numbers of guests, usually takes up to 2 hours or more to capture. To cover the additional time and costs, overtime may be purchased at $100 + tax per ½ hour. Otherwise, the video may include only the bride & groom and wedding party, due to time restraint of a 1-hour video shoot. Smaller wedding package videography policy: The “Gardenia” wedding package includes a 36 min DVD with up to 1½ hr video shoot using a pro-digital DVD video camera on a tripod, recorded with a wireless microphone for professional sound. It comes unedited, then presented to you on DVD at the end of the wedding. Larger package videography policy: Our “Plumeria” to “Jasmine” wedding packages include a digital broadcast-quality video shot and edited by our higher-end professional video production company or, if not available, by an equivalent, preferred, company of our choice, using pro-digital, broadcast quality 3-chip equipment (if available) with dual top-of-the-line ultra-clear wireless lapel microphones, then exquisitely edited with a custom DVD menu, intro with amazingly beautiful opening scenes of Maui from above and below, tastefully produced titles, and music. The Deluxe edited video has a custom animated DVD menu with an animated looping clip from your wedding with your choice of music and a photo montage. Your completed video, normally 25-45 minutes in length, is then presented to you on 1 DVD. Our "Ultra" edited video is longer, includes more editing time and a fancier photo montage of photos you provide, or stills frozen from your video. Extra DVD’s are available for $95 + tax, each. The original master digital tape is available for $50 + tax. Turn-Over Time: Processing time may take up to 4 weeks and can be as short as 3-5 days, but a rush is not guaranteed without a rush charge of $100 + tax. Special requests: If your video service offers you a choice of music or includes a photo montage, your desired music and photos must be provided to the videographer at the wedding. All special requests for specific styles of editing or fonts used in the titles, for example, must be made by email by the day of the wedding. Please burn a copy of your music for the videographer – DO NOT PROVIDE YOUR ORIGINAL CD – as the returning of your CD is not guaranteed. If you do not request and provide your music by your wedding date and make special requests by email, as instructed, the video will not be re-edited at a later date without a minimum charge of $100 + tax. Our refund liability: In the extremely rare event that your videographer is a “no show,” due to traffic or any other reason, or if there is a technical problem that results in complete dissatisfaction of your video, specifically inaudible sound or indecipherable picture, our liability to you is limited. Under no circumstance, shall MMW be liable for more than the purchase price of the video service. In the case of a video purchased as part of a Maui wedding package, our liability is limited to a maximum of $200.
FLOWERS & FLORAL PACKAGES:
Promotional (free) limited-time bouquets come only in presentation style. Bouquets regularly included in our higher-end Maui wedding packages are small to medium-sized, French hand-tied, designer fresh flower bouquets that retail for no more than $85 and are custom hand-made from readily available – NOT exotic or special order flowers. Leis included in the Daisy and White Gazebo packages are made of fresh flowers or are of the currently in style kukui nut variety. Our larger packages, from the Orchid and up, are fresh flower leis, but not custom made to order. If we cannot obtain fresh flower leis for you due to a shortage, we will provide the bride & groom with kukui nut leis, another traditional Hawaiian lei. You may indicate a color scheme and flower preference, and we will work to meet your requests, but, we do not guarantee special requests without the addition of upgrade fees to cover the extra cost of custom flower-order bouquets and leis. Please note: Even if you are willing to pay the special upgrade charge involved in ordering bouquets and leis made of special-order flowers, your choice of flower(s) may not be available, due to weather problems or a shortage of availability. Should a fresh flower availability crisis occur on Maui, due to shipping strikes or severe weather damage, resulting in current flower pricing to skyrocket, we reserve the right to charge extra fees on top of your existing – even finalized and fully paid – wedding package, to cover these extra costs. Be assured that this scenario is an extremely rare occurrence, however. Though uncommon, floral “a la carte” orders are subject to increase – even in paid packages – due to rare flower price fluctuations. We do not accept last minute floral orders – all flower orders must be made no later than 7 days prior to your event.
EVENT LOCATION:
All Hawaii beaches are public and you may not reserve a space nor ask people to move for your event. Weddings at popular Maui beaches with over 10 people or any wedding that causes a complaint to the County may be requested to show a permit from the County of Maui, which can be purchased in advance (14 days or more before event) at the Parks Dep't at an additional charge not included in any package. MMW and the MWA restrict chairs to 12 and NO large decoration (such as an arch) on the beach to minimize attracting negative attention, or even worse, causing complaints to the Parks Dept, which will cause officials to come and ask you for the required permit. Thus, we recommend public beaches and beach parks only be used for small, simple, quiet weddings with a maximum of 10 persons and no chairs, amplified music, or overt decoration. There are currently no weddings allowed on Ka'anapali beaches from Canoe Beach (Honokao'o Beach Park) to Honokowai. If you want complete control of your wedding location and no restrictions or permit requirements, we highly recommend booking a private beachfront venue to be sure your wedding will go on smoothly and with no interruptions.Beaches on Maui and in Hawaii often go by several names, so you will likely need to be talked through the directions to a particular “secret” beach cove, for example. When you arrive on Maui, and you’ve settled in, and have a visitor’s map in your hands, please call (808)357-1171 to get this service. Availability or privacy of any beach or forest location cannot be guaranteed, as all beaches and forests are public in Hawaii. Thus, you will have to be open to having to switch locations - even last minute - due to changing conditions and/or lack of space for your event. It is not courteous or legal to ask others to move from where they are in order for you to have a space you desire in a public location. Please do not ask people to move and respect everyone’s right to their own personal space. Since MMW cannot control the weather, we cannot be held responsible for wet or windy weather or excessive heat or glare, nor will we offer a refund for such weather. To ensure availability of your wedding location, we recommend a private, paid location. Due to the nature of non-covered outdoor event locations, which sometimes have undesirable and non-workable weather conditions, MMW retains the right to make the final decision on wedding locations on Maui, especially if photography or videography is included. Paid, private locations are the best way to prevent unwanted noises sounding and people being near your event. It is the customer’s responsibility to go to their chosen event location prior to the event, to ensure that they know how to get to it, and how long it takes to get there, so that on the day of the event, there are no delays, or, even worse, getting completely lost and missing the event entirely. It is also the responsibility of the bride & groom to ensure that any guests or members of their wedding party know how to get to the wedding location on Maui. Make sure that everyone involved goes to the site, before the ceremony takes place, to be certain that they know the exact location of the ceremony. It is also the responsibility of the bride & groom to inform their guests as to the seating arrangements and any other detail that their guests need to know about before the ceremony takes place. Make sure you all carry cellphones when attempting to meet at a site, so you may all reach each other in case someone gets lost.
A wedding location is to be chosen from our wedding locations webpage (http://www.merrymauiweddings.com/maui_wedding_locations.html) at the time of booking. If no location is chosen by customer and communicated to MMW by acceptable means (email or fax with a return confirmation) upon the receipt of the intial deposit or full payment for a service, MMW will automatically assign the default wedding location, "Sugar Beach," in North Kihei - a centrally located golden sand beach. You may qualify to choose a different site once you are here, so long as the following conditions are met: In order to avoid confusion, no changes can be accepted to a public wedding location choice if request for a change is made with less than 48 hours to the event. If a change of location request is received by email or fax only with more than 48 hours to the event, it must be confirmed by email or fax by MMW prior to being considered confirmed. There will also be a $56.25 change fee applied to changes and are subject to availability and approval by MMW personnel. No refunds will be made if you request a location change by phone, don't receive a confirmation email from us, and end up at the originally agreed upon location for your event.
HOTEL/RESORT WEDDINGS:
Hotel weddings require additional coordination efforts to accomplish and are more difficult to do, but we gladly coordinate such weddings for our customers, at a fraction of the cost charged by the hotel’s coordination office. However, most hotels & resorts require that all “a la carte” wedding services, such as cake, chairs, sparkling cider or champagne & ice bucket, etc., are to be purchased through the hotel or resort, which charge up to 80% more for these items and services than does MMW. Thus, additional charges may be added to your MMW wedding package, if it to take place in a hotel or resort and includes any of these items or services, so we may pay the hotels their inflated prices. Thankfully, we can recommend several, beautiful private locations for your wedding, where these restrictions don’t exist. Call, if you’d like to hear about them. All major hotels and resorts on Maui charge a premium fee to utilize their grounds for weddings, thus these costs would be added to your Maui wedding package, as only free, open-to-the-public locations are part of our wedding packages.
RESCHEDULING, REFUNDS & CANCELATION:
Although all payments made on Maui wedding packages, including deposits, are non-refundable, all payments made may be applied to future dates, should unavoidable changes occur in your plans. (Why are payments made to us non-refundable?) Most services ordered “a la carte,” are also non-refundable, as per the individual service provider’s policies. Any "a la carte" refunds that are granted by outside service providers will have an additional 40% refund processing fee deducted from such refunds by MMW. Although many of the services offered in our wedding packages can be omitted from the packages and the package issued a partial credit, videography & photography cannot be removed from any package that contains them. Items or services omitted from packages will be credited 60% of the “a la carte” price. There is a $25 rescheduling charge, if we are given over 60 days notice and a $75 rescheduling charge if we are notified of your change of date request within 30-60 days. There is a $150 rescheduling charge if you change your dates within 29 days of your previously set wedding date. However, it is not possible to guarantee the rescheduling of weddings at a time that is convenient or preferable to you. Forced Reschedulings: Weddings that are forced to be rescheduled due to unavoidable circumstances, such as a highway being closed due to a large accident, preventing service providers (ie, your minister) from showing up to the wedding on time, may be rescheduled, often times at no additional cost, but perishable flower orders, for instance, will have to be repurchased and paid for by the customer. Often times, outside service providers, such as musicians and videographers, will require at minimum a rescheduling charge, as well. Please ask your wedding coordinator for more information and further clarification regarding forced rescheduled events, which are highly uncommon.
Any payments you have made to us and any service rendered by us and accepted by you acknowledges that you agree with these terms & conditions and that you promise to abide by them and to not hold us responsible for that which we have disclaimed herein. Please print out these 2008 Terms & Conditions for your records and check for any changes that might have been made since the date you last read these terms.
These terms & conditions have last been updated 4/16//08 and supersede all previous versions.