Well, we want you to know the true & sincere answer!
Why do you charge a deposit to hold a date?
We charge a deposit to hold a date because, otherwise, other couples may come along and book their wedding on your preferred date and time. Only when a deposit is made, can a date be blocked out in our calendars for you. The best way to secure your wedding, is to choose a date and wedding package, then pay the required non-refundable deposit, which varies by package. When you do this, you will have held a date, and booked a package with its price frozen from the date the deposit was made.
Why are your charges non-refundable?
A confirmed wedding date (with a paid deposit) is a promise, llike the committment that you both are making to each other, it is a serious matter. By the time you book a wedding and pay the non-refundable deposit and subsequent payments, we will have already been working on your wedding, by providing crucial information and hours of personal service, spending hours "behind the scenes" in our office, employing a staff, etc., to do all this work for you. This is the information age and what we provide is an excellent service that requires valuable, insider information that you would otherwise not have access to. The information and connections we have are very valuable to you, which is why you need a dependable and experienced coordination team, working on your behalf, honestly and with a mission to serve. We employ the best service providers on your behalf and act as your representatives - your inside conncection - on Maui.
After you pay your deposit, your wedding goes up in priority to a paid wedding status. At this point, we immediately begin booking your services, etc. - 90-95% of the time, energy and costs spent on your wedding is in the pre-wedding coordination phase. The wedding comes and goes in a flash, but it is the cumulation of hours of work by a staff of several people, and of long distance charges, internet service charges, advertising, insurance, etc., etc., where most of the energy, time and expense occur. We also hold your date, thereby making it unavailable to other customers. This also happens with our service providers, who, once we book their time, they block out their date and lose potential customers, sometimes because of it. They count on the service they are committing to. If you cancel, you are breaking a promise and an agreement. You would be the one who has turned from their promise, because, we have never canceled a wedding on a customer, yet. Once a cancelation occurs, we then have to spend even more time canceling all the service providers' services, which can be as time consuming as booking the services in the first place. Most of these service providers also have non-refundable payment policies, for the very same reasons.
Booking a wedding is a serious committment that begins a comprehensive cycle of activities that will manifest your dream wedding. Once it is booked, it is done. Let your dream come true! A couple recently tried to cancel their wedding, but then changed their minds because we wouldn't refund monies paid to us. The bride got upset and said, "I'm gonna come to Maui and it better be the best damned wedding I could ever imagine." (true quote) They came, married, and she had "the best damned wedding" she could ever imagine! (true story.) Once we had a couple that broke up after they booked and before their scheduled wedding. Because we consider weddings our ministry in the world, instead of being glad they canceled, we felt horrible about it and felt compeled to talk & email them into reconsidering their decision, which took several calls and emails, reminding them of their committment and what that means on a very deep level. They thought about it for months, and, at the last moment before the couple was to have lost their flight reservations to Maui (which were non-refundable, too) changed their minds and came to Maui and had the most romantic wedding we've ever witnessed! They were all over each other like as if they were still in the infactuation phase of their relationship. (true story).
If you must cancel, we offer the options of changing your date to a future one, subject to availablity, or even to transfer your credit to a friend or loved one, if you feel you will never make it to Maui for your dream Maui wedding. We want you to have the wedding you were committing yourselves to. It means a lot to us. We always suggest people rethink their cancelations, when they occur, because a wedding is a holy thing that, once committed to, should happen, because God wants it to. And, who wouldn't want to be "Maui'd"?
