My wife and I got married at the Fairmont Kea Lani...

My wife and I got married at the Fairmont Kea Lani in August 2018 and it was easily the worst decision all thanks to our wedding coordinator: John Anderson. I didn t know one person could ruin one wedding like he did ours but let me tell you about ours and see if Fairmont Kea Lani is the right venue for your dream wedding.

In our wedding package, the Fairmont Kea Lani offered a live musician for ours. My wife and I wanted a live musician for the cocktail hour and expressed this to John and he said he can make it happen. In our wedding contract, it stated there would a live musician. In our notes, there would be a live musician. In our emcee s notes, there would be a live musician. So on our wedding day, why were there no live musicians and our guests had to listen to Pandora Radio .with COMMERCIALS? If John can t handle a simple wedding package what makes you think he can handle your dream wedding? John s lack of attention to detail was on display but it only gets better.

Our wedding was open bar but some of the specialty drinks (Mai Tais and Lava Flows) were by consumption . I had a feeling Fairmont Kea Lani would try to ring up on bill and John Anderson did not disappoint. We didn t post any signs advertising these drinks but told some guests about these drinks during the wedding. After the wedding, we find out that 72 lava flows and 3 mai tais were consumed . These drinks were never consumed. They had runners trying to pass out these drinks during cocktail hour. When these drinks were declined, they were hidden away behind the bartender yet John tried to charge us over $1,000 for these unconsumed drinks. I have been to many weddings in Hawaii including the Four Reasons Maui and the Disney Aulani (on Oahu) and I never seen any alcohol beverages being passed around like that and the wedding couple getting charged like that. When confronting John about this post-wedding, he stated that my guests were thirsty . This is not only unacceptable but unethical on John Anderson and the Fairmont Kea Lani s part. I told him that I wasn t going to pay that bill and he obliged. He knew what he did was wrong because he got caught red handed. John Anderson is the opposite embodiment of the Aloha Spirit by trying to squeeze every last penny from you.

Before the wedding, we asked John Anderson to store some engagement pictures and the Japanese Folding Cranes display which is essential for any Japanese weddings. These pictures would be displayed at the ceremony then transferred to the reception. During the ceremony, the Japanese Folding Cranes display was no where to be found. There was an empty easel with no crane display. You would think something was missing but then again John s incompetence comes into play yet again. For an establishment that only does one wedding a day, how difficult is it to store five pictures for a wedding? It took countless man hours to make the display and John Anderson and his team cannot store and find the display in a timely manner? After the wedding, John stated that he thought the Japanese Folding Cranes display was supposed to only for the reception. If that were the case, then why was he and his staff scrambling to put up the display with two hours left in the reception?

My wife and I were disappointed that we picked the Fairmont Kea Lani as our dream wedding destination. It was anything but a dream all thanks to one man: John Anderson. After the wedding, John was 100% in denial mode for anything that went wrong and was full of excuses. Anywhere but the Fairmont Kea Lani would have been a better venue. It was supposed to be one of the happiest days of our lives turned out to be one of the worst. We absolutely regretted this decision and we hope our wedding would be a cautionary tale for anyone considering the Fairmont Kea Lani. There are many beautiful wedding venues all around Maui but the services we received at Fairmont Kea Lani was terrible to say the least. The Fairmont Kea Lani may look like a pot of gold but all we received was a lump of coal.