Maui Beach Wedding – ‘goose’ update

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Just talked with Jill Carl, the Government Chair of the Maui Wedding Association, who reminded me that the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) is holding approval of beach wedding permits beyond September 15, 2009.

This DOES NOT mean permits won’t be issued, simply that the DLNR has further restrictions to announce to the wedding industry in Hawaii. These restrictions will probably include the use of ‘props’ such as those mentioned in my earlier post “…the ‘goose’ is simmering.’

Beach weddings in Hawaii, prior to September 15, using chairs and other so-called props should be fine.

Aloha,
Ron Winckler
Pacific Island Weddings Ltd.
because maui and las vegas are oceans apart®

Maui Beach Wedding Permit – the ‘goose’ is simmering

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In an earlier post (“Ahab and the whale“) I alluded to the state’s propensity to ‘off’ the Golden Goose with the implementation of permits for beach weddings. A meeting between the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and Oahu wedding professionals held yesterday (Monday, August 11) bears this out.

The goose, still honking but trussed (with permitting requirements), is in the pot and the heat has been turned up.

Jill Carl of the Maui Wedding Association attended this gathering and reported the outcome yesterday morning.

“It was as we suspected,” she told me. “The state is moving ahead with more restrictions placed on the wedding industry.”

The restrictions, according to Carl, include banning the use of ‘props’ such as wedding chairs, arches, dinners on the beach, wedding cakes and cake tables. Laura Thielen, interim director of the DLNR ticked off her list of restricted items, all the while repeating, “We’ll work with you (the wedding industry).”

Industry reps were visibly upset. Questions to Thielen about the draconian nature of increased regulation prompted a visibly angry Thielen to respond, “Have we turned down anybody’s request [for a permit]?”

She suggested companies whose clients desire chairs, or even a cake table, do their wedding at a resort or on private property. She didn’t suggest how couples would pay for a resort wedding.

I’m meeting with Jill Carl and other wedding companies this week to discuss this unfolding issue. Something needs to be done to curtail increased regulation by the state. In many areas, not just weddings, the DLNR is throttling not only local businesses, but the multiple thousands who travel to Hawaii each year as well.

Conservation is important. I’m all for protecting Maui’s natural resources. But weddings are among the most benevolent activities that occur on Maui’s beaches. Even surfing schools have caught the gaze of the stern ‘schoolmarm,’ Lauren Thielen. With a severe rap to their knuckles, she has approved the teaching of this HAWAIIAN art, but not the use of surfboards. Surfboards are, apparently, a “prop” as well.

The state, along with the DLNR seem determined to recreate the experience travelers have enjoyed for many decades. They want to turn this place, it’s trails, beaches, waterfalls and lava flows into a museum. You can look, as long as you stand behind the rope.

Who knows what the future will bring? Maybe a ‘virtual’ experience -online only- hosted by a mothering, “protecting the aina” department of the state.

In closing:

The wedding industry throughout the state will be meeting to discuss possible action regarding beach wedding permits and regulations.

The DLNR is holding a meeting on Maui in early September.

I’ll keep you informed.

Aloha,
Ron Winckler
Pacific Island Weddings Ltd.
because maui and las vegas are oceans apart®

Maui Beach Weddings – they 8 it up

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Strains of Wagner’s Wedding March were strained, so to speak, on 8/8/08 at beach wedding locations throughout Maui. Beginning, of course, at 8 a.m., couples and wedding guests swarmed popular locations such as Poolenalena and Makena Cove.
We had only three weddings on this date, a relief compared to last year’s 7/7/07. On that day, we handled thirteen weddings, beginning at 7:07 a.m. and ending at 7:07 p.m.. This go-around was a piece of ‘cake.’ Except for the crowds.
Most of the companies opted for early morning apparently under the impression that on 8/8/08, no one else would consider the early time of 8 a.m.. Our first wedding was scheduled for 9 a.m. at Poolenalena, we arrived by 7:30 a.m..
Already, the parking lot was full and getting fuller by the minute.

Usually empty (somewhat) the lot was filled by 7 a.m. or so

On the beach meanwhile, coveys of wedding groups were moving into position. On Maui, even with newly enacted beach wedding permits, locations are secured on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis. As stated, more were unloading in the parking area.
While Poolenalena is a large beach and typically able to handle multiple nuptials with no problem, this was starting to look like a bad comedy sketch. We pulled the plug on this site, called our couple and held the ceremony at the Honua Kai Lani estate. We manage the estate for the owner and have a little leeway on its use.

Four groups at Maui's Poolenalena Beach, more staging in lot.

Our couple, Percy and De Lois, were thrilled with the alternate site. Who wouldn’t be? It’s amazing.

Driving past Makena Cove (aka ‘Secret’ Cove), cars lined the lava wall fronting the beach area and brides were waiting on the access path. It was a busy day.
The only thing missing on the beaches was Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) enforcement personnel. No one checking beach wedding permits (94 permits were issued for Maui that day), I was kind of bummed. I was looking forward to whipping out our official permit. On this subject…
DLNR officials will meet with wedding companies on Oahu this Tuesday, August 11. Rumors of increased regulation have been circulating, it will be interesting to hear what they tell Oahu before bringing their show to Maui. An associate of mine will be attending the meeting and I’ll post the details on this blog.

Aloha,
Ron Winckler
Pacific Island Weddings Ltd.
because maui and las vegas are oceans apart®

Maui Beach Weddings – permits happening

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Beach permits for Maui weddings are being approved with little difficulty, according to numerous Maui wedding companies. We submitted thirty or so permits about a week ago along with required maps and location designations.

Yet to be determined by the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) is how to deal with people on the beach. While a ‘permit’ allows a wedding on a beach, nothing in the language of the permit indicates authority to ask a group to vacate a permitted location to accommodate the permitted event.

Even if that language did exist, I won’t ask a group of locals to move fishing poles, coolers and hamburger grills (or anyone else for that matter). That would engender bad blood with those the wedding business shares the beach with and, possibly, result in my dangling on a hook attached to an ulua pole. Our company policy will be to simply move to another spot (not another beach) and maintain the “aloha” spirit with all concerned.

Another question raised, mainly by photographers and videographers, concerns a wedding held on county or private locations which don’t require a permit. After the ceremony the bride and groom are often taken to a beach for more pictures. Does this require a permit?

According to Steve Molmen, the DLNR’s Property Manager for the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, the answer is, “I don’t know.” Mike Knowles of Millennium Films Maui posed the question to SM. Mike then called the Maui County Film Office and asked the same question. The answer?

“We don’t know.”

He then asked if a bride and groom would be ticketed if the wedding was not held on the beach. They said they would not be ticketed.

These are, I believe, minor difficulties that will smooth out over time. While the state does what states do everywhere, regulate and complicate, they are attempting to streamline the system.

Aloha,

Ron Winckler
Pacific Island Weddings Ltd
because maui and las vegas are oceans apart®

Maui Beach Weddings – it’s official

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Too good to be true. Instead of the yearly, blanket permit that KGMB Channel 9 intimated last Tuesday, the state has decided to enact a cumbersome but [sigh] workable method for beach wedding permits.

It kicked up quite a firestorm with–some–wedding coordinators concocting half-baked conspiracy theories about the state and Maui’s hotels joining forces to push independent companies out. Still others talked of class-action lawsuits or ignoring the issue altogether.

I had mixed feelings for a few days myself. But after looking over the permit application, while not exactly the most appealing process, it’s certainly doable until something better comes along.

There will be a minimal cost attached. The permit will be 10¢ per square foot calculated at 3 square feet for every attendee. For instance, a wedding party of 50 would be assessed $45. That’s not bad, considering the location of a Maui beach wedding. By comparison, some beaches in California charge $200.00 for a California Beach Permit. (info at bottom of linked page) The referenced site actually states that the permit is $200.00 **PER HOUR**.

Other California based wedding companies also mention permits at similar amounts –and– special permits for photographers at over $100.00. And, while California beaches are nice, they don’t even begin to measure up to those on Maui.

In spite of all the drama along with attendant rumors and speculation, the business of weddings will continue unabated.

Until something changes in this arena, I’m going to move on to different subjects regarding weddings on Maui’s beaches.

Aloha for now,

Ron Winckler

Pacific Island Weddings Ltd

because maui and las vegas are oceans apart®

Maui Beach Weddings – Pele plucks permit?

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For almost two years I have worked with Jill Carl of the Maui Wedding Association, a few other independent wedding companies along with state and county officials, on a yearly permit for conducting weddings on Hawaii’s beaches.

This permit process seemed consigned to whatever lava tube the state uses for archiving good ideas, to be replaced with a cumbersome, one permit for ten weddings (I incorrectly posted 1 permit for each wedding yesterday). 

But!

A followup report today, of KGMB Channel 9’s coverage of the meeting between the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and Maui’s wedding industry reps indicates that maybe Pele plucked our proposal out the tube. According to Channel 9’s Howard Dicus, the DLNR is now considering the annual permit approach. 

If this is the case, that’s great news. 

A blanket permit, given to wedding companies that meet basic criteria, will resolve, once and for all, this “Sword of Damocles” dangling over the collective heads of Hawaii’s wedding purveyors. (And, of course, Hawaii’s Destination Wedding couples.)

“If this is the case” then the state is to be congratulated for listening to the concerns of Maui’s wedding professionals. Particularly DLNR’s Morris Atta, who took the brunt of legitimate, thoughtful criticism along with the paranoid rants of a few wedding reps that the island–and the wedding business– would be better off without.

There will be more on this subject in the very near future.

Still tracking it…

Ron Winckler

Pacific Island Weddings Ltd.
because maui and las vegas are oceans apart®

Maui Beach Weddings – Ahab and the whale

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The much anticipated confab of state officials and Maui wedding professionals, re beach wedding permits, happened this morning (June 23, 2008).

Morris Atta, Land Administrator for the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) presented the State’s, alleged, ‘pilot program’ for wedding permits. It quickly became apparent that “pilot program” was not exactly the right term, unless one accepts a blind pilot with no discernible flight program as righteous. 

The ‘program’ basically consists of the state enforcing outdated regulations that have been on the books for years. Up till now, Hawaii’s DLNR have followed a policy of benevolent neglect, turning a blind eye to the business of beach weddings. As of August 1, 2008–they say–that will change.

“…beaches are a public resource,” said Atta. “You’re asking for free use. We’re [the state] trying to find something that works.” Apparently what “works” is filing a permit, with a diagram of the wedding setup, including accurate reporting of square footage to be used at 10 cents per square foot.

Not too bad? It could get badder. 

The state also wants at least one week advance notice (the archaic permit regulation, as written, required 45 days notice). Many wedding companies, including ours, receive calls for wedding services with no notice (a few margaritas, one too many sunsets then a trip to the license agent). In addition they will require reporting guest counts, beaches used for weddings and more. In short, they threaten to regulate the ‘rom’ out of ‘romantic’ leaving hapless lovers with only a bureaucratic antic.

Telling a bride that her wedding dress is “awfully tight” isn’t smart. Telling a room full of wedding professionals that they have to twist and turn to do their jobs in a shrinking market is equally ill-advised. Especially with Mexico and other locales effectively competing for Destination Wedding business.

One coordinator, a cast on her foot, clomped to the dais berating the unsuspecting Atta. Like Ahab on the back of his whale, she flung one verbal harpoon after another. Other harpoons soon followed from angry wedding professionals. The business of love was getting testy.

Taken aback by the room’s response, Atta (I gotta give him credit, other state reps were visibly shrinking into their plastic chairs, leaving him to face the firestorm alone) back-pedaled on the August 1st permit deadline. Unequivocally equivocating, Atta agreed to reconsider the deadline. We’ll see. I have a feeling that most companies will ignore what amounts to unenforceable, ill-considered attempts by the state to add unnecessary hoops to the process. 

One coordinator, having plowed hours of labor into co-sponsoring a workable permit process, asked Atta what happened to the original proposal the state tentatively agreed to. (A proposal of a yearly, blanket permit issued to Maui wedding professionals for use of [most] any beach at any time.) Atta’s response?

“We’re considering that.”

Along with the murder another of Hawaii’s endangered species, the Golden Goose.

I’ll keep you informed.

Ron Winckler
Pacific Island Weddings
because maui and las vegas are oceans apart®

Maui Beach Weddings – permit plans

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The State will be hosting a meeting this Monday (June 23) to discuss a ‘pilot’ program for permitting beach weddings. Between the Maui Wedding Association, The Hawaii Visitors Bureau, the State and independent wedding operators, all with occasionally different end-games, this should be an interesting meeting.

Hopefully, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), which oversees the use of beaches on behalf of the state, will respond to our suggestions. It is impossible to second-guess what the DLNR will do.

It could be “business as usual” with a little added hassle, or worse. I’ll be at the meeting and will report back to you with more information. Aloha, Ron Winckler
Pacific Island Weddings Ltd.
because maui and las vegas are oceans apart®