The best. Above and beyond feels too trite to describe how Cheryl handled our ceremony, but above and beyond is how she operated in every possible way and our day was meaningful and poignant and we could not have imagined it better. On our first conversation, Cheryl said to me "Let me handle all the stress, you just get to Hawaii." I didn't have to worry about a thing; it was one of the easiest partnerships I've ever had with someone I'm working with to plan something. Cheryl went out of her way to accommodate every detail and request we asked for, from having our ukulele player learn our song (They Love Each Other by The Grateful Dead) on a weeks notice, to exploring every single option available to try and find a same-sex cake topper on Hawaii at the very last minute. When my mother wanted to be a sleuth to try and figure out our hotels, etc so she could do something, I put her in touch with Cheryl thinking she'd help her arrange dinner or a spa day at our hotel. Little did I know that Cheryl was talking to my mother and my mother-in-law almost daily, accommodating their requests and in the end keeping the big secret that our mothers paid for the entire day, photographer and wedding dinner. But even more special, Cheryl worked closely with them to give them the opportunity to put their small touches on our ceremony. Cheryl revealed the surprise after the ceremony and I can't tell you how special that was for us. Cheryl made it possible for our mothers to be part of our elopement and I can't thank her enough. Incidentally, my mother shared with me the pages and pages (.....and pages!) of emails she and my MIL exchanged with Cheryl. Even from 5,000 miles away, Cheryl's warmth and kindness touched our mothers and they will be forever friends. Our ceremony was intimate and and so well done. Her service was spot on for us as a couple, and Cheryl cried the whole time which made it feel like we were married by an old friend. Cheryl is everything you want for your Hawai'i elopement. She will forever hold an incredibly special place in our hearts and I couldn't ask for a kinder soul to remember as part of our day. Cheryl exudes love, fun and the spirit of aloha, and any couple who has her at the helm for their wedding is extremely blessed. read more

Aloha Weddings in Paradise - Cheryl, us and our musician. - Wedding Planning Near Me

If you want to immediately feel like part of the family contact Cheryl. From the moment we made contact Brendan and I knew she was the one. We had an immediate connection. She truly took her time in getting to know us, our family and how we came to meet. She truly took her time in building a relationship with us. You can tell she loves people, loves love and her job. She put so much love and care into our day. I am not just saying she's the best because of how she married us. She truly is the best person in general. She invited us to her home, she treated us like family and her and her husband pas are both just all around kind and loving souls. She even went out of her way to help us with some local places to do , eat and see. Not only all that but she was down for an adventure elopement with us all the way down to the bottom of Waipi'o valley beach at sunrise. She was a trooper and one of the best friends/person to have married us. Thank you so much Cherly for your love and kindness read more

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Normally when I write a review on Yelp, I already know what I want to say before I start typing. This is not one of those times because I have a hard time putting into words how much meaning Aloha Weddings in Paradise added to our wedding day. I found Cheryl through an exhaustive Google search as I was looking for the right wedding officiant for my husband's and my elopement to the Island of Hawaii in December, 2013. Once I found Aloha Weddings' website - and saw smiley photos of Cheryl, her husband, Pas, and their rescued animals - I knew right away she was the right one for us. Anyone that rescues as many animals as they have has the same kind of heart I do! I contacted Cheryl to book her officiating services for our wedding and she was very quick to respond. Throughout the following months, whenever I needed to get in touch, had a new idea or wanted to ask Cheryl a question, she was always right there and ready with an answer. Her communication about our upcoming wedding day was awesome, but she also took the time to get to genuinely know my husband and I via email before we made our way to Hawaii for our wedding ceremony. Cheryl offers a variety of wedding packages of all sizes, including a la carte services like flowers, a cake, music, photography and even leis. She allows you to plan as much or as little of your day as you'd like and she can handle the rest. I'm a planner by nature, so I took the reins most of the time but it was nice to know I could count on Cheryl for all the other small details. The day before our wedding day, Cheryl came into Kona to meet with us, talk about how the day's events will unfold, what our last-minute preferences were and to answer any questions we had. She put us entirely at ease and we couldn't wait for the big day! We also ended up asking Cheryl to provide our flower leis and my husband's maille lei, as well as hiring Cheryl's husband to play the ukulele before and after our elopement ceremony. On our wedding day, both Cheryl and Pas were on time, prepared and ready to rock! The warmth, kindness and sincerity that they brought to our wedding day - and our marriage ceremony in particular - are qualities my husband and I will never forget. Cheryl added a lot of special and unique touches to the ceremony, and the vows she created for us were deeply heartfelt. I would wholeheartedly recommend Cheryl and Pas to anyone even considering getting married on the Big Island of Hawaii. read more

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It has taken me all summer to take the time to write a review for Cheryl and Aloha Weddings...but let me tell you something, this gal is an absolute champ in every way!! My husband and I decided back in March that on our planned vacation, which was a month away, we would get married after being together for 17 years. I found the Aloha Weddings site and loved the vibe I got from reading Cheryl's site. I picked up the phone and left a message since I was calling from Colorado and it was still morning in Hawaii. Cheryl phoned back and that was that...it was like I knew her for years. That is a great feeling! So, we settled on getting married on a Tuesday morning, April 24th. We awoke to a very soggy morning in Hilo and had chosen our special location at Onomea Bay. Cheryl checked in to see if we wanted to postpone, but we said let's go for it. And this is why she is a champ...no complaints from her. She brought an extra umbrella, hiked in the pouring rain to a point in Onomea Bay, where you look out at "Lovers Rocks", and did the ceremony for us. She even cried!! Cheryl is a genuine, heartfelt gal, and we could not have asked for anyone better than her to marry us!! She is part of our special story, and special day...we just love her! Call her...you will so love the experience!! :) read more

Aloha Weddings in Paradise - Rainy day at Onomea Bay.Thanks Cheryl!! - Wedding Planning Near Me

Cheryl and Pas really are as good as it gets!! From the start Cheryl made me feel like I was a long lost family member, her warmth and loving nature came across straight away. she was so helpful and made the whole process of organising a destination wedding (from Australia) not only easy but super fun. We managed to do the whole thing over emails, and when it came to meeting in person I honestly did feel like I was meeting a long lost family member. I had tried contacting quite a few wedding officiants before finding Cheryl, all of whom got back to us late or not at all... but Cheryl was quick to reply and made me feel so at ease that I knew I was in safe hands. When it came to the ceremony itself, my finance and I (and all of our family and friends) were blown away with the service. Cheryl really took the time to learn about us as individuals and as a couple, about our family and loved ones. She tailored the ceremony to really represent us and what we value. I actually felt like I had written the service, it was that personal!! So many of our guests came away from the ceremony saying it was the best ceremony they had witnessed. It was heartfelt, personal and rang true to everything that love represents. The best part... there was heaps of laughter (and quite a few tears!). And Pas... OMG he really was the icing on the cake. He played the most beautiful music and having him be apart of our day really made everything feel whole. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend Cheryl and Pas for your wedding day... And I know you will feel the same way! They will forever be apart of our family and I can't wait to visit them again xx read more

My husband and I planned a "just us" wedding in Waipio Valley. I knew that especially since our families would not be attending our wedding, I wanted our officiant to feel like family. Cheryl went above and beyond for us. It felt like we had known her forever. She made our ceremony so special and intimate, I will treasure those memories forever. Could not recommend her and her husband enough. read more

I found Cheryl through an obscure website after an exhaustive search! You're already reading this review, so you can stop your search right now! My fiance and I decided to elope in Hawaii with only two months in advance of the big date. I was able to reserve the date with Cheryl, and the fun began! Cheryl was warm and friendly over the phone. She is truly interested in the lives of her clients, and in creating an experience that will fit them. Cheryl was quick to respond to all emails and phone calls. She helped to set date and time of the marriage license meeting, schedule the perfect photographer, order cake and bubbly, and to order all the flowers and leis for the ceremony. All I had to do was email pictures of things that I liked! I truly appreciate how flexible Cheryl was when we were deciding on the time and location of the ceremony (which we did not finalize with her until the day before because we wanted to see the site first!). Even though the particular site made for a long drive for her, Cheryl was willing to go above and beyond. On the day of, Cheryl showed up precisely on time and brought all of the goodies - exactly as planned! The ceremony she performed had a profound impact on all who were present. I am so appreciative of Cheryl. She took an experience that could have been a little stressful and foreign, and made it warm and familiar. You will not regret booking Cheryl for your marriage on Hawaii! read more

My fiancé had to travel to Kona for work and I decided to tag along the first week of June 2015. We had talked about the possibility of eloping while there since we weren't interested in any sort of traditional wedding. Upon arriving to Kona (we stayed at the Sheraton Resort and Spa) I decided to ask about eloping through the hotel's wedding coordinator, they wanted $1750...to elope?! $200 bridal bouquet?! I wanted to elope...not have a real traditional wedding. So after hearing that I went back to my room to yelp elopement in Kona, that's when I found Cheryl. I checked her website and the elopement package was just what we were hoping for! I immediately emailed her and she then called me back. We talked for about 30 minutes and it felt like I'd known her my whole life! We talked about details of what we wanted for the ceremony, locations, the type of vows we wanted, and our lives. She even guided me through filling out the license information online, set up and appointment for us to meet with a person at our hotel to complete the license. Cheryl's personality and warm heart had me won over from the minute we spoke! She took the time to get to know us a little bit and then incorporated some of those details into the vows. The location she picked was gorgeous...Ku'kio Beach, right outside of the Four Seasons Hotel. She met us there, had a little table set up with the leis for us to exchange, red roses for the ceremony, and a framed certificate for us to keep. She grabbed my camera and as she performed the ceremony she would step back and take pictures of us. After the ceremony she spent 20-30 minutes with us walking up and down the beach taking pictures of the two of us and even posing with us a few times. We couldn't have asked for anything better for a last minute elopement. Cheryl provided us with everything we wanted on short notice. She was so funny, she had us laughing, crying and enjoying every moment of our time with her. I would HIGHLY recommend Cheryl's services to anyone looking for a wedding officiant on the Big Island. She will travel anywhere for you and is well worth it! read more

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We decided to travel from Perth, Western Australia to have a destination wedding in Hilo on the sea cliffs there. Not knowing anything about the area and having never been to Hawaii before we put our trust in google first sorting out the location via google maps then we had a list of celebrants a mile long to wade through to find the right person that would do our small ceremony justice and not try to upscale, over sell or basically ruin our special day we approached several celebrants about a year away from our arrival and the one that really stood out was Cheryl from Aloha Weddings in Paradise. WOW! she was such a good fit for us not only how nice and pleasant she was but we didn't have a clue where to get anything from, which photographer to use or how to go about reserving somewhere for our reception but we didn't have to worry as she helped us with everything from getting our wedding licence sorted when we arrived to helping us find a restaurant which we got all to ourselves for a wonderful evening meal and suggesting a few photographers. The ceremony was perfect from the location we found to Cheryl's wonderful and lovely words I can't speak highly enough of how well it went in no small part to Cheryl's love of her job and professionalism. I felt she genuinely cared about us and about giving us the best wedding experience possible. She was the best fit for us and was everything we could have wished for and more, I seriously doubt there's another celebrant out there that would have given us a more truly remarkable and memorable experience. From the moment she arrived at the house I knew we were in safe hands, I could finally relax and let her take over the reins as I knew we'd be ok. If you're looking for a memorable wedding experience then you really need to have Cheryl be the celebrant.. you wont regret the decision and a very beautiful experience will await you if you do. Thanks Cheryl for giving us such a lovely memory one which we'll cherish for the rest of our lives. read more

We can wholeheartedly recommend Cheryl from Aloha Weddings in Paradise! We were married at Puakea Ranch in Sept 2016 and Cheryl was simply wonderful. Heartfelt, warm, sincere and humorous are only some of the ways to describe her and the ceremony she performed. We live in Australia and she made organising things from afar a breeze - nothing was a problem. Cheryl's big smile and love of animals on her website drew us to her immediately, and we were so glad to learn throughout all our contact - from the first email to the day of the ceremony and beyond - that we made the right choice. Cheryl genuinely added to our day and helped us create some wonderful memories, and for that we cannot thank her enough. Mahalo Cheryl!! xx W & G read more

My fiance & I booked our Hawaiian vacation and decided we would like to get married while on the Big Island. I began looking into the process and immediately became overwhelmed with the details of a destination wedding. It was our first trip to Hawaii and had no idea what to look for when it came to location, how to find a performer or even flowers! I came happened upon a review for Aloha Weddings in Paradise and liked what I read so I contacted Cheryl. It was the best decision I made! Cheryl made the entire process a breeze! She was a delight to speak with and handled all the details of finding the perfect location for the ceremony, brought the flowers and even scheduled our appointment to pick up the marriage license. She kept in contact throughout and took all the stress off or us, the Bride and Groom, until the Wedding Day! She performed a beautiful, intimate ceremony on the beach and made our special day unforgettable. She gave us a warm Hawaiian welcome and even had us out for a visit on her farm and gave us amazing tourist tips on the best places to visit and explore while on the Island. I have made a friend for life and highly recommend her services to make your day perfect! Aloha! read more