Frequently Asked Questions

A 20% coordination fee will be added to all incidental charges, including but not limited to: flowers, rental items, cakes, entertainment, photographer, minister, etc. The 20% coordination fee does not apply to site fees. 

If you choose to hire an outside wedding coordinator, we are happy to work with them to plan your day.  All outside coordinators must be local coordinators that have been approved by Merriman’s. The ceremony, timeline, and vendor coordination will be the responsibility of your coordinator. Merriman’s will handle food, beverage, and setup.

We provide a list of Approved Vendors only after confirmation of booking. All amenities ordered must be from these approved vendors. This includes florists, photographers, ministers, cake, entertainment, rental equipment, etc.  A non-refundable deposit will be required to secure these vendors. We require that these vendors are booked directly by Merriman’s or your wedding coordinator.  We have hand-picked our approved vendors because of their consistent and exceptional quality of work. They have extensive experience working on our property, and they are familiar with our policies.

The site fee for the ceremony location includes space for a ceremony and cocktail reception to follow.  The site fee also includes rectangular tables, chairs, white linens, and place settings.  For the Kapalua Bay Lawn, we are able to provide our white folding chairs free of charge if you are using our in-house coordination. For the Kapalua Bay Deck, brown wicker chairs and tables are included in the site fee. If you have over 60 guests, please inquire about rented chairs. Wedding arches are rented at additional cost. 

Food and Beverage Minimums are non-negotiable.  The Food and Beverage Minimums do not change according to the guest count.  The Food and Beverage Minimums include all food and drinks consumed at the event, which includes both the cocktail reception and dinner.

An advance deposit is required to secure all reservations. The deposit will be based on 50% of the food & beverage minimum, and 100% of the site fee. A reservation is considered guaranteed only after the deposit has been paid.

When booking, we require that you commit to a particular location so you will need an approximate guest count. We do not permit location changes because we cannot guarantee in advance that an alternate location will be available, as we also have to account for reservations made for the main dining room.

For a non-exclusive event a minimum of 6 months advance notice will be required, 50% of deposit is deemed nonrefundable. If cancellation occurs within less than six months in advance, the full deposit will be deemed “Non-Refundable”. 

The property overlooks Kapalua Bay. However, we do not offer ceremonies directly on the beach. 

All food and beverage is subject to a 25% service fee allocated as follows: 18% to the service staff, 2% to the kitchen staff based on their hours worked, and 5% to expenses other than wages and tips of employees. For events in the tent, the service fee will be allocated 20% to the service staff and 5% to expenses other than wages and tips of employees. Taxes and service fees are not included in set-menu price unless specified. Local tax of 4.712% and a 25% service fee will be added to the final food and beverage bill. Tax will be added to all items including food, beverage, service/coordination fees, and incidentals. Tax and service fee is outside of the food and beverage minimum.  

Live entertainment is permitted on the Kapalua Bay Lawn, provided that it is acoustic only and booked by Merriman’s. This is a great option for ceremony and/or cocktail reception music. If you are interested in having a first dance, it is recommended to do this outside where you are permitted to have this music. Music outside must end by 9:30pm. Any live entertainment, or a DJ, is permitted in the dining room only if the event is a complete “buyout” of the restaurant. This is the only option for a full out dance party. Merriman’s has complete control over sound for all entertainment. There is live music every night in the dining room, so for non-buyout events, the music in the dining room cannot be turned off or down for speeches, etc. It can be heard in all dinner locations.

Merriman’s Kapalua requires that all events must end by 10 pm.  For events in the Private Oceanfront Tent the curfew is 9:30pm.  Kapalua Resort has a 10pm noise curfew and all music must be finished by 10pm for a buyout.  

Set-menus are required for large parties. We recommend starting your menu selection process one to two months prior to your event, as the menus and pricing are subject to change. Vegetarian or children’s menus are available upon request. Menu selections are required two weeks prior to the event.  

The Restaurant offers an extensive wine list. We require you to select wine that will be available to your guests.  This helps to expedite service and make your event flow smoothly. We recommend starting your wine and beverage selection process one month prior to your event, as the menus and pricing are subject to change. Pre-selections need to be placed at least two weeks in advance to ensure availability.

We do not offer traditional menu tastings. If you are interested in trying the food ahead of time, we recommend making a reservation for dinner and ordering off of our dining room menu, as it is very similar to the event menu. A 6-inch cake in your desired flavors must be ordered two weeks in advance if you would like to sample it. 

Ceremony locations at Merriman’s are outdoors and subject to inclement weather. We usually have passing showers and are able to wait out the rain in order to proceed with the ceremony. If you book a dinner location, this will be the designated backup space for a ceremony if the weather does not cooperate. If you do not book a dinner location, we have no backup plan available.

We do not have an official bridal suite. We recommend that brides arrive ready to go.  There is a restroom where last minute touch-ups can be made, but unless there is a restaurant buyout, it is not exclusively for your wedding party.  

We begin taking dining room reservations 60 days in advance. We can seat a maximum of eight guests per table. We are not able to accommodate split reservations. If you have any questions about our dining room offerings, please feel free to reach out to our reservations team at: [email protected].