Listen to the Podcast About Events by Darren Keala
Podcast Summary
Events by Darren Keala, with Darren Keala at the helm, continues to keep a pulse on the trends and practices in the wedding events industry. Drawing from his wealth of experience in event planning in Maui as revealed in his recent interview with Jake Carter, Darren notes a unique trend currently captivating couples – the idea of butterfly releases from table centerpieces. He shared how a butterfly sent as a remembrance of his beloved dog inspired the application of this concept at weddings. His ability to fuse personal, evocative touches into his events showcases the attention to detail and dedication that Events by Darren Keala is known for.
Darren Keala’s commitment to the community and his roots in Pukalani, Maui, runs deep. A Brigham Young and UNLV graduate, he does not hesitate to give back to his community by being involved with multiple 501c nonprofit organizations. This exemplifies his innate connection to Ohana and his dedication to the place he proudly calls home.
However, Keala also emphasizes the dangers of DIY practices that couples often try to incorporate into events – particularly on the unpredictable island of Maui. Aware of the possible negative repercussions, Darren insists on ensuring safety at his events, demonstrating the responsibility Events by Darren Keala takes seriously.
The interview underscores Darren Keala’s deep understanding and expertise in the events industry and his drive to foster a sense of community. It paints a vivid picture of the top-quality services and unique touches delivered by Events by Darren Keala, centralizing them as a pivotal player in the Maui event scene.
Learn more about Events by Darren Keala
This interview was provided by Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos
Podcast Transcript
Jake Carter (00:24)
Hello, I am Jake Carter with Darren Keala of events by Darren Keala. You guys are an event company on Maui and you have been born and raised in Pukalani here in Maui with wedding design for over 25 years of experience. From what I see, you went to Brigham Young and UNLV in Las Vegas and Nevada. Been very involved in the community. You’ve just were telling me you’ve not only had…
501c nonprofit but you’re actually working on two or maybe more. So Ohana and community is really big for you which is amazing and I’m super excited to talk about some of those things. But from what I can see you’re just an event, you’re an event person on Maui and you’re rocking it. We met at a recent one of those 501c nonprofit things recently and I asked you if you’d be on this and you agreed somewhat. By somewhat force I made you do it but it’s okay.
Darren (01:16)
Thank you.
Jake Carter (01:18)
Yeah, so let’s talk about some fun event things that you’ve experienced. Unless, is there anything else you want to add about your background and bio?
Darren (01:28)
No, that’s great. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Jake Carter (01:30)
Okay, I might come back to some of it, because it’s a lot of cool stuff that you’ve done. But what are current trends that you’re seeing in the wedding and event industry currently?
Darren (01:34)
Okay.
Huh, you know, there’s something really unusual that has just happened with my company. it’s something, so one of my couples recently did a butterfly release from the centerpieces of the tables.
So she’s very big on butterflies and everything. so recently my dog had passed. So one of my friends had sent me a monarch butterfly as a remembrance. So it comes in a cocoon and then it opens and then you let it go as a remembrance of your loved one. And so I showed them this and it turned into us putting butterflies in these beautiful cages on the tables with flowers.
And then, toward the evening, we would open the cages and all the butterflies would fly away and just kind of stay around the property and hang out. So, we’ve done it now with two weddings. And now that Trent is kind of caught on, and now there’s two other couples that want to do something similar with their centerpieces with butterflies.
Jake Carter (02:49)
Wow, I have never heard about that. That’s really interesting. That’s super cool. I’m sure the butterfly sourcing people love you. They’re like, my gosh, all of sudden we’re sending all of these butterflies to Maui. I don’t know why, but.
Darren (02:51)
Me neither.
It’s true, it’s true. like the last wedding last week we did 10 butterflies for five tables. It was quite wild. Yeah, it was really nice.
Jake Carter (03:08)
super cool. So that’s definitely a really cool idea and unique thing. What are some things, like what’s the most cringe -worthy thing that you’ve seen that your couple should never do? What’s the most worst horror story? You can have more than one. I love this question. Yeah.
Darren (03:22)
Ooh, ooh, there’s quite a few. Usually the worst things happen when couples try to DIY an idea and not put into the full concept of what is gonna happen with that DIY. Like a lot of couples believe that if you put up a structure, you can just hang everything from it, it’ll be fine.
Jake Carter (03:44)
Mm
Darren (03:47)
And with Maui, the winds, it’s very unpredictable. And just for the security and safety of people getting hurt of something like that falling, I always tell people this. This is my biggest thing is you may be working on something that you want to do, but in the long run, I have to be accountable for it.
Jake Carter (03:48)
Yeah.
Darren (04:08)
Because even if you’re building it and it falls over, it’s still going to be my fault. So I have to be 1000 % honest with you and say, that’s not going to work. And I’m going to make sure that you know that so that you know that if it does fall, that it is a problem. And it just has to be that way. Because you know, from being
Jake Carter (04:08)
Mmm.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Darren (04:30)
You know, doing so many events on the island, you realize, you know, the wind factors, the rain, all these different things. So you kind of have to be careful and look out.
Jake Carter (04:39)
For sure. And I mean, I know like this is something that’s kind of similar for music and kind of some stuff that we do where like not exactly dueling pianos, but I’ve worked in theaters and things before and it’s like, you’re talking about rigging essentially. And that’s one of the things where it’s like, no, this is done a very specific way because if it falls, there’s thousands of pounds of something that’s going to fall on someone and then they die. Like you can’t do that. Like that’s just a no. Like, no, sorry. You’re going to do it the right way because otherwise people die. So.
Darren (05:08)
Very true.
Jake Carter (05:08)
That’s, yeah. What is another cringeworthy, crazy thing that’s happened at an event? I want a specific, not just like, build a shed at the wedding. Give me something good. I know you’ve got it.
Darren (05:23)
Ooh, so there are a few. Actually, alcohol is a big thing. I will definitely go there, because a lot of problems happen with that. I’ve actually had a couple that we, you know.
Normally what we do is we do beer and wine and one or two signature drinks. And this kind of helps keep people from getting a little too wasted at the weddings, especially with the good bar service. But at some events, some of the couples will hide alcohol in their rooms. And this happened once. The bride and groom hit a bottle of tequila in their room.
and proceeded to drink it from the beginning. So by the time the dances started, they were both pretty trashed we didn’t know why. They both fell down the staircase for their first dance, as well as they both had to travel back in the bus with everyone where they both were throwing up.
Jake Carter (06:13)
hahahaha
Darren (06:26)
And this was like 20 years ago when I first started and I you know was watching things unfold and now they know better we those things do not happen though But yeah, it was quite well. They they they were on a roll though They they even said before the wedding started that they were there to party
Jake Carter (06:27)
my gosh
Wow, that’s crazy. Part of me wants an update on this couple. I’ll just be like, so how are you guys doing currently? That’s crazy. Moral of the story, don’t drink too much at your wedding because you want to remember the wedding, right? I think that’s the whole point. So what is some advice that you’d offer to a couple that’s just getting started on planning a wedding or an event?
Darren (06:49)
Hahaha!
Yes. Yeah.
So a lot of the things that I like to help my couples with is a lot of couples will want to do like, because we’re such a destination island, everybody that comes here, I tell this to all of my couples, 90 % or more of the people you invite for your Save the Date will come. Because no matter what, this may be the only opportunity that these people have to ever get to Maui.
Jake Carter (07:27)
Mm -hmm.
Darren (07:34)
And so if they get the invitation, that’s their one way of getting here. So a lot of couples, I tell them to set up a website. Do a website for the week that you’re here and do different activities. Say, okay, this day we’re gonna be at this beach. This day we’re gonna attend this luau. This day we’re gonna… And I tell my couples to do this because…
when you’re off island, people are gonna keep calling you and texting you and calling you so it’ll bog you down but if you have a website then people can just look on it and like, you know what this is what they’re doing today so they won’t bother you. The other thing I like to tell my couples is the day before your wedding
Jake Carter (08:12)
Ahem.
Darren (08:13)
Take that day off. Don’t do anything. Don’t talk to anyone. Take the day off. You two go to a spa and spend the day together. Talk, have lunch, enjoy that time together. Because on your wedding day, it’s going to be a little hectic. And having that quiet time alone together will make your wedding day feel so much nicer.
Jake Carter (08:36)
Yeah, that’s a new one. I haven’t heard that one yet. That makes lot of sense though.
Darren (08:41)
Yeah, it brings the calm in just before the craziness and it seems to help a lot of couples.
Jake Carter (08:47)
Yeah, yeah, that’s really smart. I recently saw a that was, it was an advertisement for one of the resorts here that was advertising like day of arrival spa treatments at a resort. And I was like, huh. And they were like, yeah, so after you get off the plane, go to the spa. I was like, that’s kind of an interesting idea. That’s kind of cool. So.
Darren (09:04)
That is, it gets you acclimated so well to the island really quick.
Jake Carter (09:09)
Yeah, yeah, that makes a of sense. So I know that in your bio and the stuff that you gave me about your company that you guys, one of the things that makes you unique is the fact that you do all of your florals for your events. Can you tell me more about that and what makes you guys unique and special?
Darren (09:26)
Yeah, sure. So I’ll kind go back a little. So I started in the wedding industry as a restaurant manager at Karnapalli Beach Hotel. And I was there for about nine years training in the industry, training in that part of the industry. But I was running the weddings and events on the property.
So that kind of led me to that. And then I started to design flowers with my partner at the time. And so from there, we just showed up to weddings and did all the flowers for everyone. From that point, know, brides would call and say, I can’t talk to my coordinator. Can you help me? I need help with this. And so naturally that kind of came about that way.
And I really enjoy doing both. And the reason being is, you know, as someone that does flowers for other people, having the connection of having both of my couple is such a unique thing for me because I’m very big on custom design. That’s why I don’t have any packages on the website. I don’t like packages because people always pigeonhole themselves into this package and I want…
My couples are drink outside the box, like think big, know, everything’s custom. For me, that’s what I think. And so that’s kind of one of the reasons why I like doing it that way. It makes it, it gives it much more freedom. It gives us more opportunity to become more creative and it shows a different side of the couple.
Jake Carter (10:55)
Yeah, that’s interesting. so also you guys do more than just weddings, right? You do corporate events as well. So when you do corporate events, what is a unique aspect of your business for corporate events? What’s your kind of niche or thing that you do there?
Darren (11:01)
Yes, yes.
So for the corporate events, they give us a theme. And then we just come up with this theme, like one of my favorite things I’ve done. So every year I do Taco Bell, Taco Bell comes every year and all of their execs from all over the United States come. And so we do like a five, three to four day conference sometimes. But last year, just before the fire started, I had a 10 day birthday party for 145 people.
that were staying at the West End and the couple lived in Kapalua. And so it was like we did, one day was just.
Jake Carter (11:41)
Whoa.
Darren (11:54)
Sailing tours one day was golfing adventures, you know, we just did a whole bunch of different things a luau one night dinners And then the last night we did like a surprise fireworks from a barge outside of West Maui So it was it was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done because I’ve never ever done anything like that. Like the fireworks show was Thirty five thousand dollars for ten minutes
Which is pretty cool. Yeah.
Jake Carter (12:25)
Gosh, yeah, yeah. That’s really cool. you get to deal with a lot of, sounds like big clients and do some really exciting.
Darren (12:32)
Yeah, like that one that was really fun. they wanted us to come up with some themes. So we came up with Airlines theme, the TWA. And so we had all the staff dress up like from the 70s. We had the band dress up in the 70s as well. And so it was a lot of fun.
Jake Carter (12:47)
wow, that’s so fun.
super super cool that’s super cool so what other than the butterflies what is something that’s also similar to that that’s really unique and interesting that you’ve seen other than having you know hundreds of people dress up like TWA employees or you know
Darren (13:09)
I do lot of Indian weddings as well. Probably about…
Maybe about 15 years ago, a good friend of mine from Oahu that moved from India came to Maui and trained me on how to do Indian weddings. we were doing it for about 10 years. And I love doing those weddings. And the reason I do love them is because for me, as being a Hawaiian culture is very important. But for, know, to understand other people’s culture and how they bring it up in their religious ceremonies like this.
ceremony and the reception is a really unique experience. So I love listening to how people honor their culture when they get married as well. So those things are really nice and I like that. One of my favorite things is having the groom come in the morning of his wedding on the, for the barat it’s called. And this is where he comes in riding a white horse. And so.
Jake Carter (14:08)
Mm
Darren (14:11)
During the pandemic, we had an Indian wedding at the Grand Wailaya. Because the Grand Wailaya was closed, because of the pandemic, nobody could drive in and out of the property. So what we did was we closed off the whole roundabout where the guests drive in. And that’s what we used for the groom to ride around on his horse with his sword.
Jake Carter (14:31)
Mm -hmm.
Darren (14:36)
raising his sword up and down like this with the music and everybody following him. There was like about 80 people behind him going around in the port de Cachir of the Grand Whale for like half an hour just chanting. It was wild. And it’s really cool because it’s, you know, they get so excited that it kind of like when one of the weddings we kind of took over the Four Seasons lobby where everybody walked through with drummers and dancing and singing. So.
Jake Carter (14:47)
my gosh, that’s amazing. That’s so cool.
Darren (15:03)
Those are a lot of fun. A lot of fun.
Jake Carter (15:07)
amazing. just random question that I have based on this which is such a silly question but is there just like one person that owns a white horse that rents it out for these situations or like how do you source the… was like is there just the white horse guy that like… wow okay not a lot of competition on that probably.
Darren (15:19)
Yes. Yes. Yes. That’s why I want to bring in the I want to bring in an elephant. I know.
Jake Carter (15:33)
be cool you should tell the white horse guy be like hey you should get an elephant and just keep keep them together that’s super cool that would be so yeah cuz that’s what I imagined initially I thought you’re gonna be like and then they come in on an elf I was like where is the elephant in Maui I gotta know like that’d be crazy
Darren (15:42)
That would be the coolest thing. Yeah.
It’s in Oahu. We actually tried to ship one over on a barge.
Jake Carter (15:59)
What? That’s crazy. my gosh. Wow. Okay, so if you want an elephant in Maui, we will work on it for you. Let us know. Yeah, I’m not exactly sure how, but we’ll figure it. I’ve done another podcast and there was a guy talking about helicopters. So maybe he can help us. We could like lift it with a helicopter. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Darren (16:02)
It is.
Yes.
Yeah, that’s awesome.
Jake Carter (16:23)
I have white piano shells they could match the horse. know that Okay Super off topic. Well, I mean on topic but random there So last year you were nominated for the community service award by Hawaii wedding and style And I know at the beginning we mentioned that you’re very involved with the community and nonprofits and all of that I don’t know we could potentially do a whole separate interview. I’m sure on the map
association that is just starting but I did want to give some time to talk about that a little bit. Just plug that slightly because I know you’re very involved in that.
Darren (16:57)
Yes, very excited. It’s probably been about five to six months now that we’ve been newly formed. It’s something that we’ve been very passionate about. We’ve been talking about it since the pandemic, only because the Oahu Wedding Association has really…
created a name for themselves and what they’ve done in the government and the community to help their community has been really mind blowing for us. You know, working directly with the travel, the HVB, all of these different groups from Maui that we get to work with to hear our voice has been really exciting.
And that’s been something that we’ve been working on recently and it’s been really a nice thing. And just to share it with the community and get the feedback and seeing that everyone is so ready to come together and help each other out to make this work has been really such a wonderful thing.
Jake Carter (17:38)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And that’s where we actually met for the first time was at the recent meeting that you guys had. I think it was the first inaugural meeting. And it was great. It was super cool to hear the different stories and kind of positions that all the different vendors are in and get to meet everyone. And it was also really cool to see everyone come together. Like you said, there was a lot of different people, some of which said, was like, my gosh, you guys showed up.
Darren (18:01)
Yes.
It was, yes.
Jake Carter (18:20)
Yeah, so that was really cool. And just getting FaceTime with a lot of those people and everyone kind of meeting each other. Because I know that there’s quite a few people at that event that I’ve either worked with or emailed with, but never actually met in person. And was like, hey, hey you. Nice to meet you officially. Even though some of them I’ve worked with them before and just…
Darren (18:42)
for sure.
Jake Carter (18:42)
you know, at the actual event it’s different places, different times, you know, things like that. So really exciting that that’s something that’s going on. And you also were working on another 501C nonprofit that you mentioned at the beginning. Do you want to just give a quick thing on that?
Darren (18:58)
Sure. Yeah. we’re.
About a year ago, we started working with my mother on a charity for the kids. And it was kind of just before the fire started, we were creating this only because my parents are both educators. My mom’s a teacher. My dad was a principal while my mom was a teacher. And they both did Hawaiian studies after school. So one of the programs that they did was after school, they would go to the homeless shelters, pick up the kids.
from the schools, take them back to the school that they worked at, and all the retired teachers would teach the children, feed them food, and then take them back to their camps. So that was something that they did, and so we wanted to kind of carry that over, and we created this…
thing called Keiki Maui. That’ll come out around December, but it’s something we’ve been working on. It’s a passionate group from Cigla from California, and I have been working on this, the Who Has Known My Mother for many years. But yeah, this is something we’ve been passionate about. This December, we partnered in Maui and did a couple events for the children, like did a Christmas tree with gifts, donations, and things like that for the kids. So that’s something we’re looking forward to doing again this year.
Jake Carter (20:16)
That’s amazing. And that’s a crazy story of the kind of dedication that those people took to go do that. That’s amazing. That’s I haven’t heard about that. Yeah. And then I know that so you also contribute to women helping women, Maui AIDS Foundation, Maui Health Foundation and the Pacific Cancer Foundation. Are these do you have and if this is I’m stepping into a weird place to answer this, I’m sorry. But is this something that the business?
Darren (20:23)
It’s been really nice.
No.
Jake Carter (20:44)
contributes to or is this something that you personally are passionate about?
Darren (20:48)
Both. And the reason being is that the Maui Health Foundation, so that’s the one that takes care of the hospitals, the fire department, the nurses, the frontline providers that, you know, since the pandemic. So since then, before the pandemic, we were doing fundraisers. And so I’ve just kind of carried on with it. It’s been such a wonderful experience to do that. I know next month, do you remember the firefighter Tanner?
in Lahaina that saved his, so they’re getting married on September 1st, him and his fiance Candice. like a bunch of us have already jumped in, donated the venue, we’re donating our time flowers, some food. So, you know, to have their wedding come about on September 1st, because that’s something they’ve been looking forward to, but you know, losing the house and everything has been such a big thing for everyone.
Jake Carter (21:18)
Mmm.
Yeah, yeah. Wow. So once again, to sum this up, you’re just very involved in the community and that’s amazing. It’s super cool to get to talk to someone that is actually doing these things. And I know that you mentioned, you’re like, I’m nervous to talk about things and shy, but I think that these are stories that you need to tell people. The world needs to know about all the great things you’re doing.
Darren (22:02)
I don’t know. Well, it’s probably either related to him or they’re my neighbor.
Jake Carter (22:10)
You know, I mean, we live on an island. Everyone’s all, we’re all friends, but yeah, I mean, this is really big stuff that you’re doing. I had no idea. I just knew about the event company. So that’s really, really cool. Any last thoughts about events and things, anything that you want to share with upcoming clients or anything going on with the island that you want to talk about?
Darren (22:12)
Yeah, it’s always great.
Thank you.
Yeah, know, things are slowly coming back to the islands. I know that that’s something that’s really important for all of us here, since our business really has dropped off since the fires. I think I lost maybe about 13 events since the fire. But you know, things are coming back stronger. We just want to make sure that people know that, you know, we’re still here. We’re happy, excited about having people celebrate. And, you know, we’re looking forward to welcoming everyone.
Jake Carter (23:03)
Yeah. I realized there’s one more thing I was going to ask you. So when you’re doing events, are you generally the main point of contact for that event that’s going on? Okay. And are you there all day working with the client? Awesome. Awesome. And I’m sure it makes it easy since you’re doing florals and doing the planning of the events that, you know, automatically talk.
Darren (23:07)
sure.
Yes. Yes.
Yes.
Yeah, it’s great. So I have my floral team that comes in early. We set everything up and then kind of in the middle everybody works together and then the flower team leaves and the coordination part stays. So it’s nice having two different teams coming in.
Jake Carter (23:42)
What is the lead time that you generally hope to get for clients? When do want people to start reaching out? What’s normal? A year, six months?
Darren (23:48)
A year is usually great. Not necessary. I I did a 450 person wedding in three months. it’s not impossible. It’s a little hectic, but yeah, could be done.
Jake Carter (24:02)
Yeah, And then…
Darren (24:04)
But usually anything longer than a year sometimes isn’t good because you know how it is when you see something over a year and you’re like, ooh, that looks really good. And then six months later, you’re like, you know, that was kind of old. I don’t want to do that anymore.
Jake Carter (24:10)
Mm -hmm.
Yeah, I could definitely see that. And also I think that it’s one of those things that things change in a year. With venues, vendors, all those things, there’s changes that can sure happen, which makes it hard to… You have a moving target, I feel like, if you were to start booking things two, three years. Are you guys, with your pricing, know that you said everything is custom and totally…
Darren (24:36)
happened before.
Jake Carter (24:43)
there’s no packages. it generally, you, where do you fall in the pricing for your events? Are you…
Darren (24:49)
I kind of come up with something different on my own. It works for me, so I’ll share this with you. usually tell people that, you know, if they’re looking, like they tell me how many people they have, and they usually tell them it’s about $1,300 a person. If they’re coming to my full wedding, that would include everything from your venue, all your vendors, transportation, food, our services, flowers.
that should take care of everything you need. And so for instance, you take out one vendor, then you put in, maybe that was a $300 vendor or $500, it just depends. But that’s kind of how I start my process with people because you can do it for less. It’s just not within my price range. And if it is less than that, I always have people I can refer to.
Jake Carter (25:22)
Interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Yeah, interesting. That’s the first time I’ve heard that as given like a just a flat rate for estimation on that. that’s, feel like that would be, I would, I would appreciate that if I was the one doing the planning. was like, okay. I can work with that. That makes a lot of sense instead of, it’s somewhere between $4,000 and $300,000. Who knows? Like, I don’t know. Interesting. That’s, that’s really cool that you figured it out to be able to narrow it down, like narrow it down like that.
Darren (25:59)
Yeah.
Jake Carter (26:14)
Cool.
Darren (26:14)
Yeah, I’m putting all the vendors that I work with their price point and everything and so that’s kind of like my medium pricing
Jake Carter (26:22)
Yeah, awesome. Well, I thoroughly appreciate you taking the time to sit and chat today. And I know that myself and the rest of the world and community appreciates all the work that you do for Maui and everyone else everywhere. Thank you so much.
Darren (26:29)
Thank you.
Thank you, it’s so great to talk to you too as well. This is great. Aloha, thank you.
Jake Carter (26:42)
Aloha.
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