Dillingham Ranch Aina Llc

For a picturesque north shore setting, you simply cannot ask for more than Dillingham Ranch. The grounds & the home are absolutely stunning & can be used in a variety of different ways. We looked at many many locations before finally deciding to bit the bullet & pay the VERY large price tag for this location. (They did work with us on the price for some trade, but in general, for most brides, this is a high end location & the price tag matches it.)
Pros:
*Absolutely stunning. From the gorgeous grove of palm trees on the drive up to the ranch, to the classic breathtaking ranch home, with big white pillars on the wraparound porch, to the hardwood floors, beautiful furniture, fireplace, the row of royal palms in the back, banyan trees, a pond, peacocks roaming the grass, beautifully appointed rooms (including a bridal suite) — all with INCREDIBLE outdoor showers, beautiful lighting fixtures, a world-​class kitchen, outdoor furniture, & state-​of-​the-​art sound system.
*Fairly professional management who communicated very well, & handled our contracts, deposits & all other issues well.
Cons:*For the incredibly expensive price, I was surprised about a few things.
1) There are NO tables or chairs to use — you have to bring all of that in (even your own toilet paper). For a venue that specializes in weddings, I think they could easily purchase tables and chairs to keep on property that would absolutely SAVE the bride & groom from having to have all that delivered. (We used Royal Party Supply, who did a good job — but had to pay a delivery fee, of course.)
2) The water in the world-​class kitchen is NOT POTABLE. You have to bring in ALL YOUR OWN WATER. We had an amazing caterer (Lan Thai of Happy’s Green Hawaii) who did that for us at no charge — but having a gourmet kitchen doesn’t do you much good if you can’t drink the water, since most caterers arrive prepared to cook on their own equipment, & don’t need the massive kitchen, really.
3) Even though you have the place for the full day, & setup the day before & take down the day after, you do NOT get to use the rooms at the ranch for you or your guests to stay in unless you pay $ 200 per room. This seems silly to me, because those rooms just sit there empty until the wedding day — and after the wedding, they clean them ALL anyway, so I agree with the previous reviewer that that should be included in the cost.
4) The floors inside the great room are beautiful new hardwood floors — but because of this, they do NOT want dancing in there, particularly if anyone is wearing high heels. We were incredibly adamant with our guests that they NOT wear high heels since the ceremony was all out on the grass anyway, and we just didn’t want any issues with the floors & our deposit. However, when we asked about rearranging the furniture a little bit to create a different flow for our event, we were told that we couldn’t move it, and they would have to do it, so it doesn’t ruin the floors. Understandable — but then the management told us they would charge us $ 200 to move the furniture. Ugh. It was moments like this that felt a little bit money-​grubbing to us, but of course, this is a business.
5) THEY DON’T TAKE CREDIT CARDS. This one was a shocker! To not be able to put that large of an amount on our credit card and get the miles & points was absolutely frustrating to both of us. I don’t know why they can’t do it — but we had to pay the entire thing with checks. It was very irritating.
6)In agreement with the previous poster, we also received a notice that the ranch was up for sale & that it was POSSIBLE it would be sold before our event. (Although the ranch manager was very nice when I called her about this & explained it in a way that calmed my nerves, thankfully.)
SO — it’s a lot of things to consider.
However — I will say this. On our wedding day, things went very smoothly. The managers were very helpful (we even invited them down to have a drink & some food.),& the place looked absolutely pristine. Our guests were BLOWN AWAY by the grounds & the photos are absolutely gorgeous. We particularly loved taking photos with the horses, being allowed to have our dog there on leash for the ceremony, & having access to the bedrooms so that we could have a grooms suite & a bridal suite & our guests had places to change & shower. In all honesty — the outdoor showers in every bedroom ALONE were almost worth the entire price. Our guests used them after the luncheon, to change & get ready for the bollywood reception that evening & every. single. person. (including our photographer & DJ, etc.) who used the showers just came out GLOWING and made sure to tell us how much they enjoyed the showers — I kid you not. As a bride — showering in the outdoor shower, and getting my makeup & hair done in the beautiful bridal suite — & seeing my friends & family in that STUNNING location — was incredibly dreamy. Worth it? For us, yes. It was.

We worked with Malia to secure the estate for our wedding. It was really expensive, but you get the day before and the day after for set-​up and clean-​up, which helped. It is newly remodeled… and beautiful. There is a state-​of-​the-​art kitchen that was brand spanking new!
We did our ceremony in the front lawn, the aisle was the cemented pathway down the center. The cocktail hour was held int he same area with the grand rooom open. Then the reception was on the back side of the house up until the row of palm trees leading to the mountains.
It was quite, and free of light polution (luckily we had a CLEAR night which played a huge part) our guests were stunned with the stars that led them home.
The water is not «city water» so they say it is not potable.
There are rooms that you can rent. Which I think is unreasonable and should be included in the huge price tag on the location. Each room has it’s own outdoor shower and bathroom.
As with most wedding venues, there is stress… other than the money strain eating our budget… a few weeks before the wedding we got a notice in the mail that Dillingham Ranch is up for sale, and that if it sells before our wedding, they will recommend that the new owners let us use the location, but cannot guarantee it.
(insert mini bridal freak-​out here)
Things worked out, but I would caution anyone interested in this location to make sure that ownership is stable (or ahve a really good plan B). Also keep in mind that it is FAR FAR AWAY… just about the end of the road. So make sure that you have a transport plan for your people who indulge in libations. ;)
If not for the price and the stress, I would give this place a 5 star rating for it’s beauty and ease of planning.

I have to say that the ranch was a good choice to have the Warrior Dash 2012.
It was open spaced and had lots of parking.
Only thing was, we were on the field and there are LOADS of crap all over the place!
The event was fun and im hoping they return next year. The ranch had plenty of space for us to run, and park too. The Redfrogevents people knew what they were doing and everything was organized really well.
I cant wait to do the run again next year!