Reyna Edmonds speaks out on TikTok about weddings in Maui after fire.Photo:Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images; Reyna Edmonds TikTok
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images; Reyna Edmonds TikTok
The day afterthe fires broke out across the Hawaiian island of Maui, Reyna Edmonds felt helpless as her sister Shanyn Kiesler — a wedding videographer atPortola Wedding Filmsin Maui — dealt with bride after bride asking her for their non-refundable deposits back as she grappled with the devastation impacting her community.
Life on the island has come to a standstill, with at least 110 people confirmed dead and countless homes and businesses destroyed. Local first responders called the situation “apocalyptic” when recently speaking withPEOPLE.
“From a vendor’s perspective it’s frustrating,” Edmonds, who also works in the wedding industry as a photographer in Seattle, Washington, tells PEOPLE. “These people have no empathy for what the island is going through and what these [wedding] vendors are going through. Like yeah, my sister didn’t lose her home but she knows people who have and her friends still have family that are missing.”
“When [my sister is] out there trying to do everything she can to help her community, the last thing she needs to worry about is an inbox full of brides who are like, ‘Oh, well, can I just get my money back?’ " Edmonds adds.
Earlier this week, Edmonds had posted her feelings about the situation on TikTok. In the video she explains that while she sees why people planning on getting married in Maui are feeling overwhelmed, she hopes they can try to be more understanding of the situation.
“While I realize to brides this is the most important day of their life, it is extremely tone deaf for what is going on on the island of Maui,” she says in the Monday TikTok. “Please be patient, please give them their time that they need to figure out what is going on and only reach out if you’re actually willing to help.”
Edmonds tells PEOPLE she suspects unhappy brides may not realize the severity of the fires, which now have the distinction of being the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years.
“I think that . . . everyone wants their beautiful wedding day, and [brides] can sometimes be a little bit selfish without realizing they are and in this case, I felt like it was really happening and I just felt like I needed to say something on behalf of my sister,” Edmonds says.
Maui wedding photographer Shanyn Kiesler (left) and Reyna Edmonds (right).Courtesy Reyna Edmonds
Courtesy Reyna Edmonds
This way, she says the money the clients paid stays in the pockets of the vendors on Maui.
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“At the end of the day, we’re just trying to stay afloat,” Edmonds tells PEOPLE. “So everyone knows what it’s like to have requests for money back when for the people of Maui this is going to impact them severely for a while.”
She adds, “Obviously, I couldn’t imagine planning your dream wedding and then having this happen but I think that like everyone just needs to have a little bit of empathy.”
source: people.com
