Tips and Advice: remember to eat before your wedding

Photo by Dave Miyamoto and Company

Caught up in the excitement of the wedding day, so many brides forget to eat prior to their wedding. However, the last thing anyone needs is a hungry, possibly grumpy, and worse yet, a fainting bride. In anticipation of the big day, plan ahead by preparing snacks to eat throughout the day.

Photo by Eclat Photo

If getting ready at a hotel, room service might be a great option. However, not all hotels offer round-the-clock room service, and if the wedding takes place in the morning, it may be necessary to find alternate options. Granola bars, crackers, anything without a messy sauce, etc. are easy to eat without much danger of spilling on the gown, and individually wrapped items are great for taking on a limo ride. And don't forget to encourage the groom to eat prior to the wedding, too!

Providing Your Guests with a Unique Experience for Your Destination Wedding in Hawaii

Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach

Photo by Dave Miyamoto & Company Photography

Whenever catching up with friends, the topic of conversation at some point, always turns to weddings, as everyone knows how much my career as a wedding planner is so much a part of my life and passion. Yesterday's lunch with an old friend was no different. He shared with me his experience attending a destination wedding in Cancun, Mexico, and how he wished the whole affair had involved more "culture," especially since the location, which he had never visited before, promised something unique and out-of-the-ordinary.

That conversation inspired today's blog topic; providing your guests with a uniquely "Hawaiian" experience for your destination wedding here.

A Hawaiian Kahu or Officiant During a Ceremony, Bearing Lei for Family Members of the Couple

Photo by Dave Miyamoto & Company Photography

What is it that makes Hawaii different from any other destination in the world? On a cultural level, it is the hula; the Hawaiian language found in song (although seldom spoken today); musical styling from the ukulele and slack key guitar; surfing (which originated here); Hawaiian prints in fabric and quilt patterns; the Hawaiian and local cuisine; the tradition of giving lei to love ones, the historic landmarks worth visiting; and of course, the aloha spirit and overall cheery disposition that most folks have around here. All of this and more can be incorporated into the wedding itself as well as into activities with guests both prior to and following the wedding.

Seared Blackend Ahi (yellow fin tuna) with Wasabi Aioli, Soy Sake Glaze, and Micro-Greens Served as the Appetizer Course at our August 9, 2010 Wedding Reception at the Beach House Restaurant
Photo by Dave Miyamoto & Company Photography

For our destination wedding couples, we have helped to arrange everything from private surfing lessons; rehearsal dinners at off-the-beaten-path eateries featuring an array of local dishes; private, guided site-seeing tours in trolleys for the visiting guests (sometimes, in multiple languages); private hula lessons for the bride to perform for her groom during the reception; a build-your-own-cocktail station with hollowed-out pineapple cups and an assortment of fresh island juices; custom designed and tailored aloha print attire for the bridal party; parties for the friends in a private karaoke room; and so much more. The possibilities are endless when it comes to treating your guests to a one-of-a-kind destination wedding experience in Hawaii. I encourage you to get creative when planning your wedding here; I assure you, your guests will thank you for it!

Custom Tailored Aloha Print Attire for Guests

Photo by Dave Miyamoto & Company Photography


Catholic Priest Wearing a Fragrant Maile Lei. (A thoughtful and appreciated gesture in Hawaii is to present a lei to the wedding officiant; a tradition which your guests might find very special.)
Photo by Chrissy Lambert

Bride by Stained Glass Window. (Note the pineapple in the bottom corner of the stained glass. The stained glass murals at Our Lady of Peace, known as the oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States, depict the development of Catholicism in Hawaii.)
Photo by Chrissy Lambert

Painted Hibiscus Mural Serves as an Original "Vintage Hawaii" Backdrop. Location: Island of Molokai
Photo by Kai Photo

Engagement photos: Loni and Ryan

Photos by Kai Photo

Part of the norm when planning modern day weddings in Hawaii is an on-location engagement photo shoot to capture a couple's love for one another in pictures. Back in July, I posted photos from Nancy and Lance's engagement session. This month, it is my pleasure to share some images from Loni and Ryan's engagement shoot on the beautiful and "laid back" island of Molokai.


Loni and Ryan flew over their photographers, Grace and Kyler (a husband-and-wife-team) of Kai Photo, to Molokai, where Loni is from, to document some of Loni and Ryan's favorite places.

They spent the day together, exploring some unique and off-the-beaten-path spots, showing off the diversity of Molokai's terrain, from blue ocean, to coconut groves, and dessert-like volcanic landscapes.

After many locations, several attire changes, and hours of shooting, Loni and Ryan got an absolutely amazing set of images to keep for a lifetime. Mahalo to Grace and Kyler Kwock for yet another fantastic job of depicting a couple's personalities and their love for one another.

Featured Wedding #8: Mari and Kevin

Our October 10, 2010 (10-10-10) was spent coordinating a wedding for one of the nicest couples, Mari and Kevin, who exchanged their vows at a private ceremony atop the exclusive, Hawai'i Loa Ridge, surrounded by their closest family and friends.

While intermittent showers and cloudy, gray skies seemed to loom in the final moments before the ceremony, the clouds seemed to magically clear just in time, returning the beautiful ocean view to the backdrop of Mari and Kevin's wedding.

Mari's mom, added a reassuring and loving presence, presiding over the ceremony as officiant.

Mari and Kevin made sure to incorporate other significant elements into their wedding. Kevin's sister, Kellie Ann, a professional photographer, not only served as bridesmaid, but also as their professional photographer, and her son/Kevin's nephew, took on the role of ring bearer. Mari and Kevin's dog, as well as Mari's parents' dog, wore a special collar as ring-dogs, making an appearance down the aisle at the ceremony.

The reception which included much more of their family and friends, took place at the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki, which overlooks the yacht harbor and Magic Island.

Inside, a Japanese-inspired table-scape of beautiful pink phalaenopsis orchids and paper lanterns adorned the head table, befitting of the lavish Japanese buffet created exclusively for Mari and Kevin, and for the first-time-ever, by Chef Shimokawa of the hotel's Hakone Japanese restaurant.

Although their wedding reception was void of many wedding traditions such as a garter toss, bouquet toss, or even formal cake-cutting, it was exactly as they wished, filled with meaningful moments, wonderful food, in the company of friends and family.

I leave you with a few more of my favorite photos from Mari and Kevin's 10-10-10 wedding...

Photography by Images by Kellie Ann

Take Advantage of Group Coupons when Planning Your Wedding in Hawaii

Photo by Dave Miyamoto

Table set for an intimate wedding reception at BeachHouse, a participant in PLAYHawaii's group offer

The power of the buyer proves itself in Hawaii with the group purchasing phenomenon made popular by such sites as PLAYHawaii, Groupon, Tippr, LivingSocial, SmartDeals, etc.. The daily deals out there might be well worth considering when planning a wedding. The restaurant options in particular, where you can purchase a voucher for half price (and sometimes better), would be a great option to consider when planning a rehearsal dinner, post-wedding brunch, a meal with the bridal party, etc.. Also worth special attention are deals on Hawaii-specific activities, great when entertaining out-of-town guests, and spa treatments, which just about every bride (and bridesmaid, mom-of-the-bride/groom, and groom!) would love to take advantage of as the big day approaches.

Be sure to sign up with these sites to receive emails for local deals in Hawaii on a daily basis.

Photos by Dave Miyamoto
Strawberries and cream cake with fresh berries created by Satura Cakes, one of the merchants requested a deal of on PLAYHawaii.

Bridal Beauty Clinic: RSVP now!

Looking for hair and make-up services for your wedding in Hawai'i? Photographer, Aaron Bernard, and his company, Liquid Light Images, have officially launched a hair and make-up division, featuring Heather Heen, a top make-up artist. They now use and sell a full line of professional make-up called Motives.

To promote their newest venture, they have planned for this Wednesday, November 3, 6:30pm - 8:30pm at the Bridal Boutique their very own Bridal Beauty Clinic featuring Motives Cosmetics. They are partnering up with Delish Makeup Artistry and Ryan Jacobie Salon to offer the first ever Makeup Clinic created specifically for brides, who can go and check out the Custom Mix Foundation Bar and get a foundation formulated for them from scratch and matched specifically for their skins needs. They will also be featuring a Makeup Bar, where attendees can touch, feel and sample top-of-the-line makeup products. Makeup artists will be on hand to assist in finding the right colors and products for each person's skin and they will also be providing mini makeup demos throughout the night. I'm looking forward to attending the clinic myself! To attend, RSVP to aaron@liquidlightimages.com.

Hawaii-Based Wedding TV Shows

For anyone interested in weddings in Hawaii, here are a couple of shows to note. The first is Hawaii's Wedding Professionals and features various vendors from Hawaii's talented wedding industry. Currently, it can be seen on OC16 on Fridays at 6:30pm, repeating on Monday at 5:00pm, Tuesday at 6:00am and 2:00pm, and then again on Friday at 9:00am. It is also planned to be aired once a week on the west coast beginning early next year - perfect for destination couples.

The other is a brand new reality show called Down the Aisle on an Isle. The show is scheduled to air on OC16 beginning in March 2011 and will feature actual wedding couples. Stay tuned!

Both shows are the fruits of Kahu Kalehua Featheran's efforts. Should any couple be interested in being considered for his show, he can be reached at kale@weddingsbykalehua.com.

Wedding Style Tip #5: "theme-ing" your wedding

When designing your wedding, the key is to create a comprehensive look and feel, infusing the theme into every element. Make sure to reflect the theme, style, and tone of the wedding in everything from the invitations and stationery (often times the very first "taste" of what is to come) to flowers, food, favors, music, etc.. To best illustrate, allow me to provide an example.

Janelle and Alex's "Sweet" Wedding
Janelle and Alex shared a love for dining, cooking, and above all, a love for sweets. It only made perfect sense that their wedding should reflect their common passion for dessert - cupcakes in particular, deriving from the yummy cupcakes that Janelle makes for Alex.

The first impression...
To kick off their wedding, Janelle and Alex went to work, whipping up a batch of frosted cupcakes, each decorated with a letter of the alphabet, that when lined up, spelled "SAVE THE DATE." They took a photo of their cupcakes and with it, laid out a sweet and simple postcard, informing guests of the wedding celebration to come. Naturally, Janelle and Alex chose a chocolate icing and pink letters, hinting at the colors of their wedding.

Do me a favor...
Naturally, what better favor would fit the occasion than a candy and sweets buffet for guests to help themselves to, filling their own custom-labeled favor jar with whatever they desired. Included in the sweet buffet, were home-made Rice Krispy treats in original and strawberry (to go with the color theme, of course).

Center of attention
To further allude to the theme of cupcakes and sweets, Janelle and Alex enlisted the services of none other than Hawai'i's rock star of cakes, Rick Reichart of cakelava, who created giant cupcakes to serve as centerpieces on every other table. A do-it-yourself cupcake kit in mixing bowls filled with cupcake mix, sprinkles, and marshmallows adorned the rest of the tables.

Sweet sips...
To keep things cool, guests enjoyed Thai Iced Coffee topped with little dollops of pink cotton candy in Irish coffee mugs, concocted by stellar caterer, Ginniberries.

Show-stopper...

What really made Janelle and Alex's wedding unique, was the most original and fun wedding cake ever, a giant turtle hugging a giant cupcake, another fabulous cakelava creation.

Photos by Stephen Ludwig

New Vendor: Pink Plum Designs

At a recent function held at the Honolulu Design Center rooftop, James Chun of Crane Media introduced me to Miriam Fontanilla, a friendly (and as it turns out, award-winning) graphic designer with fun bangs and a warm personality. I soon discovered that Miriam designed original and stylish invitations for weddings and social events. Miriam mentions that her company, Pink Plum Design, was "created out of love for graphic design and hand-crafted stationery" and has serviced clients around the world. Her customizable invitation styles range from bold and contemporary, to whimsical and even romantic.

For destination weddings, I am certain couples will love her tropical Bird of Paradise and Orchid Bloom designs, which say "Hawai'i" without the kitsch. Can't wait to see more designs from this talented local designer!