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!

10-10-10 and other dates for tying the knot

With the turn of the new (well, not that new anymore) millenium, years ending in low digits such as 2007, 2008, 2009, and now, 2010, have created a phenomenon in the wedding industry. Due to the lo wer digit years, we find a huge spike in demand for unique and easy to remember dates created by the uniformity of same numbered months, days, and years, such as July 7, 2007 (7-7-7), August 8, 2008 (8-8-8) and so forth. This year is no different.

Today, October 10, 2010, is marked by completely booked venues, hustling wedding vendors and bustling bridesmaids (yes, pun intended). In order to secure venues and services for this date, couples clamored for their top picks well in advance of the normal lead time. The fact that 10-10-10 falls not only on a Sunday, but on a holiday weekend at that, makes this an ultra-popular date.

There is just two more years to go before this phenomenon is over - November 11, 2011, and December 12, 2010. Since 11-11-11 is a date with all ones (1s), it may prove to be even more popular. While it may not be on a the more sought after Saturday or Sunday, a Friday, which 11-11-11 falls on, is for many, the next best thing. It will be interesting to see how 12-12-12 develops in terms of desirability...

Photo by Christie Pham Photography

Featured Wedding #7: Tysha and Ryan

Photos by Owen and Owen, Photographers

What I remember most about Tysha and Ryan is their shared devotion to God. The beauty in that lay in their ability to not "sweat the small stuff" and to maintain a healthy focus on their commitment and on celebrating with their family and friends.

Their day started with getting ready in the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki.

The fun-loving and spunky hair and make-up artist, CJ Bae of Naturally You made Tysha look spectacular in an updo with delicate crystal butterflies to add sparkle to her hair.

While the ladies in the bridal party were getting ready, the adorable ring bearer "kept it real" in his spiffy tuxedo and comfy Crocs...and throughout the day, their fondness for one another could not be ignored...
Congratulations, Tysha and Ryan!!!