The Knot's 2011 Cocktails and Connections Honolulu event - Part 2

Photos by Chrissy Lambert Photography

The Knot's Cocktails and Connections 2011 Honolulu event for wedding industry professionals featured such a plethora of creative contributions by so many of O'ahu's talented vendors, that one blog entry just would not adequately sum up the many facets of the event. Here's part 2 of my recap of the August 23, 2011 event held at the YWCA.

To create much of the ambiance, particularly after the sun had set, Eggshell Light Company "worked their magic" to highlight the different areas of the space and to create a festive and dramatic mood. The playful patterns projected onto the courtyard, against the walls, and into the swimming pool effectively yet subtly broke up the space without shining into guests' eyes. Even the layers of colors created by selecting different hues for the foreground and background created lots of visual interest, not often seen at weddings with hard-and-fast color palettes.

Entertainment for the evening consisted of a slam poetry performance by Kealoha of Slam Hawai'i, a flare bartending performance by Ryan Pierce of Lift Your Spiritz, on-site painting of the night's scene by Kimi Werner, a same day edit featuring guests in attendance, and a very special presentation from The Knot.

As a parting gift, guests chose a bottle of their favorite Waialua Soda flavor (root beer, pineapple vanilla cream, mango, Kona Red, or lilikoi). Each bottle sported a favor tag from Emi Ink to match the rest of the stationery items, and the gilded frame on the table from Scene Events instructed guests to help themselves. These bottles could then be tucked into a swag bag filled with goodies including delightful chocolate dipped sweets from Big Island Candies; a gift certificate for wine tasting for two and corkscrew from Oeno Winemaking; a water bottle from The Knot; and a chocolate bar with gift card entitling the bearer to 20% off spa services from The Spa at Trump.

Before bidding each other a fond aloha and goodnight, participating vendors gathered round for a group photo, waving "shaka" (or "hang loose") signs in the air. As with any event, it amazes me to see months of hard work pass by in just a few short hours, but the good times had by all make it always well worth the effort. A sincere and heartfelt mahalo goes out to all who contributed to making the event possible, and to those who took time out of their busy schedules to join us.

The Knot's 2011Cocktails and Connections Honolulu event

If you by chance happen to be reading this, then you are already familiar with The Knot and its tremendous presence in the wedding industry. Understandably, then, you can imagine what an honor it was for us to be asked to orchestrate their Cocktails and Connections event in Honolulu earlier this year (on August 23, 2011, to be exact). Our response was a hearty "yes" and we dove right in to the planning.

As with planning any event, one of the very first steps involves selecting the location. Darby Sherwood, Account Executive for The Knot, simply requested that the venue be one that was located in Honolulu, and rather new or unpublicized in wedding circles. After a couple of site visits and a bit of deliberation, the YWCA Laniakea emerged as the choice of locale.

The YWCA's stately architecture drew to mind images of grand European fine art museums and hence arose the museum theme for the event. To bring to life the theme, we enlisted the services of stationer, Stacey Shiroma Branch of Emi Ink, who created beautiful program with fold-out maps and admission tickets for guests upon arrival, and placards for the various "art" displayed throughout the venue. In fact, even the valet tickets were customized to match all of the stationery pieces in matching fonts and card stocks.

As far as "art" was concerned for the museum theme, human statues graced the hall, and were poised on custom-made all white platforms beneath the charmeuse draped arches along the hall. Christine Gardner and Nica Jacinto of Flaunt airbrushed the models in gold make up to match the wedding gowns, also painted in gold by Christine. The placards on the platforms describing each statue completed the look for the "Hall of Statues" created in the space that separated the pool from the Courtyard.

Other pieces of "art" included the floral displays by Spinning WEB Florist, placed purposefully in the middle of the Courtyard, as well as in the "Portrait Gallery," which by day, serves as the YWCA's Cafe Laniakea. Wendy of Spinning WEB added a Midas touch to many of the items, playing with the white and gold color scheme of the event, incorporating over-sized frames to further emphasize the fine art feel. We added stanchions from Accel Party Rentals and Designs as well, to rope off the floral portraits on the walls, as one would find in many major museums. To top it off, benches from Vignette in front of each of the floral designs allowed guests to pause and admire the artwork.

Inside the Portrait Gallery, The Spa at Trump set up a mini spa for guests to enjoy chair massages and Gemstone hand massages with oils from Dubai. Naomi Lee and Cari Nakanishi of Vignette delineated the space with panels of sheer fabric and softened the area with a plush all-white, faux fur area rug and satin covered benches. Guests knew exactly which services to choose from by viewing the spa menu, designed by Emi Ink and set in a gilded gold frame from Scene Events.



Mahalo to all the participating vendors who made The Knot's Cocktails and Connections 2011 Honolulu event possible:

A Cup of Tea
Accel Party & Design
Ben & Maila
Big Island Candies
cakelava
Casablanca Bridal and Formals
Chrissy Lambert Photography
Eggshells Light Company
Emi Ink
Flaunt
Ginniberries Catering
Hawai'i Slam
Kai Media
Kimi Werner
Les Saisons
Lift Your Spiritz Mobil Bartending Service
Market ADvantage
Oeno Winemaking
Prestige Valet Service
Randy Allen
Scene Events
Shakabooth
ShowTime DJs
Spinning WEB Florist
The Spa at Trump
Vignette
YWCA - Laniakea
Wahoo's Fish Tacos
Waialua Soda Works
Weddings by Grace and Mona

Waialua Soda Works: island-made sodas perfect for destination weddings

Photos by Chrissy Lambert Photography

I don't quite remember when I first came across a bottle of Waialua Soda, but I do remember the cute label with the retro hula dancer, and the fun tropical flavors. In recent years, they've become mainstays at local eateries and supermarkets, and now, even at weddings!

I love the idea of providing guests who travel to Hawaii with welcome gifts delivered to their hotel rooms, particularly when those gifts contain delightful island-made products. In the welcome basket shown below, guests received bags of Hawaiian Isle coffee, a tropical scented loofah-soap, and of course, bottles of Waialua Soda, perfect for enjoying in their rooms. The colorful labels add a cheerful touch to the gift.


Waialua Sodas also make great beverages at off-premise events where providing your own drinks is encouraged. Pop off the cap, stick a bright colored straw in it, and you've got a fun drink which also looks fantastic in photos. Some couples will even choose the flavors that tie in with their wedding colors: Root Beer (ivory and brown), Pineapple (sky blue and yellow), Mango (chartreuse green and orange), Vanilla Cream (wheat and ivory), Lilikoi (bubblegum pink and pastel pink), and Kona Red (ivory and red). My personal favorite: pineapple! Best yet, if your wedding is taking place on the island of O'ahu, the folks at Waialua Soda Works deliver free of charge with a two-case minimum purchase. Can't beat that!