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Ingrid & Paolo

We called May this year our ‘Canadian Month’ because it just so happens that two of our couples who got married in May are both from Canada. This week we feature Canadian couple #1, Ingrid and Paolo. Ingrid and Paolo is an energetic couple who wants a destination wedding, but doesn’t want the seashells and bright tropical flowers. They want an outdoor seaside ceremony and reception that are modern, edgy and unique. We love their color choices of platinum, green, white and a touch of teal. What a unique color scheme! We also love that our florist Passion Roots used foliage to create bouquets and boutonnieres for the wedding party to keep the look unusual. I (Sandra) had so much fun designing all the details for this wedding along with the rest of the Finishing Touch crew: kudos to our event planner Tristin for coordinating such a smooth event, and to our graphic designer Stacey for creating such beautiful wedding day stationery to add those finishing touches. From the ‘i+p’ cocktail stir sticks to the guest menu, each piece truly completes the look of the event. Congratulations to Ingrid and Paolo! In a few weeks, we will feature Canadian couple #2, Laura and Oliver.

Amazing photography by Shawn Starr.

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We were thrilled when Jennifer Stein, Editor in Chief, at Destination I Do magazine contacted us to contribute to their Guest Book section “What’s Your Destination Wedding Style?”. Jennifer told us she just loves Christina and Brian’s wedding featured on our website, and wants to use their wedding to inspire readers that they can still desire an elegant tropical wedding without the sand and seashells. Thank you Jennifer for the opportunity to showcase Hawaii in your magazine! Destination I Do Fall Winter 2010 issue is on newsstands now. Pick up a copy and check out other fabulous destination weddings from rustic wine country to Moroccan inspired! To see more images from Christina and Brian’s wedding, click here. Floral design by Yvonne Design, images by Visionari.

Sarah & Abe

This summer we had the opportunity to work with a few photographers who flew in from the mainland to photograph our clients’ weddings. One of them are Chris and Jamie of JAC Photography from Southern California. It’s often refreshing to see Hawaii through the lens of someone who doesn’t live here; it definitely makes me appreciate the beauty of our island even more. Chris and Jamie are both super sweet and so down to earth, I know it’s going to be a great day the moment we met on the wedding day. Not to mention, Chris shoots 100% in film, how neat is that? Film seems to be making a come back in wedding photography (or should I say it is an art form that will never go out of style?), and I can see why. Check out these amazing images from Sarah and Abe’s wedding! Sarah and Abe had an all white wedding at Lanikuhonua: their guests wore white, and their design details were mainly in white with just a touch of natural green and some wood accent. Although the colors of the wedding are quite muted, the images are simply lovely! Thank you Chris and Jamie for such a great time! Hope to see you folks back on the island soon.

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Tulips!

We had so much fun collaborating with Robyn of Pacific Weddings on this photo shoot featuring Tulips. The styling inspiration of this photo shoot came from Anthropologie. I just love the eclectic feel of this table: striped linen, floral motif napkin, button, clothespin, vintage jars, mismatched stemware and wired floral vessel filled with gorgeous apricot and sunny yellow Tulips. Floral design by Debbie Hemingway, stationery by Bradley & Lily, photography by Casssandra Dieterle. Images from this photo shoot are currently featured in the Pacific Weddings Summer Fall 2010 issue.

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Today we feature our lovely bride Lorelei, who got married last year at the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa – one of our favorite venues on Oahu. Lorelei absolutely loved every moment of the planning process, and we just knew from the very beginning that she will be a great bride to feature and to provide some candid feedback, tips and advice for future brides. So here it is, in her own words….

Tell us about your wedding look. I envisioned an elegant and romantic wedding, so I chose a classic and romantic flute/mermaid wedding dress.  Beaded crystals and dramatic floral and ivory vines embellished the slight sweetheart neckline and the chapel length train of my wedding dress.  The overall look of the wedding included warm and inviting colors of amber, gold, peach, ivory, taupe and olive green. Sandra helped us to develop and complete our wedding look in a cohesive manner.  After describing the previous details to Sandra, she was a great help in recommending a suitable venue to execute the look of the wedding.  We wanted a family focused reception, something that made our guests feel welcomed.

Tell us about the ambiance of your wedding. Mike was born on the East Coast with an Italian/European heritage, and I was born and raised in Hawaii.  To portray our backgrounds, we decided to have our ceremony in the oceanfront of Ihilani to represent Hawaii, and a vintage-chic Tuscany themed ballroom to represent the Italian/European side.  The ceremony site was quite simple – long, flowing rose strands hanging from two trees, and the peaceful and breathtaking view of the ocean was all we needed to symbolize Hawaii.  As the guests entered the lanai area in front of the Ocean Ballroom for cocktail hour, the escort card table displayed a tall vase filled with flowers located in the center.  Small golden frames used as favors and escort cards surrounded the centerpiece.  Beside the escort card table were our engagement pictures and a picture collage of friends and family.  Taupe damask crushed linens covered guest tables and guests were seated in golden chivari chairs that were located in the ballroom.  The table scape consisted of a medium sized amber glass vase filled with peach and ivory roses, white ranunculus, yellow stalks, and olive leaves.  Votive candles surrounded the centerpiece to give the table a romantic feel.   Inviting, warm and romantic amber lighting illuminated the entire ballroom.  Our initials LBM were centered on the dance floor.  Lastly, as the focal point, our sweetheart table was decorated with an ivory fabric backdrop behind us, and a trellis of cascading phalaenopsis and olive leaves. Beside the sweetheart table was our simple, but elegant 3-tiered white butter cream cake trimmed with golden damask ribbons and embellished with phalaenopsis and white roses.   The entire ballroom was breathtaking, elegant, romantic, and exactly what we wanted. Mike and I were both blown away at how Sandra and her team were able to use their professional touch to pull everything together.

Tell us about your best wedding finds. I found several discounts on trustworthy websites for wedding invitations and the golden frames that were used as favors and escort cards.  Craft stores such as Michael’s (located in the mainland) and Ben Franklin are great places to check out for sales and coupons. We purchased ribbons for our wedding cake, flower girls’ baskets, and materials for our money box at the craft store.  We made our own ceremony program using paper we bought in bulk for an inexpensive price at a paper store.

What did you enjoy most about the wedding planning process? It’s a simple answer – planning the wedding itself!  I could not stop looking at wedding/bridal magazines and looking at the many and different styles a wedding can have.  I had so many ideas in mind, and if I could, I would have had several different wedding themes.  However, I only had to come down with one!  Sandra helped me get all my ideas together and put them into one cohesive wedding theme.  Communicating and planning with Sandra was so much fun!  I loved playing with colors, looking at different linens, and talking about different designs.  I learned so much about planning and designing a wedding.  Finishing Touch helped my ideas to become a reality.  Thank you Sandra!

Any tips for future brides? Your wedding day happens once, and you want to enjoy it to the fullest.  Hiring a wedding planner was the best decision we made for our wedding.  We didn’t want to burden our friends and family on the wedding day; we wanted everyone to enjoy the wedding with no stress and for them to have fun!   Mike and I were also stress free during the wedding day because everything was taken care of by Finishing Touch.  Hiring a wedding planner ensures wedding details are taken care of during the planning process and on the wedding day.  Also, your wedding is a special day that focuses on the bride and the groom. Make sure that the wedding depicts who you are as individuals and as a couple.  The best thing about planning a wedding is that you can do anything; there are no rules (but only to keep within your budget and making sure the wedding look is cohesive!).   And, although you can’t have everything you want, and ideas change throughout the planning process, being flexible makes it easier to make a successful wedding happen.

All images by Shawn Starr.

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Over the 4th of July weekend, we had the pleasure of working with Christen of Nineteen Owls Photography. We’ve been spying on her website for quite sometime and was excited to see her work her magic at this wedding we designed and coordinated at the Turtle Bay Resort. Here are just a few breathtaking teaser images taken from Christen’s blog, aren’t they gorgeous? We can’t wait to see the rest. Our couple Annie and Peter were such classy, kind and genuine people from New York, we had such a great time working with them. Congratulations Annie and Peter!

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LOVE PW!

Finishing Touch is honored to be added as a contributing artist in Pacific Weddings newest issue. Thank you Robyn for inviting us to be a part of your beautiful craft! We are humbled by your grace and passion.

The issue is on newsstands, go pick up a copy and get ready to be inspired. The issue is absolutely gorgeous!

It’s been a busy wedding season, but I was refreshed when I received an email from Joel at Joel Serrato Films with a link to Kellie and Peter’s wedding, in film! Kellie and Peter got married in May 2010, and they had hired the dynamic film duo from California to document their wedding in Hawaii: Jose Villa for photos and Joel Serrato for video. For those who know me personally, I am a sucker for vintage eclectic design, so I was ecstatic to find out I will finally get a chance to meet Jose and Joel and work with them at a wedding! I hope you enjoy this video. It offers such a fresh look for Lanikuhonua – a venue full of history and beauty.


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We are the midst of our peak wedding season and apologize for falling off the blog wagon. We’ve been busy designing and planning our Summer weddings and can’t wait to post photos of these weddings on our blog when they become available in a month or two. Oh, and how can we fail to mention our very own event planner, Tristin Viloria, is also getting hitched in 2 weeks! It’s definitely a full house filled with exciting wedding action at our office each and everyday!

Speaking of Summer weddings, I came across these celebrity cocktail recipes in People magazine a few issues back. Don’t they all sound so delicious and refreshing? Consider serving one of these as a signature cocktail at your wedding. Your guests will definitely appreciate the creativity, and a fresh alternative to the good’ol Mai Tai commonly served here in Hawaii. Cheers!

(Vita Coco Caipirinha pictured above)

Vita Coco Caipirinha (served at Madonna and Demi Moore’s Oscar party, L.A.)

Ingredients: 4 wedge lime, 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 1/2 oz. cachaca (Brazilian spirit), 3 oz. Vita Coco Tangerine Coconut Water

Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice. Squeeze lime wedges and toss into glass with sugar. Pour cachaca over the ice cubes. Top off with Vita Coco. Stir gently.

Blueberry Pomegranate Margarita (Jessica Simpson’s favorite at Dos Caminos, N.Y.C.)

Ingredients: 1 oz. lowland white tequila (like Herradura), 1/2 oz. triple sec, 1 lime, 1 oz. blueberry pomegranate juice, 5 fresh blueberries

Combine tequila, triple sec, juice from half a lime and pomegranate juice with ice in cocktail shaker. Shake hard; strain into glass over fresh ice. Garnish with blueberries and lime wheel.

Sunblush Martini (From Kenmore, N.Y.C., co-owned by DJ Paul Sevigny and it’s his wife Chloe Sevigny’s favorite)

Ingredients: 1 1/2 oz. Stoli Gala Applik, 1/4 oz. Capari, 1 oz. pink grapefruit juice, 1 oz. pineapple juice, 3/4 oz. simple syrup, 3 leaves of basil

Combine ingredients and shake well (do not muddle basil). Serve in a martini glass. Garnish with a basil leaf.

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Introducing our guest blogger this week, Mrs. Porsche Adamas. Porsche is a Finishing Touch bride who just got married on April 24, 2010. After her wedding, we met up with Porsche and her new husband Micah to wrap up the event. Porsche and Micah couldn’t stop talking about how much fun they had planning their wedding, and how enjoyable the entire wedding planning experience was. Our conversation lasted almost 2 hours! It also dawned on us that she will be a perfect bride to feature on our blog: giving advice to future brides! So here it so, in Porsche’s own word, a bride to bride moment…

Image by Frank Amodo

“There’s just something about weddings that has always fascinated me. Maybe it’s the big beautiful gowns, the colorful bouquets, or just the thought of being the center of attention for the day. My husband may not have realized it at the time he proposed, but I had been planning our wedding for years prior to us even meeting! Can you imagine? Single and subscribing to wedding magazines and websites; if there’s such a thing as pre-bridezilla…it was me. Oh yeah, and I already had a wedding binder put together. *Note: my husband was not aware of the wedding binder until after he proposed; he wasn’t pressured!

So you can only imagine how excited I was to finally start planning our special day. I had considered every detail you could think of, from welcome baskets for guests to personalized favors and designers for custom-made gowns. I knew which websites had the best deals for this kind of ribbon, or that kind of favor bag, and even ring pillows for dogs.

There are a few things, though, that I learned during the “engagement” journey that I wish someone had told me. Here are a few tips for future brides.

1. Don’t forget the groom! Sounds silly but it will make the day even more special if you can make decisions together. Learning to compromise and communicate more effectively what you like/don’t like and what he likes/doesn’t like can only strengthen your relationship as a couple…because remember, you’re marrying that man ‘til death do you part!

2. Have ideas ready for vendors and bring them to the meetings. Meetings are more productive if you have sample pictures or a running idea of bouquets, linen, lighting, etc. You will most likely get instant feedback and ideas from the vendors, which can save a lot of back and forth emails. It’s also helpful to have a list of what you do NOT like – that way vendors have a clearer understanding of your wedding vision.

3. Make the best of the situation. For example, I had my heart set on big, lush peonies being the highlight of the bouquets and centerpieces; every time I saw a peony in a magazine or at other weddings I would get excited for our big day. THEN, about a week or so prior to our wedding day the airports in Holland shut down and we were not going to have the exact florals that were planned. Needless to say I was super bummed that week. But that day, our florist did a great job substituting other similar flowers and even surprised me with a bouquet of peonies! I’m not sure where or how she got them…but things just worked out!

4. If you can afford it, hire a professional planner. Now I know this may sound like an endorsement of some sort, especially because this will be on a wedding coordination/planning blog…but really…I would highly highly recommend a professional, non-family member to help plan. For one thing it makes that day run smooth – you do not have to worry about a thing! The coordinator(s) will tell you where you have to be and troubleshoot on that day so you don’t have to. AND, what was such a big help for me was that our coordinator helped streamline my millions of ideas into an elegant, polished, and cohesive event. If it wasn’t for her our wedding had the potential of being over-done and gaudy.

5. Last but not least, enjoy the process. It may sound strange to be giving this as a piece of advice but that’s really the only thing I would have changed about my engagement/planning process. It is easy to get caught up in the details and fixated on this shade of linen or having that type of favor. You will save a lot of time and unnecessary stress (and avoid potential disagreements) if you stay a little flexible with your wedding vision. Remember that some things just can not be helped or avoided. Ultimately your special day will be what you make of it, and you will probably forget that little detail you sulked over because you’re having so much fun!

I hope this was helpful, and the best of planning/engagement luck!

Porsche

*Note: you can find me on FB if you have any questions!”

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