Weddings

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Erica and Paul part 2

March 27, 2009 in 8.8.08, Design, Erica, Finishing Touch, Paul, The Kahala, Weddings, dahlias | 1 comment

A few months ago I blogged about Erica and Paul’s beautiful wedding on 8.8.08 at The Kahala Resort and Spa. I recently received the final CD filled with stunning images from their photographer Frank Amodo, so I decided to post a “part 2″ about this wedding. Erica’s wedding was full of rich texture, bold colors and intricate details. I especially love the use of Dahlias in her wedding. Dahlia is a very hearty flower that usually lasts all day, and they come in such fun shades of colors such as lipstick red, bumble bee yellow, super hot pink and rich plum purple. They always add that “dramatic flair” to any event. Kudos to Floral Inspirations who did an amazing job with the flowers and Frank for capturing these images.

Exquisite handmade invitation by Emi Ink

Bold and dramatic bouquet created by Fong

Just married!

Ballroom transformation – done in 1.5 hour!
8.8.08 was a really busy day at the hotel as we can all imagine, but all vendors worked as a team to create Erica’s dream reception in lightening speed!

Romantic canopy creates a soft coverage for the sweetheart table

Stunning head table set up

Favors were artfully arranged under an arch made of Curly Willows and hanging Orchids
Congratulations to the Harpers!

Christina & Steve

January 24, 2009 in Christina, Design, Finishing Touch, Greek, Loulu Palm Estate, Steve, Weddings | No comments

Here are more images from Christina and Steve’s wedding at Loulu Palm Estate. All images by Stefanie Riedel. Flowers, lighting and drapery by Yvonne Design. Congratulations to the Barkers!

Christina looking gorgeous in her bridal suite just moments before the ceremony

A traditional Greek ceremony was held at the St. Constantine and Helen’s Greek Orthodox Church

Congratulations to the Barkers!

Reception table design – all white with a slight hint of green and brown

The two different shades of white between the linen and white rose makes a stunning contrast!

The couple’s first dance to “At Last”
Breaking of the plates is a Greek tradition during dancing. It was such a great party!

Christina & Steve’s wedding at Loulu Palm Estate

January 14, 2009 in Christina, Design, Finishing Touch, Loulu Palm Estate, North Shore, Steve, Weddings | 1 comment

Congratulations to Christina and Steve who just got married this month at Loulu Palm Estate. Loulu Palm Estate is a new venue on the North Shore that can accommodate up to 500 guests. It’s a beautiful estate that sits right on the edge of the water, and it offers everything you can ever imagine for a wedding in Hawaii. I definitely look forward to coordinating more events at this location. Here are just two initial photos emailed to me by our photographer Stefanie Riedel. More photos to come!

Christina wore a Claire Pettibone dress with these killer D&G shoes. Wasn’t she gorgeous? The colors of her wedding are mainly white with hints of green and brown. The ambiance was a modern tropical flair.
Beautiful cake by Cake Lava

Talking about Transforming a Room

November 22, 2008 in Design, Finishing Touch, Grayson, Lighting, Sunny, Weddings | No comments

I love experimenting with lighting. I think lighting is capable of making any event looks like a million bucks. They say a picture paints a thousand words. Check out these before and after photos! These photos are from Sunny and Grayson’s Masquerade themed wedding at the Pali Golf Course (hence the feather decor). They didn’t have an over the top budget, but the investment we put into lighting really paid off. This is probably one of the most dramatic banquet room transformations Finishing Touch has done. We are very satisfied with the end result. Custom lighting by Yvonne Design, flowers by Floral Inspirations, images by Shawn Starr.

I will be featuring Sunny and Grayson’s wedding in my website portfolio along with a few other new weddings from this year. The new portfolio should be up on my website by mid December.
Before

After

More Pictures from Reiko and Jason’s Wedding

November 20, 2008 in Jason, Reiko, Weddings | No comments

I just got an email from Reiko with a link to their wedding slideshow. I had a smile on my face watching how their wedding day unfold once again. Reiko and Jason are the sweetest, and just absolutely perfect for each other. All pictures are taken by Visionari.

Reiko and Jason

October 14, 2008 in Design, Finishing Touch, Fireworks, Jason, Reiko, Weddings, vacation | No comments

A follow up on my recent blog “Surprise for the Bride”, here are some professional photos by Visionari taken at Reiko and Jason’s wedding at the Ihilani. My staff and I had a BLAST at their wedding, and Reiko and Jason were truly a joy to work with. They reminded me again of why I love what I do so much and what “work hard and play hard” is all about.

On another unrelated note: many of my brides and vendors already know that I will be on vacation from Oct 21 – Nov 12. Marvin and I are going to Hong Kong, Beijing and Phuket for 3 weeks and will not have access to email and voicemail while I am gone. I will be sure to post pictures of our trip after we come back; most importantly, I look forward to coming back to Hawaii feeling refreshed to service all my brides.

Another thing to look forward to: I will be adding new wedding portfolios to our website after I return. There are so many beautiful and memorable weddings in 2008, I cannot wait to share them! Last but not least, congratulations to all my October couples who got married this month:

Sunny and Grayson
Essence and Nurry
Brenna and Jonathan
Miki and Joel, who are getting married this Friday!

OK… here are the photos of Reiko and Jason’s wedding :)
Elegant bouquets by Yvonne Design

Perfect backdrop for the perfect couple!

Reiko and Jason inside the ballroom before doors opening

Details of the table set up. Love the “off-set” chair sash on the chair covers!

Overall set up of the ocean ballroom at the Ihilani
A professional photo of the fireworks. Much better than my camera phone :)

Theresa & Robert

September 30, 2008 in Design, Finishing Touch, Weddings, hotel ballroom wedding, robert, theresa | No comments

Theresa and Robert got married on July 7 this year at St. Augustine church in Waikiki, and their reception was held at the Hale Koa Waikiki ballroom. Although it seems like all my weddings are always at Lanikuhonua (honestly, I have so many brides asking me why do I do so many weddings there? Because it’s simply beautiful!), but I actually really enjoy working at hotel ballrooms as well to mix things up :) There are so much you can do inside a ballroom, for example: dramatic lighting, ridiculously tall centerpieces, real candles that won’t get blown out… etc, without having to worry about our worst enemies: wind and rain! Theresa was so easy to work with (let alone she is also drop dead gorgeous). She trusted her vendors 100% and just kind of allow us to design the entire event based on the 3 photos (well, maybe 4 the most!) she had in her big wedding binder. Michelle of Flower Girls did an awesome job creating the luxurious, elegant and romantic feel Theresa wanted for her reception. Theresa’s wedding color was actually turquoise, but the ballroom looked AMAZING with a wash of all white decor. Her something blue (actually “something turquoise”) was the beautiful cake made by Cake Lava. The Hale Koa ballrom was truly transformed for this event, from the beautiful custom linen to the hand crafted sweetheart table canopy adorned with a shabby chic style chandelier, no details were left out. Even the wait staff who works at the hotel told us that they didn’t even recognize the ballroom! Thank you to Theresa and Robert for being such amazing clients to work with! Blessings to you both! Images by Chrissy Lambert.

Ceremony at St. Augustine Church

Overall view of the ballroom’s transformation

Close up of the table top design
White phalaenopsis orchid always makes an elegant napkin embellishment
The happy couple underneath their romantic canopy adorned by a shabby chic style crystal chandelier
Stunning turquoise cake by Cake Lava

Surprise for the Bride

September 23, 2008 in Finishing Touch, Fireworks, Jason, Reiko, Surprise, Weddings | No comments

I had the opportunity to work with a super fun couple this weekend, Jason and Reiko; and I think we’ve pulled off the biggest surprise of all surprises! Jason and I have been working closely together for about a month prior to the wedding to surprise his new wife, Reiko and all of his 180 out of town guests with a spectacular fireworks show. It was required by the Ko Olina association that we inform all of the resort residents and hotel guests of the show, so they don’t get scared by the loud noise. It was quite challenging to make sure no guests, especially Reiko, receive any notice about the show. With that many guests, you know someone will spill the beans, somehow! All week, I was really looking forward to seeing Reiko’s reaction to this amazing (and expensive) surprise. After Jason gave his speech, we fired off the fireworks, and Reiko was completely in shock, and of course, in tears! Jason and Reiko were so much fun to work with; and their guests kept the dance floor busy all night. Let’s just say that they danced so hard the dance floor moved about 3 – 4 feet away from its original position. I had no idea that’s even possible! Professional pictures to come… when they are available :) But for now, here’s a fantastic “camera phone photo” of the fireworks.

Mazal Tov!

Jennifer and Michael

September 17, 2008 in Design, Finishing Touch, Indian-inspired, Jennifer, Michael, Weddings | No comments

Here are some professional pictures taken by Chrissy Lambert at Jennifer and Michael’s wedding at Lani Phase 2 (yes, another BEAUTIFUL wedding at Lani. A sunset that never disappoints!). Jennifer is a yoga instructor, and Michael is a therapeutic massage therapist. They own a business together in San Francisco that focuses on health and healing – how cool is that! Jennifer is definitely one of my favorite brides to work with. Her presence is so calming, soothing and just simply lovely! Jennifer and Michael’s ceremony is probably the most personal and spiritual I’ve witnessed, I love it! It reminds me again what marriage is all about. After all, flowers will die, candles will melt…. but your marriage is one thing from your wedding that truly last forever. Yvonne had an amazing job with the lighting and flowers. They truly exudes beauty and serenity, with a touch of Indian inspiration. Jennifer’s Indian-inspired cake made by Cake Lava also stole the show. It was so colorful and of course, so ono (delicious) at the same time. Congratulations to the Lanes!

Ceremony on the beach

Table top design

Love the Tuberose spiral chandelier!

The table top design looks so different at night with the help of some custom lighting. It looks amazing!

The happy couple! Gotta love Jennifer’s “feet embellishment” :)

Indian-inspired wedding cake

888

August 22, 2008 in Design, Finishing Touch, Weddings | 1 comment

Erica and Paul is our lucky couple this year who got married on August 8, 2008. It’s hard to believe Erica and I have been working on this wedding for 2 years! As you can see, everything turned out beautifully and flawlessly at their wedding at The Kahala. The beautiful floral arrangements and canopy were created by Fong of Floral Inspirations. Photography by Frank Amodo. The funny thing is, I worked with Fong and Frank last year on 777; and of course, this year on 888. Who knows, we may be working together again next year on 999 just to keep the tradition going :) Congratulations to the Harpers!

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