Bio

Mrsailinamei

Wedding Date:
June 16th, 2007

Location:
Honolulu, Hawaii

Quick Clicks

Wedding Slideshow

Rehearsal Night

Luau

Food

Pre-wedding

Ceremony

Cocktail Hour

Flowers

Day After

Details Knotties Love

Vendor Reviews

Welcome to my married bio. If you are looking for my planning bio, click here. It includes: engagement pics , tutorials on my DIY projects such as my invitations and ringbearer pillows, sample wedding timeline, and my favorite wedding links.

Please credit both myself and our photographer, Visionari, if you want to use my pictures. Please email me at ailinamei808 at yahoo dot com so I know where my pictures are going. Mahalo!

Everything was amazing! I was really stressed out the weeks prior to the wedding but, for some reason, the stress just melted away on my wedding day. I was almost oblivious to anything that didn't go as planned. I had such a great time on that day and wish I could relive it again because everything went by so fast. I was so happy to share my special day with 260-some family and friends. You'll see crutches in many of the pictures. A week before the wedding, my honey tore his ACL for the third time since high school and his meniscus was folded over in his knee. Gross, yeah? Poor thing was such a trooper on that day. It was too bad though that we couldn't do a fancy dance number or have more fun/goofy pictures. He got surgery a week after the wedding and now he can walk again.

Wedding Slideshow

Click here to view our propic slideshow by our photographer, Visionari.

Rehearsal Night

Our rehearsal felt so surreal. We listened to all the readings., read our vows, and went through the candle, veil, and cord ceremonies. Even the pianist/soloist was there so we walked down the aisle to all of our wedding music. It was like we were married at the end of it. And just like most other rehearsals, ours ran late (well, because it started late) so people were HUNGRY!
Thank God we hired a sushi chef from Sushi Supreme. Everyone was so pleasantly surprised.

I gave the girls beach tote bags with matching pearl necklaces and different little things for each bridesmaid. The gift above was a Smart Ass thong that says, "desperate housewife."

DH gave all the guys beer glasses calligraphed with their last names.

Luau

We went to Germaine's Luau the night before the wedding. Everyone had a blast. I've been to PCC, Paradise Cove, and the Royal Hawaiian luau. I think Germaine's is the best in terms of food, price, and how much fun the entire family will have.

Food

Both DH and I are big foodies. We're also both terrible grumps when we're hungry so we made sure that food was plentiful throughout the day. Before the ceremony, we had sandwiches, sushi, and lots of fruit/granola bars on hand. Since the bridal party was going to miss cocktail hour, we asked the Royal Hawaiian to bring some appetizers to the Royal Garden. To our surpise, the RH set up a mini-buffet for our bridal party. They were so happy!

I was apprehensive during our wedding plannig because we never got an opportunity to do any tastings but everything was delicious. Guests' faves were the adobo duck, the prime rib, and the bread pudding.

On a side note, check out my little cousin chilling with my DH and groomsmen who apparently brought the lint roller with them to the bar.

Pre-wedding

For all you knotties interested in the Ihilani, I've included pix of us getting ready at the Oceanside Deluxe Spa Room.

Me and DH in our full wedding gear.

Boys in the Ihilani Lobby. Me and the girls on our way to the lawn outside the hotel.

Whew! It's gettin' hot in here. Why didn't anyone tell me I was hiking my dress up that high?

Ceremony

Leading DH through the crowd back into the church for family portraits and an aerial view of my hair.

Cocktail Hour

Working hard while our guests enjoy cocktail hour

Wedding must-have = Nintendo DS
Our signture drink: X-rated liqueur and Sprite. Yum! I love X-rated. It's vodka with blood orange, mango, and passionfruit.

Ocean Lawn at the Royal Hawaiian, immediately outside the Monarch Room

Reception

We walked into the intro to September's "Satellites," one of our favorite techno pop songs.
Each bridesmaid and groomsman did a little impromptu dance together during the entrance.
Me to DH: Shimmy your shoulders, honey. Shimmy.
DH to Me: I can't, honey. My leg's broken.

DH's dad boogie-ing it down with Kaleo, our MC.

A couple of our performers.

whew, what a night!

Flowers

"Modern/Rich/Semi-tropical chic"
Fuschia pinks with rustic orange/reddish tones
Cymbidiuims, Mokara Orrchids, Mini Calla, Roses, Freesia

Tall centerpieces on fluted vases
Short centerpieces with candle in the middle

Head table and Pew decor. Pew decor with Monstera leaf and white satin ribbon

Bouquets all hand-tied. My bouquet mostly fuschia pinks. Bridesmaid bouquets mostly rich rustric orange/red with fuschia highlights and raffia handle wrap

Double ohai ali'i leis for the groomsmen.
Cooke Island Maile intertwined with kukunaokala and kukui nuts for DH.

My reception lei - 3 strand pikake
Father of Bride/Groom: Mock Orange w/ kukui nut
Mother of Bride/Groom: Sweet Leilani Orchid Lei
Sponsors: White orchid with single pink rose, Single ohai ali'i
Deacon: Cigar w/ mock orange and kukui nuts

Day After

My dress after its night of glory
My wedding was here

Lechon. Yummy!
Our mini-mes standing in front of the wedding gift my cousin (that designed our stationery) made for us.
I don't know what happened to our cake topper but, I noticed that my mini-me had a crack along its neck and DH's cake topper had a crack in its back.
My mini-me evidently was decapitated but someone glued it back together.

Details Knotties Love

Program Fans, Invitation, Escort Cards, Blurb Guestbook, Lauhala Favor Box adorned with ohai ali'i lei crocheted yarn

Head Table Setting, Wishing Well, Money Lei

Cake, by Satura, decorated with crystal sugar

Pics of homemade lavendar sachets (fuschia-colored sachets and orange jewels) and bridal shower invites coming soon. My bridesmaids are so crafty!

Our Readings for the Ceremony

First Reading - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 103:1-2, 8, 13, 17-18
The Lord is kind and merciful.

Bless the Lord, my soul all my being, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, my soul; do not forget all the gifts of God,

Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger, abounding in kindness.

As the father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on the faithful.

But the Lord's kindness is forever, toward the faithful from age to age.
He favors the children's children of those who keep his covenant who take care to fulfill his precepts.

Second Reading - Ephesians 4:1-3

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Alleluia - 1 John 4:12

If we love one another,
God remains in us
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

Gospel - John 17: 20-23

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:
`Holy Father,
I pray not only for these,
but for those also
who through their words will believe in me.
May they all be one.
Father, may they be one in us,
as you are in me and I am in you,
so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.
I have given them the glory you gave to me,
that they may be one as we are one.
With me in them and you in me,
may they be so completely one
that the world will realise that it was you who sent me
and that I have loved them as much as you loved me.'

We liked the first reading because it talked about the strength and unity as a couple. The second reading was beautiful in that it talked what love means. The Gospel described to us how love unites Jesus to the Father, us to each other, us to God, and God in us. What we liked about the readings even more was that it didn't talk about the woman's role for man, how to be a virtuous wife, and that it was different from the, although beautiful, "love is patient, love is kind..." reading.

One of the six pages in our wedding program.

Vendor Reviews

Beauty
Pre-Wedding

Eyebrows	Paul Brown Hawaii - Ward Center	Would I use this vendor again? Yes All of the eyebrow stylists there are great. Good shaping. Fast waxing.
Manicure	Ihilani Spa	Would I use this vendor again? No Expensive. My basic manicure included a nail filing, buff, polish, cuticle care, and a hand massage. My girlfriend got a french manicure (which is 20 dollars more) and her manicurist didn't attend to her cuticles nor gave her a hand massage. My nails didn't look that great the next day and my cuticles became dry again. Kind of embarassing in the close-up bouquet pics.
Pedicure	L'mour Pearlrdige	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Friendly staff. Clean place. Best pedicure I ever had.
Massage	Elements Spa	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Lovely atmosphere. Great massage. This was part of my last date with my FI before the wedding. Right after the massage, we got all tense again. Oh well. It was sooo nice when it lasted.
Wedding
Hair and Makeup	Dorys Foltin	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Dorys brought two other stylists with her that morning for me, my mom, and 5 bridesmaids. Everyone came out great. My makeup hardly needed touch-ups. From other knotties' experience, I knew her lip gloss wasn't going to stay on so I brought my own. That was no big deal. I loved my makeup so much that I plan on buying makeup from her make-up line.

Fashion
Alterations	Lani Roberts	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Lani is awesome. My dress came in too big at the waist and way too big at the chest area. I swear I could have fit two 1 gallon milk jugs in the chest area and there would still be room and I know I'm not that flat! My dress fit great on the day of and wasn't too tight at all. You can tell she has a lot of experience and pays great attention to detail. She works out of her home in Kaimuki and works on TV and movie sets part-time. She also works closely with Keepsakes Gown.
Dress - Bride	La Belle Elaine's - Seattle	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Tanida wasn't pushy or snobby at all. I had a great experience there. I didn't do much price comparison shopping on the dress I got because they offered a $300 discount for buying the dress on that first day and they threw in my veil for free.
Dress - Bridesmaids	Cocomyles	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Great fabric. Fast to reply to emails. Gave my bridesmaids free fabric (at least a yard and a half each) as they all wanted to alter their dresses to make it more personal. I liked how this vendor allowed bridesmaids to custom make their dress.
Tuxedo - Groom	Bernini Platinum - Beverly Center Los Angeles	Would I use this vendor again? Yes My DH loved, loved, loved his tuxedo. It was custom-tailored and fit him great. The store shipped the tuxedo to Seattle and it got there with no problems.
Tuxedo Rental - Groomsmen	Black Tie Affair	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Michael, the owner, is nice, experienced, and accomodating to DH's mix/match of different tuxedo styles. They also lent my dad a tie for free. You can't walk in without an appointment though.
Bridal bra	Vows	Would I use this vendor again? Yes My bridal bra with corset was inexpensive compared to other stores. The owner made sure I got the bra with the best support and lift. For all you Asian girls with no cleavage like me, this is the place to go. : )
Shoes	Stuart Weitzman - Beverly Hills	Would I use this vendor again? Yes to SW. No to the store location. I'm always having difficulty finding shoes because my feet are so narrow. I told my mom that I would have to wear slippers on my wedding day unless I got shoes that were on the pricier side since I hear that more expensive shoes run narrow. Unfortunately, my trip to Neiman Marcus and Jimmy Choo store at Ala Moana was unsuccessful. Nothing was narrow enough for me. I went to LA in April and, after getting some Sprinkles Donuts in Beverly hills, we strolled down Rodeo Drive just for fun. Sandra, the sales manager there, just looked at my feet and told me what size I was so I ordered my shoes through them (the color I wanted was not in the store). She, as expected, was kinda snooty and was a little put off that I didn't buy the other shoes that she suggested. A couple days later, my shoes arrived in Hawaii too big. It seemed like I got a pair that had been returned. The box looked quite torn and the shoes seemed all stretched out. What the hell?! I called Sandra and she made arrangements right away for a new pair to be shipped. She seemed more concerned than I was about having the shoes getting there before the wedding. I'll buy shoes from SW again but I don't think I'll want to visit Sandra anytime soon.

Food
Favors	Honolulu Cookie Company	Would I use this vendor again? Yes I ordered the pineapple-shaped chocolate-dipped macadamia nut shortbread and kona coffee-flavored shortbread cookies. They were so good. I received no complaints about the cookies tasting stale. They were also a good deal. The chocolate dipped ones were 45 cents each and the kona coffee ones were 35 cents each.
Cake	Satura Cakes	Mari, the Special Events manager, is so nice and sweet. The samples at the cake tasting were so delicious and I love how their frosting is unique and not heavy at all. I can't wait to taste my cake! Would I use this vendor again? Yes Mari Netsu, the special events manager, was a pleasure to work with. She was super sweet and quick to reply. The cake was delicious. However, I swear the cake looked smaller than I expected. I ordered a 4-tier cake, with each layer 6", 9", 12", and 16" with each layer 4-6" in height. Unfortunately, no one had a ruler so I couldn't measure it. The cake arrived late but was set up prior to the start of the reception. Mari said the cake fell on the way to the Royal Hawaiian and they went back to make another cake. I don't know how you can make a cake in that short period of time but whatever. I called a week later to discuss the cake and they gave me a $100 for being late. Mari said the 2nd cake was built according to the specs we agreed on. I asked about my cake topper being decapitated and she didn't know that it fell. She also pointed out that they didn't know that there was going to be cake topper. If they had knew, they would have inserted wooden dowels for more support. I thought that I had mentioned it to her at our meeting but it wasn't written down in the contract.
Rehearsal Dinner Catering	Tanioka's Catering Waipahu Hawaii	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Good food. Affordable. Let us pick up the food at closing, 5 pm. Let us modify their Oriental Menu. We had the mahi mahi, mochiko chicken, lumpia, fried noodles, and steamed sweet potato.
	Superb Sushi	Would I use this vendor again? Yes (actually a hell yeah) Delicious. Fast. The sushi chef brought extra food because I wasn't sure how many people would show up. He not only gave us the leftovers. He wrapped all the leftovers into sushi. It was a great hit!
Catering - Wedding Day	Royal Hawaiian	Food was delicious. I only wish they offered tastings.

Stationery
Graphic Design	Design Freedom	Would I use this vendor again? Yes I was her first client asking for wedding stationery. I thought everything came out great. Given that she's family and full-time college student, I couldn't expect speedy replies as I did from my professional vendors. That being said, she is one very talented you girl and I highly recommend her.
Printing for STDs	Vistaprint	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Cheap. Quick. First shipment of STDs got lost and they sent a new shipment right away. I later got the lost package which was shipped to England for some reason.
Supplies	Paper Zone	Would I use this vendor again? Yes
Supplies	Trim 200 Plus	Would I use this vendor again? Yes This is where I got the buckles for the invitations. Would recommend going there in person rather than ordering by phone/fax.
Guestbook	Blurb	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Great quality for a great price. The program was easy to use. My only complaint was that I paid for 2-day shipping. For some reason, according to my UPS tracking, my shipment went to 2 stops in the East Coast, Canada, and then to Hawaii. I suppose that's an issue to be resolved with UPS?

Decor
Leis	Watanabe Floral	Would I use this vendor again? Yes I worked with Lorenzo who helped me with my lei selection several times. He helped me pick which leis that would look good and withstand the heat. Affordable. This was the only lei shop I found that would let me order flowers. The rest, including Cindy's below, said that I couldn't pre-order because my wedding fell in graduation season. Watanabe has a similar policy but it so happens that my wedding date was outside of their graduation season. The leis were nice and fresh.
	Cindy's Lei Shop & Flower Shoppe 1034 Maunakea Street Honolulu, HI 96817	Would I use this vendor again? Yes So I was a bonehead and forgot to order 5 ohai ali'i leis for my groomsmen. It wasn't something I wanted to get any ol' subsititute for because the invitations were made to match these leis. I didn't realize it until 2 days before the wedding. Watanabe only had 2 double ohai leis. Cindy's Lei Shop came to the rescue by scrambling to find a supplier that would get my other 3 leis. Whew!
Flowers	Floral Inspirations by Fong Tagawa	Would I use this vendor again? Yes I loved my flowers. As expected though, she was difficult to get a hold of. I made a inspiration board on the web months in advance so that she could understand the vision I had for the wedding. This was much different than what we had originally decided on a year before (at our first and last meeting). She, unfortunately, didn't check this until a week before the wedding. We weren't able to meet but she was able to check the website I made. She was great at working with my budget. I wish I could have worked with her on the budget months in advance so that I could have allocated more money toward flowers and maybe threw in my own reception DIY project in to match the flowers and make the centerpieces e.g. adding crystal strands to hang from the tall centerpieces. Oh well. She worked wonders with the budget I gave her.
Lighting	Royal Hawaiian	Would I use this vendor again? No I expected the lighting person to do some spotlighting and dim the lights when appropriate. However, I never got a details regarding what the lighting person would do. We also never, in detail, agreed on the lighting specialist's duties. Things I noticed that were not during the reception were spotlighting during the first dance and dimming the head table lights during performances.
Parasols	Asian Ideas	Would I use this vendor again? Yes I used the same vendor as recommended to my by knottie JSUE. The parasols were great. They're bigger i.e. can cover about two people.
Cake Topper	Nicole Wong	Would I use this vendor again? Yes I loved our cake topper. We sent a picture of ourselves, my dress, my hair and makeup pics, and described the tux my DH was getting. She created our cake topper to our specifications and catered to our requests of my mini-me with a stethoscope, reflex hammer while DH sported a construction hard hat and hammer. She expedited my order and I received my order within a month. She was quick to respond and a joy to work with. I highly recommend her!

Music
Ceremony Music - pianist and soloist	Ruth Amancio	Would I use this vendor again? Yes I'm not sure if she plays at weddings outside of my church but she's really nice and welcomed a contemporary and classical music selection.
DJ	Showtime DJs/Grand Finale Productions	At last minute, my band/DJ fell through and I was left scrambling to find a DJ at last minute. Teley, the owner, met with me and I handed him a CD and lists of all the songs that I wanted them to play. I asked Teley if the DJs he would be sending (I already knew Teley was already booked) could remix and mix-up the songs. Listening to DJs simply play songs with re-mixing the songs is a pet peeve of mine. Anyone can just press play. Anyway, I remember the DJ playing the songs I wanted but I don't remember if they re-mixed and mixed up the songs. Per my guests, they played a bunch of reggae in a row and didn't remix the songs. Since I don't remember being bothered by the music (I'm sure I was just ecstatic and overwhelmed with glee ha ha), I can't say I wouldn't recommend this vendor. Overall, I guess they did a good job. My only regret was not getting more lights as part of the DJ package.
Entertainment
MC	Kaleo Pilanca	MC - Kaleo Pilanca Would I use this vendor again? Yes (Hell yeah) I was so glad that I hired Kaleo. He sent us a questionnaire asking about how me and DH met, our relationship, our families, and our friends, especially the bridal party and sent another questionnaire for the bridal party to answer about me and DH. I felt he got to know us quite well and it showed. It was like having a close friend as our MC. Being from a local Filipino family and DH from the mainland, my main concern was having a comedian that would either offend my family (my parents are sensitive to that stuff and often turn off the radio when the DJs joke around) or make jokes that people from the mainland wouldn't get. He assured me that none of that was going to happen and, boy, he didn't disappoint. He made everyone laugh and have a great time. He did have a tough crowd though and I think he got a little nervous/perplexed with our "kissing vase." More on that later. Kaleo, however, is incredibly hard to get a hold of. I tried to book him several months in advance. We lost touch but reconnected again a couple months before the wedding. He's so busy. He's booked every single weekend, works morning radio (Island 98.5 w/Lanai and Crystal) , and has tons of other projects. He's so funny. I have no regrets at all with booking him as my MC.
Performers		How can I rate my two cousins and my mom's family friend? We had two singers and one hula dancer. One tip for knotties is having the singers confirm their song selection with you before the reception. My mom's family friend surprised us with "That's Amore" instead of the song I asked him to sing, "You Sang to Me" by Marc Anthony. He told my mom that he couldn't find the music and I could have helped him find it. The Marc Anthony song meant a lot to us too.

Pictures
Photographer	Visionari	Would I use this vendor again? Yes (Hell yeah) I think the pictures speak for themselves. They were friendly and patient with my camera-happy guests (some of who couldn't follow directions with waiting their turn). At the end of the reception, they surpised us with a table full of their favorite pictures of the day, all beautifully displayed. I got my a link to my online album a couple of weeks after the wedding and all of my proofs about a month after. Talk about fast! Within 6 months, I received my coffee books and albums they designed. Of course, I loved the books and albums. What more can I say? They're awesome!
Videographer	IMF Visions	Would I use this vendor again? No Pros: Ian did a wonderful job with the slideshow and the ceremony highlights. Everyone was so surprised that he edited the getting-ready and ceremony highlights within a couple of hours. He was great to work with and easy to schedule meeting with. Cons: My final wedding video was not at all that I had hoped for. We met several times to discuss my vision for the video and how I wanted a more cinematographic/ "movie" feel with instrumental or orchestral music along with fun, exciting clips. See my video inspirations in my planning bio under Vendors. The editing left much to be desired because the audio, often times, did not match the video. He used some of the songs I requested but included music I didn't care too much for. There was also a prolonged dinner buffet clip showing half empty plates of desserts. Who wants to see that?! I even paid an extra money because he said I was requesting more than his usual clients. That money was such a waste and I wish I had gone with another videographer in the first place. Unfortunately, in the contract, there is no editing of the final DVD.

Transportation
Charter Bus	VIP Transport	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Clean. Professional. On-time. Unbeknownst to us and the bus driver prior to the ceremony, they did a bus switcheroo during the Mass so some guests were missing some items they left on the bus. Fely, our coordinator, picked up their stuff the next day and brought it to the day-after brunch for us.
Limo	Duke's Limo	Would I use this vendor again? Yes We got the 20-passenger Excursion. With my poofy dress, all of our stuff (see below), we were able to fit 10 bridesmaids and groomsmen, one ringbearer, my 2 grandparents, DH and me quite comfortably. Clean. Professional . On-time. The only complaint was that the A/C at the front wasn't working.

Wedding Planner/ Coordinator	Enchanted Hawaiian Weddings	Would I use this vendor again? Yes, for day of. No for full. I hired Fely for full planning. Although she booked some major vendors for us and did a lot of research into things we decided on not getting, I don't think she was there for full service. According to her full service package, I was supposed to get budget prep, cost analysis review, and monthly status reports. Unfortunately, I didn't get that. It wasn't until a few weeks before the wedding that I was in constant contact with Fely. I think that was partly my fault because I recommended Fely to my friend was getting married a week before me and another friend was getting married a month after me. But she was a helluva good planner/coordinator the week of. She attended to a lot of details I overlooked, especially when it came to the ceremony. I don't think any planner that I interviewed before knew as much about Filipino/Catholic weddings as Fely did. I couldn't find my wedding cord so we used hers. She attended our rehearsal dinner and went over the details with everyone. I can't think of any major disasters the day of the wedding but I'm sure she handled them well because everything went pretty smoothly overall. She even worked the day after the wedding! She drove to Duke's Limo to pick up things my bridesmaid forgot in the limo, drove to the airport to meet her, drove to VIP trans to pick up the things that a guest left on the bus, and then drove to Ewa Beach to drop the things off. In the end, I liked working with her but she didn't meet the expectations listed under her full service package.

Venue
Ceremony	St. Joseph Church Waipahu, Hawaii	Would I use this vendor again? No It's a beautiful church. It's the church I grew up going to. My parents got married there. I was baptized there etc etc. So imagine my disappointment when drama after drama occurred with the church. To make a long story short: - It was difficult trying to schedule an interview with the priest. My DH had to fly in from Seattle for the interview and a week before the wedding interview I found out that there was nothing scheduled and the priest was going to be unavailable. The receptionists there erased my original appointment saying I never called them back but I did! But we were able to have the interview with priest #2 and I scheduled my rehearsal at that time too. - A couple months before the wedding, I called to confirm my wedding and ask if I could schedule my rehearsal one hour later. They said sure because nothing was in the calendar. WTF! Then they told me I was back with priest #1. Ugh. Priest's #2 name was in the invitations that I already sent out. - That same week, Priest #2 receives his invitation and calls DH several times to say he can't do the wedding. He doesn't remember our interview with him, claims DH isn't Catholic because the Church he was baptized at doesn't sound Catholic, he'll be out of town for the wedding, priest #1 will also be out of town, and the other priest at the parish won't be able to do it either. Several phone calls later, priest #2 arranges for us to have our ceremony celebrated by the parish's newly ordained deacon. - During the rehearsal, one of the church wedding coordinators reminded me to place my $800 deposit for the church. Uh, hello. I placed that a year and a half ago when I booked my wedding and rehearsal. She went ahead and immediately indicated that in the books. O. My. Gosh. Fortunately, the deacon, although our wedding was his first wedding, was great. With the help of one of the church wedding coordinators and my own, the ceremony went smoothly. One exception was our scewed-up offertory. My cousins (that didn't make the rehearsal) were supposed to bring up the Mother Mary Bouquet, a lei for St. Joseph, and a lei for the deacon. I heard later that the deacon told my cousins to forget the offertory because they didn't show up for the rehearsal. How hard is it to walk up the aisle holding flowers? Oh well. His homily was nice, short, and related to the readings we selected. He also worked well with the altar servers, both of which are my cousins too. Our pianist/solist, Ruth Amancio, was great too. It was hard to get a hold of at first but she was very open to my music selections. She even asked if I wanted any contemporary/non-religious music, which surprised me because I expected such a strict church to not allow that. She had a beautiful voice and played everything I asked. She even offered to make a Powerpoint for the projector screeens so everyone would be able to read the lyrics. We ended up deciding not to use the projector screens. I didn't put her in a separate vendor review because she usually just plays for this parish. In the end, we had a beautiful ceremony and I'm glad how things turned out. It's just sad how disorganized the administration was and all the trouble we went through makes me even want to go to another parish.
Reception	Royal Hawaiian Hotel Monarch Room	Would I use this vendor again? Yes This is another mixed review. the Bad: - It's freakin' expensive. For a Saturday night in the Monarch Room, there's a $20,000 food and beverage minumum - Sometimes I didn't get a reply to my emails for several weeks. I waited to get a quote on my wedding cake from the RH pastry chef. With a $2 cake cutting fee per slice, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to screw myself by going with an outside vendor - RH doesn't offer tastings, including cake tastings - One of the waitstaff jacked my vases! He adamantly told my guests to leave the tall fluted vases because they weren't supposed to bring them home. No one told him that. Not me. Not the banquet managers. The guests were supposed to leave only the mirrors. I spoke to the banquet managers a week after the wedding (I only found this out later) who said they would not like to keep such vases because of their fragility and they would have called me by then to pick them up. So that guy stole my vases and I'm not getting compensated for that. - Some of the items we agreed to on the final banqet event order were missing such as the sashimi that would have made us meet our minimum the Good: - location was amazing - the food was awesome especially the bread pudding which was to die for - they apologized for the missing sashimi and didn't penalize us for not meeting our minimum - they allowed me to bring in my X-rated liquor. The corkage fee was $11/bottle. - I asked the waitstaff to bring out a couple of trays of appetizers for the bridal party while we were taking pictures. They surprised me with a full mini-buffet for us. - the staff was readily available and quick to respond to a medical emergency. One of my aunties fainted in the bathroom. I heard they got the Paramedics in right away and helped keep the situation calm. My cousin, a surgical nurse who was there to try and "wake up" my auntie, even wrote a letter of appreciation to the RH for the exceptional service they gave my her. (BTW, my auntie's fine. Apparently, she was very dehydrated due to gastroenteritis, which resolved).

Accomodations
Night before	Ihilani	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Gorgeous suite. We had an ocean view.
Night of	Royal Hawaiian	Would I use this vendor again? Yes Honeymoon suite. We had an ocean view overlooking the Ocean Lawn.

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More reviews to come...
Wedding Earrings Sparkles Forever

Gown cleaning/steaming Gabriela of Keepsakes
Stationery Supplies Creations Unlimited
Copying Fed Ex Kinko's (It's not worth jamming your own printer if you're using cardstock, and more importantly, it's not worth going to a less experienced printer if you're using nice
paper)
Liquor (X-rated) Tamura's of Hawaii Kai
Lauhala Boxes Market from the Philippines. Some of them were different sizes but overall a good deal. .
Mahalo Parasol Thanks to knottie Nohea

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What happened to...

the music?
I booked a DJ and a band about a year before the wedding. I was ecstatic about the band because I heard the band play at a friend's graduation party and absolutely loved their music. The music was classy, young with a refreshing take on old-school music. I checked in with the DJ also the band's manager about 6 months before the wedding. A deposit was not required and my event was still in their calendar. Two months before the wedding, I get a call from the DJ saying that his band broke up and refused to honor their commitment to my wedding reception. He offered another band that was available. I watched the band perform at a birthday party and thought if they could play the selection of songs I wanted, then I would be happy with their band and DJ. However, I thought their playlist left much to be desired for a wedding reception and, because they did not have adequate time to practice from my preferred song list (which was quite extensive), I decided to not go with their band. At that time, it was about a month before the wedding and I had to realize that the chances of getting a band was slim to none. I started looking for just DJs and learned that Showtime DJs was available. I quickly booked them but I still wanted a band. Within a week or so, I found a Hawaiian band that was available. Finally, a week before the wedding, DH and I went to the North Shore to watch them perform. Unfortuntely, I wasn't given an address of their venue and spent hours driving back and forth in Haleiwa at sunset looking for their gig. My contact was busy playing so he couldn't hear my call. I was stressed out, nervous about driving from the North Shore at night, and just became upset over the whole ordeal. I just drove home. In the end, I decided to just have a DJ. It only goes to show you that you can plan so far in advance and yet there's always something that will surprise you and stress you out right before the wedding.

the kissing vase?
I wanted to put a twist on the clinking-glasses-then-kissing tradtion by having a "kissing vase." The ushers were supposed to get the escort cards from married guests and put it in a vase next to the podium on the stage. Whenever glasses clinked, the MC would randomly pick a card from the vase, read the name, and have the couple show me and DH how to kiss. This was to help "single out" married couples in a fun way just as single people get picked for the bouquet/garter toss. However, I don't know how placed the cards in the vase but escort cards of people who weren't even there or single people, including children, were in the vase! It was awkward when their names were called. We asked our MC to stop picking names from the vase and I don't know if he didn't hear us but he continued to read out the names from the kissing vase throughout dininer. I learned later that guests didn't really notice anything wrong. I still don't know to this day who screwed up by putting leftover escort cards in the vase. Ugh.

the money dance?
We were supposed to have our first dance before the money dance. Well, a few eager guests came up to us during our first dance and wanted to give us their crowns/leis. We tried to politely tell them to return in a few minutes so that we could have our special first dance together. A few understood but some decided to just stand there and wait (even though Kaleo, our MC, tried to rectify the situation by repeating that it was the first dance, not the money dance)! Needless to say, our first dance was cut short and we had to start accepting the leis and crowns. Then the money dance ended up becoming a picture-taking session with each guest. There was essentially no dancing. It definitely didn't turn out how it was originally planned.

the guestbooks?
I had two guestbooks. One contained questions such as "How many kids will they have?" or "Your favorite memory" and the other was the picture spread of our engagement photo session. No one wanted to sign the question book so everyone was crammed into the line for the engagement photo book. The other one had a few random entries. If I had to do it over again, I would have made two different engagement picture guestbooks.

the plan for my own centerpieces?
I originally wanted to have tall phalaenopsis orchid plants at each table. However, phalaenopsis orchids are hard to find in June. I kept calling the orchid farmers from mid-May to June but they either didn't have any orchids in bloom or were uncertain if the orchids already in bloom would stay in full bloom for the wedding.

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What would I have done differently...

- Worked on my appreciation speech earlier
- Provided a more detailed must-take photo list. Some of the must-takes I forgot: me with the flowergirls, me with my mom, pictures of the food buffet and cocktail hour, DH with the ringbearers.
- Prepared the script for the wedding rehearsal earlier
- Booked Cakelava for my cake
- Spent more money on flowers
- Requested a bigger lights package for the DJ
- Used the ready-made table numbers for the reception tables
- Originally asked Fong to make our centerpieces (my search for centerpiece vases and contacting the orchid farmers took way too much of my time)
- Write out everything I expected in the contract or the banquet order
- Not have worried about table linens
- Paid for outside lightning designer
- Didn't get so stressed out during wedding week and fought with DH less
- Some of your guests complained about how expensive it was to travel to Hawaii. I tried so hard to arrange for cheaper travel and lodging arrangements, put the information on the web, through email, and encouraged my guests to spread the word about the deals. However, less than 20% of my OOT guests actually took up the deals I suggested which was quite disappointing to me. That was frustrating for me and DH. If this happens to you, don't stress too much about it. Just remember you tried your best to make their vacation as affordable as possible. For knotties interested in some of the resources, I used here's a snapshot of my website.

- Paid for a wedding website. Learning how to create a website isn't too hard but it's just time-consuming. In the end, I doubt that many of my guests even looked at the website.
- As a bride, you have to realize not everyone will be as crazy about your spreadsheets, timelines, and details as you are. I used Google Spreadsheets to give them to-do lists, wedding week schedule, big day timeline, and all the bridal party's contact information. I thought it was a great way to share all the information I wanted them to have. However, I got asked time and time again about certain details or told, "I didn't know I was supposed to do that" or "I don't have so and so's number." Of course, my response was, "Well, if you checked the spreadsheet I gave you..." ;) Even after our rehearsal dinner, my coordinator and I went over the timeline and noted that food will be provided before the ceremony (which ended up being sushi, sandwiches, and granola bars). My own DH took his groomsmen for a Jamba juice run before arriving at the Ihilani for the bridal party portrait session. He claimed that he didn't know we were going to have snacks before the ceremony. Just take a deep breath and move on.

- Relaxed more. The week prior the wedding was my last week in Hawaii before beginning a new adventure in the Bay Area. I wish I had time to really enjoy the company of my family and friends before saying aloha to the islands. I missed our Around-the-Island Tour and other local activites that I set up for them. Again, the earlier you prepare things, the better you are the week of the wedding.

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last updated 8.07.07