New Wedding Galleries

Finally! Our website has been updated. What a way to finish off 2008! New weddings are now featured in our portfolio. Happy New Year everyone!

A Gingerbread tent

Every year the crew at Accel Party Rentals will personally deliver a Christmas gift to clients' door steps and this year is no exception. Scott and the guys at Accel are the sweetest! This year they sent us a fabulous gingerbread tent! My husband and I spent Christmas morning putting this "tent" together and had so much fun with it. Our favorite part of the tent has to be the Rosemary branch we trimmed from our yard, which is used as the Christmas tree in front of the tent (going along the theme of "everything edible"). We just emailed this photo to Scott, hopefully our tent will be good enough to win their Gingerbread tent competition. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with friends and families and found time to reflect on the true meaning of this season! Mele Kalikimaka!

Merry Christmas

My favorite time of the year! I wish I can leave my Christmas decorations up all year long :)

Talking about Transforming a Room

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

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.

Back from Vacation

Wow, it's been a month since my last blog entry. Marvin and I are back from our much needed vacation. We spent a little over 3 weeks seeing Hong Kong, Beijing China and Phuket Thailand. All three places are so different, but I have to say that Beijing is probably my favorite. It's so historic and seeing the growth China has had in the past few years is fascinating. Here are just a few photos from our vacation (out of the thousand we took!). I am happy to be home and shocked to see all the Christmas decorations are up .... I can't believe it's the end of November already and Christmas it's just right around the corner. I love Christmas!

Hong Kong - best shopping and best food!

The Great Wall

No, we did not have any bugs kabob

Beijing, China

Phuket, Thailand - Phuket has better sand, but Hawaii has better water :)

Reiko and Jason

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

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

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

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

Operation Baseboard

Marvin and I installed our wood flooring a year ago; but since then, we just couldn't find time to finish up the baseboards. We finally had a free weekend (I mean no weddings on Fri, Sat AND Sun!), so we know it's time to put on our home improvement hats and get these baseboards finished. Thank you to Juggo (Marvin's step dad) who stayed all day to help us cut and install these baseboards. We thought he was going to just let us borrow his nail gun, but he ended up doing 99% of the work! I am so happy with how they turned out. Our hard work has truly paid off, especially with all that back-bending, caulking I had to do :)

888

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!

Lucky I live Hawaii

Presidential candidate Barack Obama is in town this week. Our "local boy" is back home for a vacation. It's so amazing to see someone with such celebrity stature to come home and still be able hang out at the beach like us regular folks, with minimal security too. Being from California myself, Hawaii's laid back mentality and the locals' genuine spirit have captured my heart from the moment I stepped foot on the island. Seeing Mr. Obama being able to enjoy his vacation here, remains me once again on how lucky I live Hawaii! Pictures taken from the Honolulu Advertiser.

Lighting

I love playing with lighting. I think lighting can totally help bring out the ambiance of an event by 110%. I've been trying to capture some good "before" and "after" photos to show my brides what lighting can do to enhance an overall look of an event. But guess what? Lighting is EXTREMELY difficult to capture on regular people's point and shoot cameras - so much props professional photographers for always being able to capture lighting like it's a piece of cake. Here are a few "decent" non-professional photos that I took last night at a Lanikuhonua wedding. Yvonne Designs did all the flowers, lounge set up and lighting - they turned out amazing! Check out the before and after photos!

Before: 30x30 tent with standard lantern lighting



After: Same 30x30 tent with ivory tent liner, leg drapes, spot lighting on all the guests tables. What a difference! The same sized tent feels much warmer and imitate with custom lighting.



More photos of the set up





Custom gobo designs projected onto dance floor and band tent

Got Sweets?

Michelle of Flowergirls and I collaborated on a table top design for the fall winter issue of Hawaii Bride and Groom magazine. The overall theme of the editorial feature is "What is your Fantasy Wedding?". The ambiance Michelle and I tried to create is a fun, young, fresh and simply SWEET fantasy. Here are a few non-professional pictures of our table top design. Other fantasy designs were created by SUV Expressions, Designs by Hemingway and Yvonne Design. Be sure to pick up a copy of the magazine on newsstands this October to see all these other amazing fantasy designs.

Got Sweets?

Princess and Vu

Slideshow of photos from Princess and Vu's wedding. Their ceremony was held at the Ocean Crystal Chapel at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, reception in the Coral ballrooms at the Hilton. Photos by Dulce. Congratulations Princess and Vu!

Pacific Weddings Summer Fall 08 issue

It's on newstands now! Erin and Mat's wedding is featured in the issue, their pictures turned out beautifually! Go get your today copy today :)

A Little Wedding Fun

Ever wonder what your vendors do when they are all alone, setting up inside the ballroom? We sit underneath the bride and groom "special" canopy and pretend we are the VIPs! Thanks to Sasha at Cake Lava who captured this photo of Michelle of Flower Girls and myself getting all cozy under the romantic canopy. Just fyi, the canopy is not finished in this photo. I just want to make that clear because I will not allow this kind of imperfection appears at a wedding. Hehe... We added white branches with hanging crystals to cover up the bamboo sidings and a sheer crystal overlay to the sweetheart table after the photo is taken. More photos of this wedding (Theresa & Robert) to come!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July! I had a wedding on the 4th and another one wedding tomorrow, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to go to the beach, bbq and enjoy the holiday in true American fashion. The wedding on the 4th was held at a private oceanfront home in the Kahala area, and I was able to catch some pretty nice fireworks, so working on the 4th of July is all good after all. :)

As we celebrate the freedom and independence of our country, I want to end my blog today with a thought that is very inspiring to me. A wise man once told me "yet it is important to pick up your rights, it is far more important to know when to lay down your rights for something far more significant." Food for thought.

Want Big Lashes?

Here's one of my best finds for this summer season - Covergirl Lash Blast.
I've personally tried many brands and types of mascara, and I find the drug store "cheap" mascara to be the best. I have been using the pink and green Maybelline mascara for years but my new favorite this season is the Covergirl Lash Blast (as advertised on America's Next Top Model). This mascara comes with a really large brush and will give your lashes much volume and illuminates your eyes like no other. I use the waterproof one because it never smears under my eye (giving me that "black eye look") even when I am running around at a wedding, under the hot and humid Hawaiian sun.

Rebecca's Going Away

My assistant of 2.5 years Rebecca moved back to Seattle two weeks ago. I am extremely sad to see her go. She is probably the best assistant anyone could ask for - so friendly, positive, professional and is able to put up with me for that long :) She is going to be missed by me and many other vendors in the industry who so enjoyed working with her. She always makes every wedding so fabulous and stress free for the bride, she is simply the best! Before Rebecca left, I invited a few wedding vendors to a small going away party I planned at my house. Thank you to Table 17 for making fresh crepes for everyone. They were delicious! Here are a few pictures from Rebecca's going away party. Rebecca - you will be missed!

Rebecca, her mom Johanna and her sister Christina

Me, Rebecca and our intern Courtney

Fong from Floral Inspirations, Naomi from Les Saisons, Rebecca, Me, James from Crane Media and his wife Amel

Rebecca opening her gift - framed pictures of herself at variuos weddings. Memories!