Lorelei & Michael

Here's a little history of how we got connected with Lorelei and Michael: FT had the honor of coordinating Tiana and Warren's wedding in 2005. Tiana referred her friend from college Simmy to us, who got married to Pono in 2007. Simmy then referred her high school friend Lorelei to us, who married Michael in April 2009; and the story doesn't here. Since then, Lorelei had referred her friends Annette and Jovan to us... who are getting married this coming July. It's pure joy and honor to work with brides who are referred to us by former brides because these new brides already know they can expect nothing less than perfection from us as they have already seen us "in action", and they are well aware of our expectation for each event; they also feel more like "friends" to us rather than clients. Not to mention, it's always fun to see our former brides at weddings with the newest pint sized members of their family.

Lorelei and Michael chose a beautiful theme for their wedding - Tuscany. Michael is Italian, and Lorelei had always dreamt of a wedding that is all about family, friends and good food. She wanted to create an ambiance that feels warm, inviting and a bit "vintage-chic" at the same time. There's absolutely no better location to set the tone for this event other than the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa. Lorelei and Michael got married on the oceanfront Lagoon Lawn, in front of a curtain of naturally hung strands of roses, suspended from two seaside trees. Their reception was held inside the classically designed Ocean ballroom. The elegant damask wallpaper hung inside the ballroom and the crushed damask linens we brought in were in perfect harmony. I also adore the sweetheart table filled with pillar candles, floating roses and Phalaenopsis and Camilia leaves accents. It's lucky I live Hawaii, but it was a definitely treat to be taken away to Tuscany for an evening.

Breathtaking images by Shawn Starr / Amazing floral artistry by Yvonne Design

Intricate embroidery on Lorelei's dress

Our groom Michael modeling the flowers

A whimsical and romantic backdrop for the ceremony

Just married!

Details of the reception set up (lighting does wonders!)

I can't resist not posting this photo!

Michael making sure all the details are perfect and flawless before the doors open. Love it!

Onto the details...

Love this photo! A stolen kiss at the reception.

Congratulations to the newlyweds, who are enjoying their honeymoon in Italy as we speak :)

Introducing.... the new Pacific Wedding Guide

Introducing Pacific Wedding Guide, the newly launched and beautifully designed wedding planning resource website. Finishing Touch is thrilled and honored to be listed on the website among an elite group of vendors hand-picked by founder, Tara Mahealani DePonte. PWG offers up-to-date planning resource for making your Hawaii and New Zealand wedding into a reality. The best part about PWG is Tara's daily (oh, did I mention daily?) update on her blog. I love getting my daily dose of island wedding inspirations from Tara's blog; and the links on her blog to the best wedding design blogs out there (such as Style Me Pretty, Snippet & Ink, 100 Layer Cake... etc.) make it super convenient to navigate and get even more daily doses of wedding inspirations. So yes, you can easily spend a few hours a day on her blog alone just indulging in wedding beauty :) Thank you Tara for creating such a beautiful and tasteful website - way to rock the industry and raise the bar!

Christina & Brian Part 2

It's been a while since my last blog entry. May was a very busy month, so hopefully I will get the chance to update my blog more frequently this month. I received Christina and Brian's wedding images from Visionari this weekend. I loved the Same Day Edit video done by Studio Red, so I was super excited to see the package from Visionari in my mail box. Ryan and Lisa of Visionari did a beautiful job capturing all the love, beauty and details of this wedding. The bold colors our lovely bride Christina had chosen looked absolutely stunning. I am a sucker for bold colors and crazy patterns (especially damask and paisley!), so I am especially thrilled when Christina decided to to use dramatic colors such as eggplant purple, magenta pink and chartreuse green for her wedding. Thank you to Yvonne Design for creating such beautiful flowers, canopies and lighting. I apologize in advance because there are so many details to this wedding I want to include in my blog, the photos may take a while to load. (Just a fun fact about this wedding: I started working with Christina the beginning of February, and her wedding was the first week of May! Pulling off a wedding with an enormous amount of details in such short time frame is definitely possible when quality, reputable, and extremely talented vendors are on board. Kudos to Visionari, Studio Red, Yvonne Design, Cater To Me, Catering Connection, Troy Michael Entertainment, Les Saisons, Cake Works and Blue Cheese photo booth for making this wedding a success!)

Bouquet with feather and crystal accent

Our lovely bride - Christina

Ceremony set up

Details of the ceremony set up

I love the idea that Christina asked her nephew to be her "Flower Boy". Instead of carrying a basket, he tossed petals from the Brian's Marine Corp hat. Isn't that the cutest idea? Way to make your wedding personal!

Manzanita Wishing Tree filled with well wishes from the guests

Guests' dining canopies in green, sweetheart canopy in purple.

Orchid and crystal strands suspended from the inside of the canopies

A closer look at the dining canopies and table scape details

One of my favorite moments from this wedding must be when Brian spontaneously twirl Christina around a few times after their newlyweds' entrance. It was a sweet and unforgettable moment.

The canopies looked even more stunning at night

Christina and Brian hamming it up inside the Blue Cheese photo booth

Can't tell you it's a great party without a photo to prove it :)

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Park!

Jennifer and Michael's Wedding Cake featured on MSN.com

I got a call from my husband this morning informing me that Jennifer and Micheal's wedding cake is currently being featured on the home page of MSN.com. Kudos to to Cake Lava for creating this one-of-a-kind wedding cake! To see more photos from Jennifer and Michael's wedding at Lanikuhonua, click on this image below. Photos by Chrissy Lambert.