Friday, May 29, 2009

Orange & Turquoise Lanikuhonua Wedding






This past Friday I had the pleasure of being of service Jamie & Tony who are originally from Nebraska and Canada at Lanikuhonua.


Jamie's favorite color was orange and her bridesmaids dresses were turquoise. As they would be in Europe most of their engagement, I was given some inspiration pictures and then given creative freedom to make it happen.


As with most of my destination weddings, planning was done via e-mail and contact via Facebook.


It was a picture perfect day and they loved everything about the wedding. The orange and turquoise colors blended beautifully throughout the decor and she absolutely loved her hibiscus wedding cake which was made by Abi Langlas at Cake Works which was inspired by the border on her wedding invitation.


When we finally had a chance to meet in person it was like meeting a long lost friend. I couldn't begin to tell you how many times she hugged me and said thank you on her wedding day. That is why I truly love what I do!
Additional pictures from the wedding are on my Facebook page, Dianna K. Shitanishi

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Lanikuhonua Wedding - Tracey & Michael


One of my favorite parts of being an event planner is keeping in touch with many of my brides. I just got this e-mail from one of my couples from England & Scotland, their wedding was held at Lanikuhonua.
E-MAIL: Hey Dianna,

Hope you're doing well. I just thought I'd send you a feature of our wedding that appeared here in the UK's Wedding Flowers magazine. Thanks again for doing such a great job with our wedding and please do pass the article onto the florist and anyone else you think might be interested that was involved in our wedding (I've already sent to Frank of course :)

Thanks again. Aloha from Scotland!

Tracey & Michael xx

HAWAII BRIDE AND GROOM MAGAZINE


Check out the latest edition of Hawai'i Bride and Groom magazine which can be viewed on-line at http://hawaiibride.com/?page_id=897
The latest edition features the 2008 Wedding of a Lifetime which was coordinated by Hawaii Weddings and Events (starting on page 87) and also features "Meet the Stress Relievers" (yours truly is featured on page 100).
We were also honored to have our picture used for the Oahu Wedding Association advertisement (page 29)
Special thanks to Julie and Gavin for all of their hard work, dedication and continued support of our special industry.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

In Memory of Larry Fair - Live Internet Weddings

Tomorrow will make two weeks since a dear friend of mine, Larry Fair, from Live Internet Weddings was tragically killed in a house fire in Makiki on April 23, 2009 and it still doesn’t seem real.

Larry was ahead of his time in terms of the internet and its capabilities and was extremely knowledgeable about the computer. He fulfilled his dream of streaming weddings live so that everyone would be able to take part in a couple’s special day no matter where they were.

One of my favorite weddings was a couple from Dallas that came to Hawaii to get married and we were working together on their event. The bride was from Poland and the groom was originally from Louisiana. They had a 9am wedding at the Turtle Bay Resort’s pavilion so that both of their families would be able to watch them as they exchanged vows.

Larry was especially proud of being able to share and build his business with his son Joshua and formed a great team of videographers to service their clients both on Oahu and the neighbor islands.

When I first started Hawaii Weddings and Events, we literally sat at Starbucks for almost three weeks building my website page-by-page as I continued to make finger marks on his computer screen pointing where I wanted things to go.

During these three weeks we had an opportunity to talk about many things, and being the very giving person he was, he would not accept payment for the time he spent working on my website so we agreed that we would always share ideas and inspirations to help each other grow our respective businesses, and we did.

Throughout the years, we continued to talk 3-4 times a week on the phone usually before or after our appointments, just to see what the other person was doing and to share new ideas, new locations or people that we had met. I couldn’t begin tell you how many of those talks would be about someone that he was helping with something.

I still find myself picking up my phone to call him and then realizing that I can’t, but I know that he is watching down upon all of us and I’m sure still wiping my fingerprints off his virtual screen.

Please give Joshua Fair and his family your love, prayers and continued support

Love Birds Bridal Expo - Kahala Mall - Saturday, May 9, 2009 10am-2pm

Last week Hawaii Bride & Groom Magazine asked if I could do a couple of tablescapes for this Saturday's upcoming Lovebirds Wedding Expo which will be held at the Kahala Mall from 10am-2pm. In addition to the expo, they are featuring last year's Wedding of a Lifetime Winners "Jayne & Kahele" and will also sharing the finalists for this year's contest.

It's been a whirlwind of a week preparing for the event as I not only have been designing tablescapes to incorporate some of the merchant items, but have also been assisting the mall with rentals and communicating all details to the participating vendors in regards to load-in time, loading zone, parking, booth assignments, power requirements and linen.

For more information on the special promotions and activities, please visit
http://www.kahalamallcenter.com/cms/index.php?page=mall-promotions

The latest edition of Hawaii Bride & Groom magazine which features last year's Wedding of a Lifetime and the "Stress-Relievers" (coordinators) section including yours truly.