Monday, January 23, 2012

The Hand-off

This past month our wedding coordination with Seasons of Life Entertainment finally kicked in and we had a detailed 2 hour skype meeting with our coordinator to hand off all of our information to our planner. The meeting was pretty exhausting with trying to remember all of the important details as well as ask all of our questions, but in the end it was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Since getting engaged (and even before) I have been a religious reader of several wedding blogs around the internet. At some point in time every single wedding blogger has touted the wonders of having a wedding coordinator, even if they are just a day-of coordinator. I toyed with the idea in my head for a while, and even considered choosing a coordinator to help us through the entire planning process. In the end, after considering  finances and my own control issues we decided to go with a day-of coordination that starts 2 months before the wedding. 

I know that typically in Hawaii families love to get their hands in the wedding planning pot and help with set-up and such, but I just wanted my guests to be able to come to the wedding and enjoy. And it really is a great feeling when you have a question and your coordinator says, "Don't worry, I can take care of that." 

Although the wedding is still a little over a month away and I haven't seen the final product of having a wedding coordinator on board I would definitely recommend getting some sort of coordination for those planning a wedding. It just gives you piece of mind that things will be taken care of...not to mention if you have a disagreement with a family member on how things should be for the wedding you can just say "Well, that's what the coordinator recommended," and no one will know the wiser. ;)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

That Bride

I think I may have become that bride. You know, the bride that vendors probably see on their caller ID and dread picking up the phone.

Last month, 3 months before the wedding, I sent an email to our florist with new pictures of an arch decor for the ceremony and a completely different idea for our centerpieces. Once she sent me the updated quote I rescinded my desire for my the new centerpieces, but wanted to keep the new arch decor which required her to put together yet another quote for us.

Recently I have been trying to choose a vendor to do the chair covers at our reception. I have had this poor vendor go out to my venue and take pictures to see if their ivory chair covers match the ivory table linens at my venue (which they didn't). And now they are trying to set up different cost-saving tablescape ideas to make our white centerpieces stand out on a white table linen and photograph them for me. Did I mention that we still haven't signed a contract with this vendor, so for all they know all this hard work could be for nothing?

Sheesh...I wouldn't even answer the phone if I knew it was me. 

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year

Mr. Honda and I rang in 2012 at Teatro Zinzanni at Pier 29 in San Francisco. And as we rang in the new year together I realized we have had so much to be thankful for this past year and have so much to look forward to this year.

A year ago we were just newly engaged and in search for our wedding venue and vendors. This year we will officially become Mr. & Mrs. Honda. We have 2 short months to finish up what feels like a million little details before the wedding. And while somedays it feels completely overwhelming and I pray for more hours in the day and more days before the wedding, as we said goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012 I was nothing but excited for the whirlwind of our wedding.