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. ;)

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 Once she sent me the updated quote I rescinded my desire for my the new centerpieces, but wanted to keep the new arch decor which required her to put together yet another quote for us.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. 

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.                                                                                                                    

Pre-wedding week recap (part 2)

For those of you who weren't completely bored with my last post, here is the second installment of my pre-wedding week recap.

Mr. Honda and I met with our ceremony officiant/emcee/dj, Jason from Exquisite Entertainment, on Monday at the Wedding Cafe in Ward. Let me start off by saying they have the most delicious and refreshing pineapple iced tea there. Our meeting with Jason was amazing. He was so friendly and fun to talk to and really put my mind at ease regarding how the ceremony and reception program will go on our wedding day. I really feel confident about choosing him as one of our vendors and look forward to working with him in the last few months before our big day.

Sneak peek from
Brandyn's blog

We also did an engagement shoot with our photographer Brandyn Fidel, at the Honolulu Zoo on Monday afternoon. Unlike all of our other vendors we had previously met with Brandyn, so it was nice to get to see him again. For anyone traveling to Hawaii, I do not reccomend going to the zoo anytime soon. It is in a pretty poor state and I'm a little embarassed by the condition it's in and the lack of animals. Hopefully we got some good shots regardless. It also gave us a chance to talk to Brandyn, who is just recently married, and get some advice from someone who's just gone through what we are in the middle of.

On Tuesday we met up with our florist Wendy from Spinning Web who showed us a mock-up of what our centerpieces would look like. We also got a chance to hash out more of the details of what the ceremony florals and bouquets would look like. This was one of the vendor meetings we had that really put me at ease about the wedding day. It was good to feel like she was on the same page as us in terms as the look we wanted to create.

We also took some time on Tuesday to find a place to rent the suits for the groomsmen in Hawaii. I think getting this done was a huge relief for Mr. Honda and I. Now we have the attire for everyone in the bridal party...except the groom. Hopefully we can get Mr. Honda's attire straightened out in the near future.

Wednesday was our last full day in Hawaii and we took that time to get to meet our videographer, Janice, from Video 21 Productions. I knew a couple of people who just got married and highly recommended the Video 21 team. After meeting with Janice it was easy to see why. This was probably one of the most helpful vendor meetings of our entire trip. They had just shot a wedding at the same venue as our wedding and Janice was full of helpful tips and points to keep in mind as we go forward in planning our wedding.

Pharm school friends

We spent our last night in Hawaii with some old friends from college. It has only been about 6 months since we last saw them, but it seems like forever when you're so used to seeing them on an everyday basis. Having dinner with old friends was a great way to end our trip.

Hopefully I haven't bored you to death with my 2 part pre-wedding week recap. 

Pre-wedding week recap (part 1)

So we're finally back from our mini-vacation. I'm sure Mr. Honda would agree that this wasn't much of a vacation at all. As I mentioned our stay in Hawaii consisted of something wedding-related every day we were there. Not to mention inconveniently coencided with APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Convention). So for those of you that are interested here's the recap of our pre-wedding week. I'll split it into different parts so that this post isn't so long.

Dinner with the future bridesmaids

On Friday we started off our already jam packed week with our flight having to turn around mid-flight for an emergency landing because one of the passengers was having a medical emergency. Once we finally made it to Hawaii we had to rush home to get ready for a dinner with my Hawaii bridesmaids, Jamie and Tehani, at Shokudo. It was great to get to see my ladies. It gave them a chance to meet eachother for the first time and gave me the chance to hand off their dresses for the wedding. I'm relieved to say that everyone has reported that their dresses fit and won't require any alterations.

Mr. Honda and I got to see our wedding venue with our own eyes for the first time on Saturday. At first I was a bit concerned about booking our venue without actually having seen it...one of the biggest downsides to planning a wedding from afar. Thank goodness the venue is as beautiful in person as it is in my Mom's pictures. While we were at the venue we were able to see all the possible ceremony locations as well as the ballroom our reception will take place in. We also were able to take part in a complementary tasting of a small selection of food choices for the reception. Visiting the venue was probably one of the most productive things we did the entire week...and that's saying a lot because all of our vendor meetings were incredibly helpful. We have now settled on a ceremony site and have almost finished our buffet menu. Unfortunately, we also realized that our we need to increase the wedding budget (yet again) to accomodate the ceremony site we chose and the chair covers that we'll need for the reception as well.

Wedding shower favors

My family planned a wedding shower for me at my favorite brunch buffet, Hale Ikena, on Sunday. Too bad it directly coincided with all the presidents of several different countries traveling from Waikiki to Koolina for APEC which required many major freeway closures. Either way the shower was perfect even with a few late comers...including ourselves. It was great to be able to get to see so much of my family and eat some great food. After opening all of our wonderful gifts Mr. Honda and I were treated to the traditional dressing of the bride and groom in wrapping paper. I'm so glad he was such a great sport about it.

Future Mr. & Mrs. Honda

Well, that concludes part 1 of our pre-wedding week recap. Hopefully it wasn't completely boring to you. But if so, feel free to skip the rest of the recap. I promise I won't be offended if you do :)

Pre-wedding week

This week Mr. Honda and I are in Hawaii. Unfortunately it's more for business than pleasure. Everyday of our little Hawaiian get away has been reserved for something wedding related.
When we're not in a meeting of some sort we will be spending our free time laboring away at our handmade invitations. Le sigh. Handmade invites seemed like the perfect way to cut costs and make our invites more personal...but for some reason I didn't think it would be as much work as it is turning out to be. Damn me for wanting such complicated and layered invites. Hopefully I will be pleased with the results and not sorely disapointed.

118 Days &Counting

So I have been pretty MIA in the past few months...and that kind of is the theme for how all things wedding have been recently. However a couple of days ago I got a big wake up call in my email when theknot.com reminded me that there are 4 more months until the wedding...INLY 4 MORE MONTHS! Where the heck did all the time go?

Looking at our calendar of events for the next 4 months is nothing short of completely overwhelming. It is full of a whirlwind trip to Hawaii to meet our vendors and make sure everyone is on the same page, deadlines, engagement shoots, and invitation assembly just to name a few. So hopefully the next few months will provide for a more interesting blog.