Plumeria Flower is a Popular Theme in Recent Wedding Invitations...
I've been home a day and I'm already back into the swing of things. I can't miss a beat because there are so many orders to complete in the next 2 months. Today, I finished another wedding invitation order for a client who is getting married at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu. In recent months, I've noticed that many of my clients have been requesting the plumeria flower as their theme for their save the date cards and wedding invitations. All of these brides just so happen to be getting married on either Maui or Oahu. I'm not surprised that plumeria is becoming a new trend for a theme. Plumerias are so simple, but yet so beautiful and fragrant. They are the first flower that comes to my mind when I think about Hawaii.

This particular client wanted deep purple and white for her colors. We accented it with a light metallic purple to soften it up a bit. It's a nice change from the orchid motif that I've been doing the last several years. We did a postcard style response card and had a map of the island of Oahu with written directions from the airport to the resort.

I've been getting more inquiries and orders for wedding invitations and wedding details so I'm excited about 2009, even though I still have 4 more months of 2008 to get through!

Vacation Bliss Coming to an End....

Today is our last full day on the island. It's been fantastic. We haven't done much of anything except lounge around in my brother-in-law's beautifully renovated beach house and hang out at the beach every day. I think I've honestly gotten more sun in the last 5 days than I have the 5 years being in Hawaii.

The weather has been spectacular and although we were here for the Labor Day weekend vacationers, it was quite mellow. Aidan has been having a blast on the beach building sand castles, spending time with family and friends of the family and today we made Irish Soda Bread with my mother-in-law. A family tradition on Michael's side and so hopefully I can pass it down to Aidan one day. He LOVED it! Although I think he liked the butter on top of the freshly baked Irish soda bread more than anything else!

I have to say this vacation is exactly what we all needed. DOWN TIME! I think that's why we love coming here and when we want to get away from the fast pace life we lead (work, work, work). It's sad to say "goodbye", but I got my much needed rest and relaxation before the crazy next 2 months starts when we get back. Here are just a few more pictures of us during our trip.

Relaxing on LBI...

We are officially on LBI. It's beautiful weather and we're just relaxing and enjoying time with family. We got in EARLY on 8/28, and we got to the rental car agency and it was taking forever. There was gentleman at the counter and his wife was sitting down on the chair and Michael asked what was wrong because they didn't get a car. It turned out this couple was just trying to make it home. They had a run of bad luck while in Florida waiting to catch their cruise. The wife's purse was stolen and about $12K of their money/jewelry was taken. They were just hoping to rent a car to make it home in Philadelphia. Michael is such a good samaritan. He told me he had to help them so he offered to rent them a car to get them home. The guy at the counter initially gave him a hard time, but understood that we were doing the right thing and allowed it. The couple was so appreciative and by us helping them restored Susie's faith in human kind again. Aidan of course entertained everyone during the long wait. Although we didn't make it to LBI until 3 a.m., we felt we did the right thing and we hope one day they will in turn do something nice for someone else in need.

We finally made it to the beach this morning really briefly just to get Aidan out on the sand and while I'm typing Michael is off with Aidan building sand castles. Here are a couple pictures from this morning. Aidan with his signature "ojiichan" face.

It's been really good relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. Well, of course, I'm doing emails and all, but I feel very much relaxed. It's something about the Jersey shore, it's relaxing and it feels like home...

Going on Vacation!

We're going on vacation tomorrow! YIPEE!!! Many may think this is not a good time with all my looming orders for end of September and all of October. It was however our only chance to get away. We're going to Barnegat Light, New Jersey... The beach.... Honestly, being from the West Coast and seeing the beaches in CA and HI, I thought to myself, "nice beaches in Jersey???" But if I was to be anywhere in Jersey, I am glad it's Barnegat Light. Plus, the beach house my husband's brother owns has been remodeled and is gigantic... Viewing the sunsets from his rooftop and overlooking the never ending Atlantic Ocean... I can hang with that. This picture was taken on my first visit to Barnegat Light. It's the walkway to the beach from the beach house! SWEET!

This vacation is much deserved and although I'll be stressed when I come back trying to fill all my orders and teach, it will be well worth the visit. To see my in-laws and for the three of us to spend time together as a family instead of focusing on work will be a welcome change...

Instead of blogging the next week about my flowers or invitation designs, it will probably be a lot about other great finds or the beautiful scenery of LBI and of course my family. I got the LensBaby (early birthday present from hubby, LOL) so it arrives the day we do, so I'm so excited to try it out. I have to do Debbie proud! :)

Not to worry, as soon as I return there will be plenty of new images to share of wedding orders I'm working on as I think I have 8-10 that are due all in the month of October.

Stationery for a Dear Friend...

Debbie Friedrich of Debbie Friedrich Photography is someone I consider to be a dear friend. Granted I only met her once at a wedding I helped with back in October of last year, but she is such a talented and down-to-earth person and fabulous photographer! I think it's the mutual admiration for one another's work which bonds many of us in the wedding industry. If you don't know Debbie, she was the photographer for The Knot's Real Wedding of Cheryl and Fred DeAngelo that was featured a few years ago on the Oxygen Channel. (This happens to be one of my favorite pictures of Debbie - the story behind the picture as well as because you rarely see her in front of the camera!)

This was the first opportunity that I had to work with Debbie and she did a phenomenal job. She actually is the person who convinced me to start my own blog... so I have Debbie to thank for that! Debbie does weddings worldwide, but many of her weddings are either in the San Diego/Southern California area or on the beautiful islands of Hawaii. She truly does "shoot from the heart". You should check out her blog at http://www.shootingfromtheheart.typepad.com/. She captures the smallest detail. The latest one she did was the sunflower picture. She found little tiny heart shapes on the inside fringe of the sunflower just before the petals start! AMAZING!

She's in the process of working on her own Etsy site and I'm so excited for her. Be sure to bookmark http://www.zenatona.etsy.com/. She's also going to have the work of Ulu Art on her site as well, which is a collaboration of two very wonderful and talented photographers, Arna Johnson and Geralyn Camarillo of Arna Photography and Hokuli'i Images respectively.

Anyway, I bought this beautiful photograph that Debbie took (I think) with her LensBaby (one of my next Xmas wishlist requests). I was immediately drawn to this photograph and knew one day that I just had to own one of her amazing photographic creations. It's a picture of a ti leaf... SIMPLY AMAZING! Reminds me of home.... Hawaii. :)

She asked in return if I would be able to create some business stationery for her to send to clients and this is what I came up with. I tried different designs, but I really felt drawn to this one so I hope she likes it as much as I do. Debbie envisioned chocolate browns and fuschia pinks but she also thought about green cymbidium orchids. I contemplated how I was going to incorporate everything, but I think the end result is stunning yet simple and not overstated. Finally I remembered that I did a similar design for my wedding thank you cards and thought it was different than your standard fold-over cards... so I decided to try it out. On the inside, I did a simple slightly muted version of her logo so that her clients will always be reminded of her beautiful logo.

The wedding industry has been an amazing experience for me. I meet the most wonderful individuals and professionals, which in turn many times I am fortunate to call them my friends. I think even more so, being a woman in a predominately female industry, seeing successful women such as Debbie pursuing a business they love and enjoy is very inspiring and empowering to other women in the wedding industry!

Every time I see Debbie's work, she inspires me to always do what comes from the heart and pursue what I feel passionate about. Once her Etsy site is stocked with her new photo products, I'll be one of the first to buy it!

Replica Bouquet or Is It???

I got a request several months back after the post from Miss Pineapple via http://www.weddingbee.com/. A newlywed wanted a replica of her bouquet. She's doing a Trash Your Wedding Dress party soon and wanted a replica of her bouquet. Obviously, I cannot recreate Mother Nature's work of art, but I can create my artistic representation of what I see. The client also asked if we could put more orchids and less roses in the bouquet since her budget when she got married couldn't accomodate the amount of orchids she wanted. So.... replica bouquets can be anything you want them to be, especially when it wasn't your ideal wedding day bouquet, now you can have them with clay flowers!

I'm interested to see what this Trash Your Wedding Dress Party turns out to be like. I've heard about it from a few of my brides, but have never seen one. I can't imagine trashing my wedding dress... I think I need to investigate more. Hopefully Maritess will send me pictures. :) Maritess also saw my work at her friend's wedding on the Big Island a year or so ago where I did the bride's wedding favors so, I guess it was meant to be for us to connect. :) The picture of above is courtesy of Ed Pingol.

Corsages and Boutonnieres - Part III

Last night I finished the balance of Amy's order. The boutonnieres, corsages and hair flower. Here are the remaining shots from her wedding order.