Creating Custom Designs With Special Meaning

From time to time, clients ask me if I'm able to create something custom, meaning a sketch or illustration of where they are getting married. For these types of clients I enlist the help of my brother, who is the true artist in the family. This illustration is of Hale Kai Estate, where I also believe King Kamehameha used to stay there and the image is of the canoe landing off the water and near the main house! With the help of my brother, who did the drawing, I was able to do Noelani and Albert's wedding invitations and they asked me to do their program fans and hair flowers for the bridal party. Noelani is an up and coming pastry chef at Cake Rack of Kona. You definitely should check out their little pastry shop as they make tasty pastries, cupcakes and wedding cakes!

You can pretty much bet that no one else will have the same invitation as her's. I also did in the past (again with the help of my brother who did the artwork) the invitations, programs and guest book for another client who got married at the historic Mokuaikaua Church and her reception was outside of Hulihe'e Palace. Talk about another great historical landmark to tie the knot! Both of these clients were referrals from the awesome Wedding Planner Extraordinare, Cheryl Shoemaker of Orchid Isle Weddings and Events! She's a wonderful, proactive and really pays attention to the details to help create a beautiful wedding day for her clients. There's not a lot of Big Island based wedding planners so if you're looking for good ones, check out Orchid Isle Weddings & Events at http://www.orchidisleweddings.com/.

Magnolia or Gardenia Favors?

Remember my magnolia bride? Well, we're in the process of working on her favors. My immediate first thought was, definitely go with gardenias (they're easier for me to make), as they kind of make me think of Hawaii more, but also I was not sure how my magnolia flowers would turn out. Kristy is having a gardenia in her hair as well as for her bridesmaids and flower girl, so the coordinator and I were thinking tie the gardenia back in to match the hair flowers in the bridal party. Now after making the favors and seeing the way they came out, it's a TOUGH call!

I definitely like BOTH of them a lot! Plus the whole premise of Kristy using the magnolia flower was because of what it meant and how the history and meaning of the magnolia flower embodies who she is and who they are as a couple. We are also using the favor tag as the place card for the families/couples/friends so it's more personalized.

We are going to do magnolia flowers for her cake which I think will look STUNNING! She has a square 3 tier cake in chocolate frosting from Cake Rack of Kona which I think the magnolia flowers will really look awesome!