This year we actually decided to focus more on full-service planning which allows us to better serve our valued clients by saving them from costly mistakes while still being able to keep a roof over our heads.

This new direction was the best decision we could make as our company’s core philosophy has always been ”service excellence” and when you’re doing back-to-back events you’re just not able to give everyone 100%.

By splitting our events between Dianna, Wai and Ramona, we’re all able to give the time and attention that our couples deserve.  We’re also able to keep a balance in our own personal lives which makes us more productive and fosters creativity which in turn better serves you.

As we are purposely not running at full capacity, we are usually able to help couples that realize less than 2 months out from their wedding day that things aren’t quite coming together as much as they thought.   We do still offer  “day of” wedding management which still includes 20-30 hours of pre-wedding work to cross check all details, review contracts, ensuring your timeline is realistic, reconfirming vendors and of course being your “go to” person on the wedding day.

Living a life of gratitude has become our mantra and when I think back to all of the couples that we have been able to serve over the years it brings tears to my eyes.      The privilege of being part of one of the important days in someones’ life is an honor and one that we are truly grateful for.

Seeing your excitement on your wedding day and the pure joy and happiness as you get ready to walk down the aisle is an experience that is never forgotten.    Each wedding is unique in its own little way and you would be surprised about how many details we do remember.

How do you life a life a gratitude?   It really is quite simple,  but it takes take a concentrated effort to “make time” in your day to think of all the things you are grateful for.     You’ll find that when you open your heart to all of the good things in your life, it will make those challenging days in your life easier.

http://zenhabits.net/why-living-a-life-of-gratitude-can-make-you-happy/

To date we have made donations to:

• The National Kidney Foundation
• Autism Society
• National Tourettes Syndrome

For new bookings made in in the month June, our donations will be made to the American Cancer Society. Recently one of our vendors lost his sister and another lost his father-in-law to the disease and we would like to honor their families and the memory of their loved ones.

• For My Peace of Mind – You save $50 and we donate $50
• Lanikuhonua Package – You save $50 and we donate $50
• Lokahi Package – You save $100 and we donate $100

All packages are listed on our website http://www.hawaiiweddingsandevents.com/wedding_services.htm

BLACK – General events * RED – SUNSET Events * BLUE – Waikiki Shell events * MAGENTA –Park Events

HOLIDAYS

11^st King Kamehameha I Day (Friday)

WAIKIKI SHELL FACILITY

TBA

KAPIOLANI PARK ACTIVITIES

TBA

SUNSET ON THE BEACH ACTIVITIES

TBA

PARADES AND STREET CLOSURES

June 5, 2010 Saturday
10:00AM Starts
12Noon Ends

HONOLULU GAY Pride Parade sponsored by Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).  The event is expected to have 20 marchers, 2 floats, 10 vehicles, & 1 band. It will start at Ala Moana Beach Park (Kkhd entrance), to Ala Moana Blvd., to Kalakaua Ave., to Monsarrat Ave.,  to end at Queen Kapiolani Park. Contact:  Carolyn Golojuch 672-9050, Fax:  672-6347.

June 6, 2010  Sunday
6:00AM Starts
9:00AM Ends

HIBISCUS HALF MARATHON sponsored by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  The event is to have 800 runners.  It will start at Kapiolani Park, to Kalakaua Ave., to MonsarratAve., to Paki Ave., to Diamond Hd. Rd., to 18th Ave., to Kilauea Ave., to Waialae Ave., to Kalanianaole Hwy., to Kealaolu Ave., to Kahala Ave., to DiamondHd. Rd., to Kalakaua Ave., to end at Honolulu Marathon Finish line. Contact:Raul Torres of Boca Hawaii LLC 223-2622.

June 11, 2010 – Friday
7:00PM Starts
11:00PM

Street closure time be confirmed, but usually it commences from about 4pm

PAN PACIFIC FESTIVAL http://www.pan-pacific-festival.com/

***June 12, 2010 Saturday
9:30AM Starts
2:00PM Ends

KING KAMEHAMEHA CELEBRATION FLORAL PARADE sponsored by King Kamehameha Celebration Commission. The event is expected to have  6,000 marchers, 50 vehicles, 10 floats & 8 bands.  It will start at  Ft. DeRussey, to Kalakaua Ave., to Ala Moana Blvd., to Punchbowl St., to King St.,to end at Iolani Palace King St./Richards St., Contact: Niniau Simmons 586-0333.

June 13, 2010 Sunday
5:00PM Starts
8:00PM Ends

Pan-Pacific MATSURI Waikiki PARADE sponsored by Kintetsu USA International Express. The event is expected to have  2,000 marchers, 19 vehicles, 3 floats & 4 bands.  It will start at Kalakaua Ave. at Saratoga Rd./Fort DeRussy, to Kalakaua Ave., to end at Queen Kapiolani Park.   Contact:  Yasuyuki Ishizuka 926-8177 x 279.

June 19, 2010 Saturday
9:00AM Starts
11:00AM Ends

HONOLULU GAY Pride Parade sponsored by Honolulu Pride Festival Foundation.  The event is expected to have 300 marchers, 18 vehicles & 1 band. It will start at Ala Moana Beach Park (Kkhd entrance), to Ala Moana Blvd., to Kalakaua Ave., to Monsarrat Ave.,  to end at Queen Kapiolani Park. Contact:  Pat Miller 861-3888, Fax: 680-7817.

***June 20, 2010 Sunday
7:00AM Starts
9:00AM Ends

ALOHA STATE GAMES 10K RUN sponsored by Aloha State Games. The event is expected to have 200 runners. It will start at Queen Kapiolani Park, to Kalakaua Ave., to Diamond Head Rd., to 22nd Ave., to Kilauea Ave., to Elepaio St., to Kahala Ave., to Diamond Head Rd., to end at Kalakaua Ave. Honolulu Marathon Finish Line.  Note:  Entire route on sidewalk/shoulder area except street crossings.  Contact:  Joan Davis 535-9070.

***The following is an event held outside of Waikiki but will impact traffic greatly due to street closures.

Please be aware of these closures and inform your staff and guests.

No matter what you do in life, you should be respectful of another person’s time.      I had the opportunity to hang out after our National Association of Catering Executives (NACE) meeting the other evening with some event professionals and one of the topics of  our discussion was how much time was wasted due to clients’ arriving late or worse yet, not at all.

Many don’t realize that in addition to 60 minute meeting time that we are allocating for you, we also have travel time to get to the location (which in my case ranges from 30-45 minutes) and as we arrive early to ensure we are on time, that’s easily another 15 minutes, plus the drive back.     So a one hour meeting time, in truth is taking between 2 hours and 15 minutes to 2 hours and 45 minutes of time out of our day.  Many clients associate delayed responses with “island time”  but our ability to get back to you in a timely manner (other than when we have events of course) is adversely impacted by each meeting that starts late.

I’ve also had a few clients that were purposely going to start their ceremony late.     There are several reasons why you should always start your ceremony on time.  First of all, you should respect the time of those guests that did arrive on time to attend your special day.    Secondly, often times ministers do have another wedding to attend to and they schedule their time based on your ceremony start time.    As a coordinator, i know from experience that starting on time sets the pace for the entire day, if you start on time, the day is relaxed, it is when things are running late that the stress factor sets in.

Most people don’t know about or understand the disorder, we only know from own personal experience that the “tics” have changed over the years and tend to come out more when he is over tired and stressed.   When he was younger, my son actually was made to run laps at soccer practice because he kept making noises and the coach thought that he was mocking him.      Later our son told us about the extra laps at practice so we told the coach the noises were not something that he could help and told him about the disorder.     The coach apologized profusely and really felt bad because he actually knew someone that had Tourettes in a severe form and didn’t recognize the milder symptoms in my son.    Recently my daughter noticed a student in one of her classes that displayed some symptoms so rather than punish him, she started researching more about the symptoms so she would understand and could help.

We always wanted our son to live a normal life and didn’t want any special treatment so we never told anyone until after the incident at soccer practice.     My son’s symptoms peaked when he was about 10 years old when he would open his mouth and bite very hard, to the point he could have bitten his tongue off.  It was both scary and frustrating because you just have this overwhelming helpless feeling, and it was the first time that he actually asked about the medication.  Fortunately the symptoms subsided and although he still has a mild form of the disorder, it has never stopped him from leading a normal life and I couldn’t be more proud of the young man he has become.   He is one of the lucky ones, there are some people that have very severe cases and it is only by continued research that they will be helped.

What is Tourettes?

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (Tourette Syndrome or TS) is a neurological disorder which becomes evident in early childhood or adolescence before the age of 18 years.  Tourette syndrome is defined by multiple motor and vocal tics lasting for more than one year.  The first symptoms usually are involuntary movements (tics) of the face, arms, limbs or trunk.  These tics are frequent, repetitive and rapid.  The most common first symptom is a facial tic (eye blink, nose twitch, grimace), and is replaced or added to by other tics of the neck, trunk, and limbs.

These involuntary (outside the patient’s control) tics may also be complicated, involving the entire body, such as kicking and stamping. Many persons report what are described as premonitory urges — the urge to perform a motor activity. Other symptoms such as touching, repetitive thoughts and movements and compulsions can occur.

There are also verbal tics.  These verbal tics (vocalizations) usually occur with the movements.  These vocalizations include grunting, throat clearing, shouting and barking.  The verbal tics may also be expressed as coprolalia (the involuntary use of obscene words or socially inappropriate words and phrases) or copropraxia (obscene gestures). Despite widespread publicity, coprolalia/copropraxia is uncommon with tic disorders.

Neither echolalia (echo speech) or coprolalia/copropraxia is necessary for the diagnosis of Tourette syndrome.  However, for a confirmed diagnosis of TS both involuntary movements and vocalizations must be present.  Echo phenomena are also reported, although less frequently.  These may include repeating word of others (echolalia), repeating ones own words (palilalia), and repeating movements of others.

Although the symptoms of TS vary from person to person and range from very mild to severe, the majority of cases fall into the mild category. Associated conditions can include attentional problems (ADHD/ADD, impulsiveness (and oppositional defiant disorder), obsessional compulsive behavior, and learning disabilities.  There is usually a family history of tics, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, OCD.  Tourette Syndrome and other tic disorders occur in all ethnic groups.  Males are affected 3 to 4 times more often than females.

Most people with TS and other tic disorders will lead productive lives.  There are no barriers to achievement in their personal and professional lives.  Persons with TS can be found in all professions. A goal of TSA is to educate both patients and the public of the many facets of tic disorders.  Increased public understanding and tolerance of TS symptoms are of paramount importance to people with Tourette Syndrome.

The disorder was named for a French neuropsychiatrist who successfully assessed the disorder in the late 1800′s:

For more information, see http://www.tsa-usa.org/index.html

The Tourette Syndrome Association, Inc.(TSA®) is a 501(c)(3) organization, qualified to receive charitable contributions in accordance with IRS regulations

First we define what they envision, the number of guests they anticipate, if they have determined a budget and where they anticipate their guests to stay while on Oahu.

The easiest question to answer is what they envision, which often starts with outdoors, oceanfront, private, etc.  The number of guests is one of the hardest questions for couples to answer, especially for destination weddings as it can easily range by 25-50 guests depending on the time of year and where their guests are coming from.    We’ve had some weddings that anticipated 80 guests and ended up with 120 and others that anticipated 125 and ended up with 75.

The reason we ask for the budget is to help guide them to the properties or facilities that are appropriate to their needs.    If a client holds back on what they are really willing to spend for a location, then they are sacrificing the number of options that will be available to them.

Beautiful Lanikuhonua ‘Where Heaven Meets the Earth” (florals by Su-V Expressions)

I came to Hawaii in 1984 and I was welcomed with open arms.      When my front desk clerk  hours were cut from 40 hours to 16 a week, I found myself struggling to make ends meet and literally survived on a 5lb box of gummy worms, popcorn and lots of cinnamon toast on my days off.  If you ever have complained about cafeteria food, I can tell you when that becomes your only meal, you have a whole new appreciation for what is offered and I would eat a mountain of food as if each were my last meal.

So what does a girl do?    I’ve never been one to give up and I’ve always stood on my own two feet, even though thoughts of living in my car had crossed my mind many times.   With a 90wpm typing speed, I worked part-time as a typist at Temple Emanu-El and also helped input hotel room reservations which helped to keep my head above water until the hotel occupancy was back in full swing.  I also took whatever training sessions that came up at work because you not only did you learn, but you got paid for training time and if it was enough hours, it gave me another meal.

Things of course, got better, as they always do, and I keep myself grounded by remembering the hard times and feel it is important to help others.   As the majority of my couples are both working and/or going to school, offering specials allows them the opportunity to afford a wedding coordinator which relieves stress and may not otherwise be an option for them.

It’s not exactly a rags to riches story as I still don’t own a home, or even own my car for that matter, but I am doing what I love, have a roof over my head, a family that loves me, live in a Paradise and have been able to achieve my dream of sending my two kids to college.  What else does a girl really need?

In order to highlight the growing need for concern and awareness about autism, the Autism Society has been celebrating National Autism Awareness Month since the 1970s. The United States recognizes April as a special opportunity for everyone to educate the public about autism and issues within the autism community.

Want to get involved with the autism community this April? Show your support this month by joining the Autism Society in wearing the ribbon, bouncing for autism, texting, and more!

Spread the word. Helping the autism community can be as easy as updating your Facebook or Twitter status! On April 1, the Autism Society is asking supporters to change their status on Facebook and/or Twitter to “Autism affects 1 in 110. Text “AUTISM” to 50555 to donate $10 to the Autism Society. Help spread the word: http://bit.ly/bUAVRf.” For the first time ever, supporters can now simply text “AUTISM” to 50555 to donate $10 to the Autism Society. 100% of your donations will go to support the Autism Society’s mission of improving the lives of all affected by autism.

Last month we launched our “Charity Contribution Program” and were happy to donate $125 in “honor of” our four newest couples to the National Kidney Foundation.   As giving back is one of Hawaii Weddings and Events’ guiding principles, we will be continuing our program and supporting the Autism Society this month.

We would like to take this moment to once again thank all of our awesome clients who entrusted us with one of most important days in their lives.   Your continued support via referrals and references is priceless.  It was through “word of mouth” advertising that we not only sustained ourselves during tough economic times, but we actually grew our business by almost 20% in 2009 and are projected to do the same in 2010.

Throughout my career,  I was very fortunate to have great mentors that always told me to keep learning and giving, so two of my guiding principles is to give back and help develop the next generation of event planners with knowledge that really can only come from “on-the-job experiences” and I still continually educate myself by attending catering conferences.

So what does the future hold for Hawaii Weddings and Events?   First of all,  we are starting to interview candidates for “on-call” positions that we can train towards future coordinator positions.    Service excellence is our mantra, and I know from experience that some companies grow too fast in a short period of time and then they aren’t able to properly take care of their clients, so the next phase of our journey will be a slow and steady one to ensure our standards are maintained.

Other goals include:

• Continuing our monthly Charity Contribution Program with a new donor identified each month
• A wedding in a castle (my personal goal, haven’t figured out where and when yet, but I’m already visualizing it as you can see by the picture)
• Launching a new luxury division

In honor of our anniversary, we’re offering a very special $1000 savings on our “We’re Tying the Knot” Full Service Wedding Planning Package.  For more information see http://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-deals/1000-reasons-to-celebrate-our-4th-anniversary-honolulu/b21592eafc8689da.html .   This offer expires in 4 days (March 26th) is valid for NEW bookings only and may not be combined with any other offer.

Thank you again for allowing Hawaii Wedding and Events the opportunity to serve you, your friends and your family.