Hi ladies, here are some items I have for sale ... please PM me for more questions and details.

DRESS:  San Patrick Pronovias Puerto 2009 collection $1400.  Street size 2-4, 5'8 with shoes.
 

2 tier fingertip ivory veil $25 (no beading)

Candy buffet supplies (seperate or sold together): 

(here is my setup for reference)

fishbowl 6 1/2" height, 6" opening, 7 1/2" at its widest point:  $4 

apothecary jar w/lid 17 1/2" from stand to lid, 5" opening, 6 1/2" at widest point, 11" bowl portion only $16 

6" apothecary jar (sorry lid broke) - free with any of the other candy jars 

apothecary jar w/lid 14" from stand to lid.  4" opening, 7 1/2" widest, 6" bowl height $16

apothecary jar 7 1/2" height, 7" opening and 4" wide $12

23 3x3 cube vases (used for floating candles, tea lights, single bud, or cake stands)  $40 for all 

candles - all for $10: 
21 floating candles (white 1 3/4" length)
15 tealight candles w/holders

easles - all for $30
2 10" height
5 9" height
i used 5x6 photos (see bio for pictures)

"happily ever after" hanging mirror - $10

The details:

The ceremony:

We were so pressed for time before the sun went down that our photog had to skip a lot of the detail pictures, but we have plenty of awesome portraits!!

The reception:

We weren't originally going to do a bouquet toss ... but since it was requested ... we did!!  And then we had to do an impromptu garter toss - using my dads tie since I wasn't prepared!  haha   

I didn't really trash my dress at all - original plan was to have a knock off dress to change into and go in the ocean - but as some of you may have read my post - it didn't go so well!!  So I wore my original wedding dress.  And, as some of you may have read my other post - dh HATES taking pictures, so this was torture for him so excuse his pouty face!!! 

Tresspassing in the pineapple fields - shhhh

The sugar cane fields in Paia

and lastly the beach

Here's some non pro pictures of my big day in Maui at the Haiku Mills!  As with any wedding, there were a few bumps in the road but nothing major.  I forgot to bring sand for the tray of starfish escort cards but they just laid them out on the table and everyone still loved it!  I would have done my makeup differently - I typically don't wear too much makeup so wanted to keep it natural and since it's a dw, didn't have a makeup trial - but I feel I look a little washed out and if I would have had a trial I would have gone a bit heavier on the makeup!  The cake wasn't at all what I wanted - it was fondant (i wanted buttercream) and a bit dry but it's ok, our guests loved our Liliha cocoa puffs!  The fondant made it hard to cut, actually messed up the top tier but no one saw!  haha!  The food was amazing esepcially for not having a tasting!!  And I wish I would have had bug spray!!!!  I got eaten alive by mosquitos!!  But aside from the little mishaps - It was pretty darn close to being perfect, it rained a bit but it's ok ... it was right when we were doing the cake cutting and speeches so it got everyone very close and cozy!!  Our guests didn't even notice the little things that didn't go as planned, and after it's all said and done - as a bride, those things didn't even mater anymore ... all that counted was that we were husband and wife!!  :)  So brides, seriously, don't let the small stuff stress you out too much!! 

Here are some non pro pictures ... can't wait to see the pro pix!!!

The entrance to the Haiku Mills:

the bridal suite is amazing!  so chabby chic:

The ceremony:

(i made my enterance from the side steps and my dad was waiting for me) 

(played iz somewhere over the rainbow at our first kiss)

cocktail hour:

escort cards & sign in table (i forgot to bring sand so we couldn't put them in the trays w/sand ... instead they just laid them out on the table ... no one knew the difference and everyone still loved it!).  Lesson learned - all the little things that I stressed and pulled my hair out over - don't matter!  At the end of the day - guests don't know what was planned or not, and for the bride and groom at the end of the night, all that matters is that we're married ... the rest was just a fun blur!!

dinner and centerpieces (the forgot to put water in the vases, and no one even noticed!)

the cake cutting (with adam sandlers "i want to grow old with you" playing).  this is when it started raining - which kinda worked out, because it got everyone out of their seats and nice and cozy under the glass structure!

 the toasts

first dance (eric benet & tamia - spend my life with you)

father daughter dance (what a wonderful world - louis armstrong) he made me cry during our dance!  the other picture is with my mom, dad, me and sis ... can you tell me and my dad were crying?!?

we weren't originally going to do a bouquet toss because there aren't too many single ladies and the ones that are, I didn't think they would go up!  but to my surprise, they wanted to catch it!!  and then we did an impromptu garter toss using my dads tie!  haha

candy buffet + liliha cocoa puffs

open bar = lots of dancing :) even got grandma out there (see last picture)!!

So the night before getting Maui'd we went to the old lahaina luau!  The food is amazing, open bar and hot staff!  haha  The show is a bit more traditional and shows the story of the "old lahaina" so the dances are slower - don't go if you're expecting fire dances, the fast hulas and the crazy samoan guys with their painted faces!  Still a great show with the best luau food I've ever had (i've had about a dozen)

the staff was great - they accomadated all 5 of our tables and kept the drinks coming!

I know it's hard to plan a DW going blind and not being able to meet with vendors, so here's my list of vendors, hopefully this helps someone!!

Wedding Coordinator:  Jackie Ishikawa with White Orchid Weddings based in Maui.  She is very nice and easy to work with.  Right after getting engaged, we went to Maui and met with Jackie and another coordinator - I chose Jackie based on her list of vendors that she works with and her flexibility.  I was probably a tough client since I had lost my job right after we paid our deposits.  And I know a lot of people think a DW saves money, but in my experience, that wasn't the case!  We (more like I) had my dream location already in mind which alone was more than 4k.  And in Maui, expect to pay top coordinators a 20% fee for everyting they organize.  Since I was on such a budget, we had to do a lot of revisions, a lot of cutting and prioritizing.  In the end, she got us just a little over budget.  Not a lot of frills to our wedding but it was beautiful none the less.  I diy'd all my centerpieces, favors, signage and other little details.  Only downfall was that I wanted better deals negotiated, especially with a down economy, but she said her vendors have set prices and weren't willing.  I booked my photographer, makeup and entertainment on my own - if you do this, be aware that you will need to still pay the 20% fee.  I worked a deal to go around it, but meant I assumed all responsibility for them.    whiteorchidweddings.com (vendor listing on PW)

Photographer:  Rachel Robertson Photography - Rachel is awesome, she's based in Oahu but travels to all islands.  She's patient - so if you have a difficult hubby like me (he hates taking photos), she's totally the perfect person - she would crack jokes, try to break him out of his shell and was very nice about his stubborness!  She loved my venue and always wanted to shoot there, so she even threw in an extra hour and a TTD session.  I told her what I had in mind for my TTD shoot and she scouted out the perfect locations!  I can't wait to see the photos!!  I'll update this after the photos, but I think she's great ... she was so easy to work with and is very prompt to respond to any emails or phone calls.  She has a great eye and is fun to work with!  rachelrobertsonphotography.com (vendor listing on PW)

Makeup:  Kat Kahulani Makeup - Kat is great, she really listens to what the bride wants and goes with it.  She never does the same thing twice on a bride and really takes pride in her work.  I think Kat is great ... I wanted a loose, low updo with flowers and that's exactly what I got!  I asked for natural makeup and it was that ... I do however, looking back at the non pro photos I just got, wish there was a little more pop to it ... looking at the non pro pix I look a little washed out but hopefully pro pix have better lighting and I don't look so washed out.  We were running late and I didn't really take the time to look myself over and everyone was telling me I looked beautiful so I went with it!  haha  I can't say it's anything bad about her work - I did ask for natural, I think I just didn't realize how it would photograph.  Her work is great and would recommend her, I just should have done a trial before!  I personally don't wear a lot of makeup so I didn't know!  I booked her outside of white orchid weddings vendor list.  She is very accomodating and even brought a fan with her since I told her my venue doesn't have A/C!  www. kahulani.com

Hawaiian Guitarist/DJ:  Wilmont Kahaialii Jr., I booked him outside of white orchid weddings, but turns out they work with him anyways.  Wilmont was good ... a few call outs, the timing of responding to emails was very poor ... started out ok, but after the deposit was paid, it went down hill.  I swear a month before the wedding I was emailing every week and no response - I had to ask Jackie to track him down and he finally responded.  I gave him a list of songs to play on his guitar and songs to dj and he played them all.  He played his guitar for the ceremony and cocktail hour and then dj'd the dinner and reception.  Jackie mentioned he just started offering dj services ... honestly, some of his mixing or fading from one song to another could have been better.  His guitar playing was amazing though.  He has a great voice and has a wide range of songs.  www.mauiweddingmusician.com

Paradise Flowers - Maui florist sells wholesale to public:  Since I diy'd my centerpieces I wanted to buy some loose orchid heads to sprinkle on the tables and use in some of the centerpieces, I picked up 400 loose orchid heads from a wholesale florist called paradise flowers - they are only $.12 ea.  you can pick up or they also deliver to some locations.  They also do lei's and centerpieces but I only ordered the loose orchids which were great.  I picked them up on Saturday (they are closed on Sundays) and kept them in the fridge - they were still fresh and beautiful come Monday (wedding day).  I even had a little bit left over which were still good the next few days!  www.paradiseflowers.com

Liliha Bakery:  They are based on Oahu and has meaning to me and my DH ... we always go there everytime we are in Hawaii so I had to have the cocoa puffs at our wedding!!  We had DH brother pick them up on his way over - he picked them up Sunday afternoon and the wedding was the next day - still delicious and to die for!  All our guests loved them - more than the wedding cake!!  We got a bit of rain and they got drenched but they were still good!  haha  www.lilihabakery.com

Bar Service:  Stacy at Bars r Us is so much fun!  She will totally work with your budget!  She was recommended by White Orchid Weddings since they do not have a liquor license.  Stacy is awesome, our guests loved her and she makes stiff drinks that are super yummy!  She said we could pick 3 "signature drinks" from her list and we ended up doing 4 "something old something new" (see our drink menu in my paper entry) - this was a good way to save $ by reducing the amt of different types of liquor needed and could speed up service.  We also were able to buy our own liquor to save some $.  Her staff is great, they served passed drinks to guests during cocktail hour and kept the line moving during the reception!  Even though we had our 4 signature drinks, she was still able to improvise if needed - guys wanted shots for everyone and she was able to whip up something delicious!  they don't have a website but I would strongly recommend them!  here's Stacys email mauibarsareus@aol.com

Venue:  Haiku Mills - LOVE LOVE L.O.V.E my venue!  Everyone kept talking about how beautiful it is!  There is the cutest brides room to get ready in - fyi there is no a/c but I was there in November and there was a good breeze that comes through the room.  The place is AMAZING and a photographers dream to shoot (mine even gave me an extra hour of coverage to shoot here!).  **TIP** there's no grooms room to get ready in and there are mosquitos so bring bug spray for guests!!  The mills was recently bought out by new owners, they are super nice and take a lot of care and pride in the mills - they are very careful and picky when it comes to vendors they allow here and they also do their own planning if needed.   www.haikumill.com

Luau in Maui:  We went to the old lahaina luau the night before the wedding (see previous post for photos), they have an open bar (drinks are pretty strong too!) and their food is yummy!!  Best luau food I've ever had!  They even have ahi poke and tako poke!!  The show is good - not your typical luau show.  This is more of the "old lahaina" so it's more traditional dances - less fast paced dances.  No fire dance or the tonga guys with the painted faces.  It is a bit pricey but everything in maui is expensive, all the top rated luaus are about the same price and this has great food and an open bar so I think it's worth it!  They offer group discounts of 10% off also but charge service fees for big parties.  We had 43 guests and they kept us all together and their staff is awesome.    www.oldlahainaluau.com

Bouquet & Bouts:  I booked Teresa through Jackie at White Orchid Weddings. I believe she is their house florist, since it was a DW I didn't get to meet her in person. I was on a huge budget being that I got laid off after we paid deposits with White Orchid and the venue ... so we opted to do a lot of DIY. I only used her for the bouquets and bouts which turned out awesome.  I worked with her through email via my coordinator. She seems very flexible and easy to work with. I sent her my colors, pictures of my dress and inspiration photos and she told me what she thought would look best within my budget. I did my own centerpieces, but she seems flexible for that as well - I told her my budget and an overall feel of what I wanted and she told me what she could do ... I had gotten killer deals on a lot of vases so I opted to do the centerpieces myself to save $ but if it would have been anything like my bouquets, I'm sure it would have been awesome! 

Officiant:  We booked Tino through Jackie at White Orchid Weddings, he was great!! His words are very touching and although it's a routine for him, you'd never guess it. Jackie let us read his speech prior to booking him - we chose the non denomination ceremony with Hawaiian prayer at the end. Although, the day of, I think he forgot to do the Hawaiian prayer - but it's ok, I completely forgot until I started writing this review!! We had so many people compliment the ceremony and many guests said they never felt so connected to a wedding ceremony. We didn't hire a videographer and had a friend tape it instead (a guy) and you could hear him sniffling during the ceremony - he's been to a lot of weddings and he said this was the most touching one out of all!!  I would defintely recommend him. As Cascara (below) mentions, he has a very calming and soothing voice. I would totally recommend him, he was awesome! http://www.mauivalentine.com/

Caterer:  We didn't get to have a tasting but I'm very pleased to say that the food was delish!! We booked them through Jackie at White Orchid Weddings, she gave us a list of recommended caterers and I did some research and Cafe O Lei has a restaurant that had great reviews, so I went with them. We did a buffet (few pictures in my bio) which included pasta salad, baby green salad, sauteed vegies, fish, chicken, steak, shrimp, garlic bread (and added 2 vegetarian plated dinners).  Pasta salad - great flavor (bowtie pasta, feta cheese, tomato based sauce). Baby green salad - tossed with the perfect amount of dressing (spring salad, walnuts, pears, slightly sweetened). Sauteed veggies - soooo yummy (mushrooms, maui onions, eggplant, potatoes, zuccini)! Mahi Mahi filets were moist and covered with mac nuts, chicken breast was very moist and flavorful, steak was a little over cooked for my taste but it's a buffet and they play to the majority, shrimp was awesome and the highlight of the meal for everyone!  Everything was very good and we even had a few guests tell us it was the best wedding food they've ever had!!! That was a huge compliment and big relief!!   http://cafeoleirestaurants.com/

Cake:  They were recommended by my wedding coordinator Jackie at White Orchid Weddings. I'm only giving them 3 stars ... The cake was pretty, however not what I had ordered (picture of actual and inspiration in my bio). Not sure if this was the bakery or my coordinators fault since it was a DW and we didn't do a tasting or anything. I ordered butter cream and got fondant. The inspiration picture (which was a white orchid wedding cake - so I assumed they booked my cake with the same baker) had white chocolate shavings, mine did not since it was fondant. I personally don't like fondant, they don't taste as moist to me - and from the bite my DH and I had, we didn't like it and thought it was dry. However, we only ate the 1 bite we fed to each other and didn't truely taste it. Two guests did say they thought the cake tasted good ... but we also had liliha cocoa puffs at our dessert table and those outshined the cake, tons of people complimented the cocoa puffs.

Finally found a dress for my bachelorette party!  I think I'll get it shortened a bit!  :)

here's pictures from my big night out :)  we went to saddle ranch for dinner - and yes I rode the bull in my dress!!  then went to blvd 3 on sunset and had a blast!! 

my MOH had this deck of cards that were so much fun ... the cards have a dare on them and the higher the points, the more daring.  each guest had to pick one for me to do ... if i couldn't complete the task, i had to take a shot.  everyone keeps asking where she got the cards from - here's a link online http://www.bachelorette.com/datodoitacca.html

find a guy to donate $10 to the bachelorette party fund:

geta guy to give you a lap dance:

borrow a guys cell phone and dial the last person dialed (it was his girlfriend!!!)

I'm Sheri, he's Ben and we're having a destination wedding in Maui at the Haiku Mills ... sooooo beautiful isn't it?!  Even when we talked of getting engaged, we always knew we wanted to have it in Hawaii ... we've been there a few times together and we both love it (I'm a quarter Hawaiian hehe).  So as soon as he popped the question, I started looking for places to have our wedding, once I saw the haiku mills, I KNEW this was THE place!!  www.haikumill.com 

using bamboo chairs to play up the natural surroundings

Here's a ring shot ... (I'm his lilo and he's my stitch!)

So since I'm a bride on a budget, I'm doing my own centerpieces, and since it's a destination wedding I am relying on friends and family to help transport everything over to HI!  I figured people won't be taking the centerpieces after the receptions since they are on vacation and I didn't want to be stuck with tons of the same vases, so each table will have a different centerpiece. 

**edit** so we got our final counts and we had to add a table.  then i went to the store and found these and bought them!  hahah so the last picture of the 3 rectangular vases will now go on the cake table to display the bouquets!  :)

(don't mind the sheet on the table, it will be white linens but my glass table had such a glare I needed to cover it with something!)

and here's my candy table set up ... without candy ... but I'm planning 8 different candies, all in shades of blue.  The square plates will have these too die for cocoa cream puffs from Liliha bakery, the rectangle plates will have (hopefully my MOH and I can pull it off) brownie lollipops.  The cups on the sides will have candy sticks and lollipops on the other side. 

the diy favor boxes ... couldn't decide which ones ... so i did 1/2 and 1/2.  the 2nd one will have a little pink rhinestone in the center orchid for a little something.

Unfortunately I got laid off a month after we got engaged and after we had already put the deposit down for our venue and coordinator in Hawaii.  But in a way it has been a blessing in disguise … being at home all day long sure has given me tons of time to plan my wedding!!  And, now that I’m on a budget, I’ve been trying to DIY a lot of stuff.  I just finished making my invitations!!  I found the images online as clip art and just put them all together!!  And being a total DIY budget bride now, I printed 100 sets (4 pieces + 2 envelops) for only $150 (this includes about $40 to rush and custom mailing labels)!

I had my first fitting!!!  I bought the sample that was in the store and it was way too big on me.  They didn't take my measurements when I bought the dress, figured they would do it all during my first fitting ... I get there, they zip me up and IT FIT???  Strange, how did they fit it to me without taking my measurements?!?!  Crazy, right?  It is the same dress though! 

Super excited!!  These aren't the best pictures of me ... hehe ... I'm trying to grow my hair out for the wedding! 

just bought my earrings!

hair inspiration - hopefully my hair will grow out in time!!

So I told my bridal party they can pick their own dresses as long as the colors matched and they were shorter length.  They ended up picking the same dress!!!  It will be in the scarlet color as shown in the front view. 

so I wanted to get a polaroid camera so people could take their pix, sign it and put it in a polaroid album ... but to my surprise, they don't make polaroid cameras anymore!!  looked on ebay and the cameras are cheap but since they don't make the film anymore, they are pretty pricey plus expired!  haha  so i found this new version called the fuji instax mini!  isn't it cute?  the film comes out smaller - the size of a credit card

I'll make a little sign with instructions for everyone.  Everyone takes a picture, they can sign their photo and I bought Hawaiian-ish pads of paper so guests can add additional notes if they like (favorite memory with us or maybe tips for the bride and groom). 

I just bought an album, which doesn't really fit the rest of the wedding colors but it's a simple black album which will look great on our coffee table!  Plus I got it on sale at Michaels!  Thought it was cute ... I can put pictures of me and FI in the front cover ... maybe one of him by himself, one of me by myself and 2 couple shots on the cover!  It has magnetic closures and opens up to the album portion.  I'll buy the adhesive photo corners and people can make their own pages in the album!!  What do you think??

My flower girl is my cousins daughter ... she just got her dress and she's been twirling around the house all day long!!  :)

So this I have an obsession with lilikoi (passionfruit) so we're doing white cake with lilikoi filling!  This is the cake they are using for inspiration ... I told them to add a little splash of color.  This isn't the best picture ... I had to take a picture of the computer screen!  haha

I'm ordering some starfish for my escort cards and I'll diy similar to these

here was my first pass at the starfsih - i didn't have my paper cutter on my and and it was printed on regular paper so it will look better!  the table name will be under the guests name and the bow will be lower.  Still looking for a tray to put them in though!!

This is what I plan to do for the ring bearer ... I'm currently searching for large shells to diy ... this should be easy!

****edit**** bummer, no ring bearer for me :(

We're doing an open bar of signature drinks ... here's my drink menu:

here's our sign for the candy buffet:

our sign for our guest book table:

for our tables, we decided to name each one after one of the Hawaiian islands instead of #'s: