Cake Cutting Time

Aloha all,

Here's a quick tip on cake cutting!

After ordering your personalized wedding cake (a cake you could have paid over $1000 for or have gotten complementary from your venue) the only other thing most couples think about is putting the "cake cutting" sequence into their reception program.

Well, there's just a little more to it than that!

First, make sure the vendor making the cake has the same idea of what certain terms mean. For example, a 3 tier wedding cake means 3 stacked tiers of wedding cake to one vendor and 3 wedding cakes with those skinny pillars in between the 3 tiers... Big, big difference... Pictures say a thousand words so find one and send one to the vendor so there is no mistake!

Second, make sure you select a cake cutting song so when the MC says "...and now we would like to ask the couple to do their cake cutting..." it comes on softly. The song should start as soon as it's announced so you (the couple)are not walking in silence and the MC should still be talking a little bit while you're getting situated and have the MC invite the paparazzi in the crowd to gather round and take pictures (yet alert them not to get in the way of the paid professional photographer!!!) My favorite: "How Sweet it is to be Loved by You..." by James Taylor,

Third, make sure you have someone show you how to cut the cake. A banquet captain or a coordinator should be able to assist this special ritual. If you don't have anyone to "help", here's how you do it. Once you get up the cake, the groom grabs the knife with both hands and the bride overlaps the grooms hands with both her hands. Then WAIT... make sure the photographer and the videographer are ready and then cut the lowest tier by sticking the end of the knife as far in the middle of the cake as possible and just slowly push down the knife to finish the first cut. AND POSE for the camera before pulling the knife out. Then make another cut to eventually be able to cut a small piece of cake out. Once out, the bride picks up the cake and has the groom eat a big piece and then the groom feeds the bride a good piece too. No cake fights! Just a bit of cream on the GROOM'S nose is fine. But don't put extra cake on the bride as she has makeup and may not want to have a shiny nose after the cake cutting sessions. If you do it the traditional way, you would just use your hands to pick up and feed the cake. If cleaner more civil cake eating is more your style, just make sure the venue, coordinator, etc... has a clean plate and a fork laid out along with the cake knife (and sometimes server) by the cake prior to the beginning of the reception. Also, plan for a couple dry and even wet napkin so you can tidy up any mishaps and sticky hands.

Lastly, DON'T have the cake cutting at the end of your program because you need to give the banquet staff time to take the cake away to cut and plate the pieces to serve your guests. You don't want people to stand up and leave while the cake is on the way. If you don't plan on serving/eating the cake then no need to worry. I think cutting the cake before the slideshow is great as it takes about 10 minutes for the slideshow and once the lights come on, the cake is ready to be served with coffee and tea!

See how much planning needs to go into cake cutting. Turned out to be a long tip but I always like explaining the "why" behind things. I assist my clients with advice and want to continue with providing some tips on my site/blog so stay tuned for more. Next time though I have to figure a way to make it a quick tip!!!

Mahalo and stay tuned for more!

-terri

...ain't nobody perfect...

Aloha everyone,

I'm all excited that the holiday's are coming and the year is coming to an end. The "happy" season is amongst us starting with Halloween and ending with New Years. In our family, the majority of birthdays fall between the two so things are quite festive and busy. With the happy, fun, Holiday Season comes the most stressful time of the year for most people too! How sad that something so great coincides with something so sad.

I say be happy and stay happy and sing lots of Christmas Carols and think of yummy treats and the extra days off. What's overwhelming is thinking of the millions of things you "have to do". I try to do all the "must or else" tasks and get them over with as soon as I can and then the other things can be a wish list and some to be delegated or done in groups with frinds/family and if you get done with all of these, then it's just gravy.

The Holiday Season is a time of joy and sharing and caring so why do we all try to do it ALONE. I can't remember the last time my friends called me and said "I need you to help me...like right now" I've been guilty of that in the past too as I like to think I can do everything by myself and that I don't want to bother anyone. I have three kids and I'm not a perfect mom, small things go to the wayside and I forget things sometimes... but all in all, I'm a happy mom and the best mom in the world to them. I don't really worry about measuring up to what being PERFECT means. That's one less thing to STRESS about.

Weddings are the same way, PERFECTION is highly overrated. If perfect means having EVERYTHING no matter if you have to lie to your fiancee, parents, and yourself to get ALL the bells and whisles you didn't budget for and cannot afford, then it "ain't perfect", right? Just stressing about how you're going to break it to your partner and how you're going to pay for it is just the worst thing you can have looming over your head over such a joyous occassion!

If I had to define a PERFECT wedding I would say it entails these 5 things:

1. A Happy Couple- makes everyone happy
2. Good Eats and Drinks
3. Good Company
4. Smiles Galore
5. A Stress-Free Couple who hires a day-of on-site wedding coordinator

Having a wedding coordinator on-site will help take a load off your stress level as the coordinators have ways to put out the fires without anyone knowing about it. Even if you chose to plan your wedding without a planner always hire a day-of coordinator so you don't have to walk around with your binder full of contracts, checks for payments, marriage license, cell phone by your side on your wedding day. You should truly ENJOY the day, the moment, the occassion and your fiancee to make it an unfogettable event you can label "YOUR PERFECT Day".

~terri

Fantabulous Wedding Videos

Aloha all,

Hope all of you had a great weekend! It rained pretty much all week and as weather.com forecasted, Saturday was a beautiful sunny day but it sure was H.O.T.!!! But it beats rain anyday! We coordinated a wedding for a fun couple at the Halekulani Hotel on Saturday and went through the rehearsal in the rain on Friday afternoon. We had 5 bridesmaids and 5 groomsmen and they were ALL there ready to go on time. I was impressed and so were the officiate and the catering manager. Most times we have to wait for the bridal party, parents, or the couple themselves but this time; NOT! The day of the wedding went just as great. Awesome guest of over 90 who flew in mainly from San Diego. I will truly miss my "meetings" on the phone with the bride. Janet and Mel are one of my all time favorites. Easiest of couples to work with and nice, nice, nice. They promise to "hook me up BIGTIME" when I get over to San Diego! Yeah baby!!! I will post some pictures as soon as I get some from my friend Frank (Amodo Photo). Did I mention that I worked with Frank the last three weekends!!! My clients just love him and I think he's awesome too. Check him out on his site at www.amodophoto.com.

Today, I really wanted to also give you the scoops on the Video trends! We had James Chun and his crew from Crane Media shoot Janet & Mel's wedding. They upgraded the 2 camera for ceremony/1 camera for reception we signed on for to a whopping 4 camera ceremony and reception coverage in the new HD cameras. They have this fancy pole on the cameras which allows them to do quick 360 degree turns. James is always in the know and always looking to do more and more and was speaking of going to a convention in the near future to learn to do more "off the charts" videos for his brides and grooms! Check him out on his site at www.cranemedia.com.

Be back with more soon!

See ya.
-terri

Go girl ! ! !

Hey again,

I actually made the time to be here today to blog! 2 days in a row! Go girl!!!

Yup, Call me crazy but I literally praise myself for things all the time. I am my own boss so no one else is going to, right! Don't you think we would all be a happier if our bosses actually encouraged good work instead of expecting it and if they showed appreciation for a job well done instead of always nitpicking and making sure you don't forget all your shortcomings. I do have to say that I had a boss who showed her appreciation frequently and I did win a few of those "employee of the month/quarter" awards yet these awards were nothing compared to the personal thanks and recognition by my boss. My bosses at home are my kiddies and they thank me for being a "cool" mom. (probably because I always thank them for being my "cool" babies)

Employee recognition & appreciation is important but showing appreciation is truly more important in relationships. We all hear about how we are to encourage children and voice our appreciation and praise them to help raise happy stable children. For brides and grooms getting married and ones who are married: take the time to always acknowledge your partner on a regular basis to have a happy and stable relationship. Be thankful and say thank you and tell them that you appreciate what they do even though they are "just" taking out the trash, going into work, washing clothes, taking the dog out on a walk, grocery shopping, etc... these are not tasks that should just be expected and then nothing... even though these tasks are a responsibility that the person took on, you should thank them whenever possible.

I admit that I forget to do this with my husband, parents and sister sometimes... I am making a conscious effort now. I'm surprised how much others just don't expect to be thanked but at the same time seem thankful that the little things are being noticed and appreciated. Most times, your parter will seem happier and feel more connected and do even more for your approval and you're happier just by being generous with your "thank yous"! What do you have to lose. Don't be shy with praising someone and thanking them, make it a part of your day and don't wait til Anniversaries, Valentines Day, Birthdays, Mother's Day and Father's Day! Wow, so serious today... sometimes I think I watch Dr. Phil too much but my philosophy is to teach/share my inspirations so here it is.
~terri

...don't call it a COMEBACK...

Hey ya'll,

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack. Been out for a while due to my maternity leave. It's been 8 months since baby and about 10 months since I started hibernating. Came out of hiding to start assisting in a few weddings in April and started planning and coordinating as the main planner ever since mid-June. I am once again on top of things and love it even though it's taking a lot of my time. Full of fresh new ideas and want to see it happen so busy, busy, busy...

I understand the economy is tough right now; real tough for some of us in the tourism industry and luxury industry and that's a huge percentage of folks here in Hawaii. I started to worry for a day or two and then my thoughts took me to another place...it actually made me want to help; help more people than I can possibly meet! So, I'm working on making this a reality in the wedding industry and then some. EXCITING!!!

This month, we had two different weddings in the same hotel in the same room and have one more coming up this weekend in the same venue! Though it's the same room, it turns out looking different and feeling different with each couple's concept of their perfect wedding. I love that. Taking a space and making it yours. Lots and lots of colors, candles, flowers, and other accessories to personlize the look. This is my favorite part of weddings. The design/the look/the wow factor. We have more and more candleholders, chargers, and even furniture ( 2 loveseats and soon to get 2 matching sofas ) that we rent out now.

We are going to incorporate many of our client's wedding here on the blog so we can share and inspire more people and to say "Mahalo" to my wonderful non-bridezilla couples. Our clients are all so cool and fun, I am lucky.

Thank you all for your support while I was hibernating and for your well wishes on my beautiful expanding family!

~terri