Musical chairs

I've often wondered how long it takes for my clients to figure out their seating arrangements when they have two, three, four hundred guests! Do they tackle this in one evening or set aside an entire weekend? Do they recruit parents or other family members to help out? Do they face this dreaded task sober? If not, what is their drink of choice?

Now that our invitations are out I know that one day soon we'll need to work on our seating arrangements. Our reception will be a somewhat intimate affair so I'm not too worried about slaving over this task for hours on end. However, I was curious to see if there was any type of software out there to give brides and grooms a helping hand...lo and behold, there is.

If you need a little departure from your handy dandy wedding spreadsheet, you can invest $34.95 in the PerfectTablePlan. You can import your existing guests lists into the program, and simply drag and drop your beloved family and friends right onto their seats. Family politics giving you headaches? No problem, just identify which guests should be seated together (or apart) and you can actually have the software figure out the seating for you.

Here's another neat idea. Write all your guests' names on scraps of paper, throw the whole bunch in the air, and then let the chips...er...guests fall where they may.

Musubi 2.0

When your meal begins with an amuse bouche, you know you're in a nice restaurant. When you look at your menu and see a musubi priced at $19, you know you're in a really nice restaurant.

On Saturday night, I had the pleasure of dining at Hoku's restaurant at the Kahala Hotel. The meal was wonderful, the service impeccable, and the views picture-perfect. My fiance is starting a new job this week and it was the perfect excuse to splurge on a celebration dinner.

The food was definitely tasty, but I must admit that the item that impressed me really was the musubi (yes, I ordered it!). It definitely wasn't the kind that mom used to make with the umeboshi in the middle. They mixed in ahi poke with the rice, covered it with furikake, fried the outside and served it on a bed of ogo. Yum!

Spam musubis will always have a special place in my heart, but if there were an ultimate musubi fighting championship, the ahi musubi would be the clear cut winner!

Stamps of approval

You know how women's hemlines go up and down over time? Postal rates are just like that...except they never go down. Almost never. I groaned when I read that postal rates were increasing for the second time in 18 months. I was so happy to use up the last of my 2-cent stamps and now I'll have to stock up again. It's just sad.

Since the invitation biz relies so heavily on the USPS, I thought it was my responsibility to warn you about the rate hike if you haven't heard the news yet:

EFFECTIVE: May 14, 2007

If you're sending save-the-date postcards or inserting response postcards in your invitations:
The postcard rate is increasing from 24 cents to 26 cents.

If you're sending an invitation that weighs 1-ounce or less:
The first-class letter rate is increasing from 39 cents to 41 cents. There are a lot of cute love-themed stamps available right now (see picture above), but you'll have to add on a 2-cent stamp.

If you're sending an invitation that weighs over 1-ounce:
The cost of additional ounces for first-class mail is decreasing from 24 cents to 17 cents. So an elaborate 2-ounce invitation with all the weighty insert cards will now cost only 58 cents instead of 63 cents.

The "Forever" stamp:
In April, the USPS will be releasing their "Forever" stamp. You'll be able to purchase these special stamps at the current value of a 1-ounce stamp (upon its first release, it will be sold at 41 cents a piece) and you can use the stamps f-o-r-e-v-e-r regardless of future rate hikes.

Air time

Have you tried the Cole Hahn Nike Air shoes yet? Neither have I. But I'm dying to. Imagine the comfort of Nike Air technology (think heaven in the form of cushiony pillows) plus the sexiness of a 4" high heel (think va-va-va-voom). It's a hard concept to grasp, but the thought that keeps popping up in my head is, "It's about time!"

Like a lot of women, my closet is full of shoes that are out to get me. They look pretty and seem harmless enough in the shoe store, but when I treat them to a night out on the town, they turn on me, usually within the first hour. I honestly don't know what possesses them to treat me like that...I take good care of them, I don't get them wet, or feed them after midnight. I swear on my checkbook that I take no responsibility in knowingly purchasing uncomfortable, unwearable, unbearable shoes. It's the shoe's fault, I'm completely innocent.

Well, it'll all be water under the bridge when I finally strap on my pair of Cole Hahns. Wow, comfortable heels. What'll they think of next?

True colors

I read in ModernBride that "gray is the new brown and vibrant plum is the new hot pink." What do you think?

What the font

If a picture paints a thousand words, then a font paints a thousand and one. Or, that's what I believe anyway. Every time I meet with a client, I explain my whole invitation design process and walk through the various steps of choosing the right paper, the right ribbons, the right shade and size of Swarovski crystals. Normally the last question that I spring on the bride and groom is, "Which font(s) do you want to use?" It's always difficult to select from a list of font samples, so I always encourage them to choose a few different ones to compare against each other once everything is typeset for the invitation proof.

For my own invitation, I tried out at least 4 different font combinations before settling on the perfect ones. If you haven't yet given your invitation fonts even a moment's thought, hopefully this quick list will make it easier on you:

1) Uniform or combination?
Do you want to use one uniform font for the entire invitation, or have a combination of fonts? Using one consistent font is great for a clean, simple look. On the other hand, selecting a different font for the couple's names will make the names STAND OUT and DISTINGUISH THEM from the rest of your words. If you're going down the combo route, I would suggest using a clean block print in conjunction with a fancier script style for your names and various headings on insert cards.

2) Formal or informal?
Your invitation gives your guests a hint of what's to come at your actual wedding and reception. Choosing a font that's footloose and fancy free may send the message that your celebration will be fun and casual. Choosing a font that's elegant and tasteful implies a more sophisticated affair.

3) Legible?
You may fall in love with a gorgeous font with lots of fancy flourishes, but it would be a shame if none of your guests could read it. You know letter for letter what your invitation is supposed to say, but your guests won't. Don't make them break out their magnifying glasses or secret decoder rings just to read your invitation.

Have a font-astic time selecting your fonts!

Busy fingers

As a young girl, I remember watching my mom and her sisters folding cranes (or tsuru) for my cousin's wedding. I stared at their fingers with fascination as they turned simple gold paper squares into tiny works of art. Once the 1001 cranes were completed, they were strung together and hung from a beautiful tree to be displayed at my cousin's reception. That was over twenty-five years ago and although the tradition is still very much alive in Hawai'i, the rules of the game have changed.

Now, there are companies that will take your precious folded cranes and mount them in a beautiful frame so they can live forever on the wall of your choosing. One local company that I personally love is It's About Time. They have lots of designs to choose from, ranging from cherry blossoms to koi to bamboo, and can also insert your names and wedding date to give it the ultimate personal touch.

I thought about folding cranes in the months leading up to our wedding, but after spending a little too long creating a lopsided crane with a bad limp (I'm assuming he'd have a bad limp given the oversized wings I had given him), I quickly decided to nix the idea...until I came across these inspiring photos.


Yes, they're deep-fried cranes made from wonton paper! Have you ever seen anything so fun? Maybe you have and just kept it to yourself...shame on you. I doubt that I'd make more than a handful of these cranes, let alone allow anyone to actually EAT them, but you know I have to at least try!

Sawing the log

Imagine a beautiful bride in a Cinderella-esque wedding gown. The crinoline beneath her dress is so full that she appears to be gliding, no, floating down the aisle. The groom is decked out in a crisp, tailored suit and fills the role of Prince Charming to a "T". The ceremony begins and is filled with personal touches to reflect their love for each other (they choose to sing their vows to each other) and honor the bride's German heritage (they perform a double-ring exchange so that they will have a set of rings to wear on both their left and right hands). After the ceremony is sealed with a sweet kiss, the groom takes the bride's hand and leads her down the aisle and out of the church. It is at this special place, just steps away from the chapel doors, that the groom hands his beautiful bride the giant 4-foot saw that will be needed to cut through the wooden log that lays before them. Wait...what?

I got a firsthand lesson in German wedding traditions on Saturday and was able to witness the symbolic "sawing of the log." This is traditionally the first task that the bride and groom must accomplish together as a married couple and is supposed to be an indicator of how well they will face challenges in their future. As a first-time log-sawing viewer, I thoroughly enjoyed watching our friends dressed to the nines and sawing away at the log. I don't think they broke any speed records, but they managed to get the job done in style.