Wedding Expo recap...and some rambling

The Thing That I Forgot
Oops, I kinda missed the boat on this one. Emi Ink participated in the Hawaii World Class Wedding Expo this past weekend over at the Convention Center and I had wanted to do a quick post to invite everyone to visit our booth. Unfortunately, time got away from me (shocking, I know). Can we just pretend that the invitation got lost in the mail?

The Part Where I Ramble
I had fun chatting with brides (and grooms!) and I finally got to show off all the new stuff that's been keeping me busy these past few months. Luckily, I had Jessica (aka Super Intern) helping me out in the booth and coaching me through my first attempt to Facebook via my iPhone. Honestly, I don't think I could do much beyond blogging without this trusty 19-year-old secret weapon at my side. She's so patient with me and never makes fun of my silly questions even though we both know that I'm a bit hopeless. I mean it's a little embarrassing that I can never go directly to my business page without first doing an actual search for my business name...I go to the search box, start typing in "Emi" and then I have to ignore the first search result which is always "Eminem." This amuses me EVERY SINGLE TIME because I wonder if someone has ever searched for "Eminem" and then accidentally found my page instead? What a rude awakening that would be! Oh, and then there's the search result that pops up AFTER my business name...Emi Ink Tattoo. Wow. Again, the thought of someone searching for a company to ink their Celtic tribal full arm sleeve and arriving in a world of chartreuse and plum wedding stationery accented with Swarovski crystals just makes me chuckle. I'm easily amused.

I'd Like To Thank The Academy
A BIG mahalo goes out to Jessica (naturally), Les Saisons for dressing my tables in a gorgeous platinum linen, Menehune Mac for the perfect treats to fill my favor boxes, Menehune Mac (again) for including some of my stationery pieces in their beautiful new booth display, Bit of Sugar for the most adorable cupcakes to show off my cupcake sleeves and mini cupcake boxes, Sonya (she's kind of a rock star and just goes by one name in my book) for being my go-to-gal for a lot of my production needs, and a special thank you to my set-up crew (aka my parents). I think it's safe to say that I have the most "senior" set-up crew in the wedding industry but don't let their retiree status fool you...they hustle, take direction very well, and their seasoned craft fair know-how is a big help to me during my early morning set-up. And plus, they work for free.

Ok, the real wedding expo recap is coming later this week complete with pictures!

Love is in the air

So happy to feature Jessica (Emi Ink's fabulous intern) as a guest blogger today! If you stopped by my booth at the Hawaii Convention Center wedding expo in April, you may have spotted my beautiful new logo board. This is how it came to be...take it away, Jessica!

Ever since I've started working for Stacey at Emi Ink, my love has grown -- my love for paper, that is. I have been interning at Emi Ink for a little over seven months, and I am loving every second of it! Paper to me is what a football is to a quarterback, a pair of scissors is to a hairstylist, or a ladle to a chef. With that said, whatever paper-related task I receive, a warm and fuzzy feeling comes over me and a smile automatically switches on.

One of the projects Stacey had me do was her dream sign for her booth to display at the wedding expos. This task included cutting out Emi Ink's signature-styled cherry blossom flowers, sticking the flowers on letter blocks one by one, and a lot of patience. I was eager to start, but excitement was soon replaced by frustration as I put the cherry blossoms on the wrong side of the letter blocks twice! I have to admit that the fuzzy feeling dissipated. I'm glad it returned after the 2,000 metallic paper flowers, accented with crystal rhinestones, were glued onto the letters and the letters were positioned neatly on a canvas. When I first saw the completed sign displayed at the April wedding expo, I'm pretty sure my smile was as bright as the rhinestones that were studded in the middle of the cherry blossoms!

This marked the completion of my first big task for Emi Ink, and also the end of another successful wedding expo. To say the least, I am looking forward to many more to come!

Sink or swim? She swam!

Meet Jessica. I call her the "chosen one."

For the record, she chose me...and I'm so thankful that she did! At the time that her short and sweet email inquiry appeared in my inbox, I wasn't sure if I was ready to bring on an intern. I played out different scenarios in my head, weighed the pros and cons, and ultimately went with my what-the-heck gut feeling.

If you visited my booth at the Hawaii Bridal Expo, you may have met Jessica. It was her first show and after arming her with a short list of FAQs to study a few weeks earlier, I threw her into the bride-infested waters of a busy show (much busier than I had anticipated!). It was sink or swim time and Jess freestyled her way through three days of wedding mania with absolute style and grace.

I don't underestimate my good fortune in having an intern whose passion for paper may very well surpass my own. Her crafty talents also crossover into the jewelry world and she's working towards the launch of her own web site while juggling a full class schedule.

But, the one person who may appreciate Jess even more than me? My husband. With Jess assisting me at the expo my husband had the house to himself most of the weekend to do manly man things. For the first time in five years, he didn't need to be my wingman and he l-o-v-e-d it. Needless to say, Jess is a popular person in my house and a wonderful addition to Emi Ink!