I've been toying with the idea of getting into the wedding planning business ever since my wedding ended.  Guess I didn't have enough!  I started off by talking to friends and with the encouragement and positive feedback, I really was thinking this could be in my future.  My friend Tara officially hired me as her wedding planner, which was excitng a well.  Next, I contacted my old wedding planner and after a while, she finally got back to me.  I started working pro bono for her, mainly doing research- on vendors, locations, things like that... the other day she sent me an example of what to do on the wedding planning perspective, and questions to ask a possible venue.  I sent it out immediately and am just waiting on a response!  I'm extremely excited to get the ball rolling.  She told me yesterday that she would for sure like to have my help on a wedding this coming May at the Ritz in LA.  Yay!  Nothing can help me more than experience right now.  I need to also try and get that experience in asap before all my friends start getting married!!! :)  mission right now is to find a company name... my email i made is [email protected], but as david said, that's pretty boring... anyone have any suggestions???

Well, sadly, I was not very good about keeping up with my blog when things got hectic... my apologies for that & it is sad, not to have all that time recorded...but it was very busy so I will just have to do my best of recapping what I can now.
We left for Hawaii on Nov.13th and got in around noon and headed straight to an alterations person.  Dad met us there and dropped off my dress so I could try it on and have it fitted properly!  I actually lost a little weight so had to have it taken in (which by the time of the wedding I had been there for a week and eaten my way through Oahu so it barely fit haha).  Then mom dropped us off at Kahala and we met with our bartenders at Starbucks.  Had a great meeting with them and then met with Melissa, our day-of coordinator.  I made a huge binder with everything possible down to the detailed instructions on how each place setting should look and contact info for everyone in there.  Next, we went to Foodland to put in an order for poke and edamame for our cocktail food.  After that, we went out to dinner with mom, dad, tutu, Jennifer, Joe, Julien and Jaren at Pho Bistro.  Yummmm...
Sunday was another busy day.  I went to get my eyebrows done with Alison and then headed over to Sand Souci for our family get together picnic which was a lot of fun because the Chun's and Greenwalds were there and all our family in Hawaii who barely gets to see them got to spend time with them and the babies! Later that night we had leftovers at Tutu's.  Jennifer, Joe, mom, dad and tutu all helped us put together the favors and we were able to bust them all out in one night! 
Monday was dad's birthday.  We went straight to the Dept. Of Health to apply for our marriage license.  We grabbed some genki,  then we went home to video our "wedding story" slideshow with Jay.  We also had to check in and get the keys to the house we were renting with our friends.  Luckily it was literally like 2 minutes away from my parents house on Kalanianaole so it was really convenient.  The boys got in that afternoon and after we were done filming, we headed over to Aku Bone for dad's birthday party.  They are usually closed on Monday's but his friend Kim is the owner so he was nice enough to open up so he could have a little birthday party.  After the birthday party I went to D&B's with the boys.  We played some games and had some more drinks then headed home. 
Tuesday I had a hair appointment.  After that we went to pick up the 500 apples we had ordered for the wedding and mom dropped half of them off at the Yabiku's for us.  We picked up Sam from the airport and headed to the beach.  I also picked up my wedding dress earlier that morning.  That night Sam, Sean and I were working on putting the personalized lables on the water bottles and the boys were nice enough to chip in and help us!  I was really impressed.  They did take a detour and ended up going for a little midnight swim (but the flotation sunk and they all came back soaked it was funny), but I was very grateful for their help!
Wednesday was spent runningn around doing errands, and then it was time for our trip to the North Shore.  We stopped off at Dole and got a Dole Float, went to see the turtles, got shrimp at Giovanni's YUMMM, then headed to the beach house.  The boys grilled the food for us which was yummy and Becky and Sam helped tie the ribbon on the bubbles and then we spent the night at the beach house.  The next morning we had breakfast, and one car went to pick up Jenna and Kron and the rest of us went to pick up the utencils and napkins so we could wrap them with tutu's bows.  We stopped at Waiola's before we got to work though.  Bergey and Jenna both helped with the napkins and utencils when Sam, Becky and I were doing it, so that was really sweet.  I was getting a little stressed because time was ticking and I found out later that when I left to get my nails done, that the girls finished them for me... SOOO SWEET and so appreciated!  I went to Don Quiote and got my first set of gel nails.  It was perfect for the wedding.  Sam and Sean went over to my parents house early to help set up.  Mom prepared a feast for all of our out of town guests- it was delicious.  Everyone came over and we had a good time.  I was a little preoccupied trying to sort out what we would bring to the rehearsal to give to the coordinator and was flustered a bit, so we didn't go out that night, but we stayed back and finished the program fans and water bottles, etc. 
Friday morning arrived.  I went with the girls to Smiley's to get their nails and my pedicure done.  We then went to have an Acai bowl before we headed out to Ko Olina.  We had the rehearsal which was great, then headed back into town.  Got ready for the rehearsal dinner at Waialae Country Club.  It was so much fun!  Not that I've been to many, but it was the most fun one I've been to.  We had cocktails and the sunset was beautiful outside... just mingled and had a good time, then we went inside for the dinner buffet.  I won $20 each from Hector and Roenicke for finishing everything on my plate.  How dare they doubt me!  Then we watched the slideshow that Sean's mom made which was really nice, and there were a bunch of speeches which were awesome.  We then have Levi come teach us to dance which was a lot of fun!  Marilyin (sean's mom) is quite the dancer!  I know where Sean gets it from now!  After that, some of the young folk went out.  We went to Restaurant Row to Banzai and then to Oceans 808.  It was a fun night!!!
Saturday we packed up and checked out of our house we were renting and headed over to Ko Olina.  Sean had realized he couldn't find his slippers for the wedding, and I was so stressed out I almost lost it... which I realized I had a pretty dramatic night out in the North Shore.  I think everything just caught up with me and I started bawling!  A bit embarassing, but I just needed to get it all out.  Anyway, I called Scott's Hawaii and they had the slippers but they weren't open!  I asked if they could jus leave it outside whcih they were hesitatnt about but I told them I was friends with Kaione so they hid them under a truck... and Shelley, the amazing, awesome friend that she is, found out and didn't want me to stress about it, so she and Shelby picked them up for me on their way out to Ko Olina.  THANK YOU!!!  Since we were running late, Taryn also went to pick up the mochi for us too.  Such a big help.  So finally we made it out to Ko Olina.  Scott and I checked into two villas to get the Kamaaina discount for the boys and then we went to the beach-- the boys had their matching shorts on and the girls had their matching swim suits on.  It was a great day, I wish we could have enjoyed it more, but we were busy!  So then us girls went to check in at the Ihilani and get ready for the luau.  As we got there, I realized that I forgot a box of things at my parents house and freaked out.  I started crying and my dad drove all the way home to get it and missed half of the luau.  I felt so bad!  But thank you daddy... you are the BEST.  It was an early night for the girls.  We went back, hung out and then everyone went to get their beauty rest.  I was up til 1 am trying to finish our slideshow to have streaming throughout the night, which was kind of a waste, but oh well... The boys on the other hand had quite a night getting "brotarded" but I've only heard tid bits of what it was all about and I think I will keep it that way. 
Sunday was the wedding!!!!  It was amazing.  BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.  I was calmer than I thought I'd be, I think I was just so relieved it had finally arrived after a very busy and stressful last week.  But it was all worth it.  Everything- the stress, the money, everything was worth it.  It was such an amazing day.  The weather turned out good for us- THANK GOD!  And it was just amazing.  Seeing everything come to life that I had imagined in my head but really didn't know what it would look like was so amazing, I can't even put it into words.  So many people told us it was the best wedding they had ever been to, and that made me so happy!!!

I will post pictures here soon... but in the meantime, just wanted to log some of this down before I forgot about it all.  It really was such a fairytale :)

I was so impressed/ surprised by Sean!  He brought me home these beautiful pink gerber daisies in honor of our one month anniversary of being married :) What a great hubby!

When you put it like that... 24 days... holy moley!  Luckily, I feel OK... not too overburdened at the moment... a LOT of stuff still to do, but not going super crazy.  My issue with the band is a little better, I finally finally finally finished our seating charts... PHEWWW! 
Yesterday, Aya and I finalized the program fans so they should be ready to send to the printers.  I also gave her the table charts for who's sitting where so we are ready for the escort cards (baseball tickets!) to be printed out too. 
Mom should be putting in the order for 200 big and 215 small apples also.... so that's taken care of.  I also finally finished with the girls jellies!  Holy crap that was a tedious job that was very unexpected... but they are done!  yay!  I need to remember to pack extra glue and rhinestones in case anyone's comes off...in fact I should add that to my list right now.
The girls decided to wear either pearl or diamond studs, which I think will look perfect, and low side buns to the side and a flower in it...or no flower, haven't confirmed that part yet!  I went kinda overboard on the bridesmaids gifts, but they girls have been very helpful to me and I am so grateful, and all the matching things are just tooo fun.  I even got matching boardshorts for all the guys- they are really fun! 
What's not fun is the cost of everything... helloooo all the savings we've struggled with all year, goodbyyyeee money we used to have!!  Hopefully it will all be worth it though! :)

Now back to work!

I swear the things I never thought would be a problem or such an issue are amazing!  So I decided that I wanted sparklers for our "exit" at the end of the night-- the pictures are just awesome... and I talked with my coordinator about them and everything... only to find out that NO one will ship them to Hawaii! :(  I did all my research, finding the best prices online, even found one that I checked out with my credit card, shipping to Hawaii was a decent price, got my confirmation, only to get a call with a mean man saying "we can't ship those on a plane, no one can!"  Well sooooorrry!  How was I supposed to know.  Called USPS too, can't even ship it on a boat!  Sigh....

P.S. TOday marks the one month countdown!!!  Soooo crazy!!!!

So yesterday I started writing and was realllllly stressed out so the entry I had written was moreso to vent than to post... I don't think it would have been appropriate!!  Hahaha... no, really.  So anyway, a few things got switched around or added, so that threw off a few things.  I was working on the seating chart for no joke, about 5 hours yesterday.  I've heard stories about how hard it can be, but didn't really think it would be so bad... boy, was I wrong!  Once you move one person, it throws everything off on that table and then the table you move it to, plus balancing people that know each other vs. people that could get along, plus certain people can't sit with certian people, it's a toughie!  I mix and matched and finally thought I had it, but then realized my cousin Jason was the only person under the age of like 50 on his table...that's not too fun... so then I had to move everything else around which affected like 10 tables, gah!  Finally, I got something, but I must work on it and change it once again-- but at least it's for a good reason--

I was unable to hire Manoa DNA for the cocktail hour because we just didn't have the money as we are already over our budget-- yesterday they emailed me and were inquiring if I still wanted them to play.  I felt so bad, but I had to tell them no... they wrote back and said entire DNA clan was willing to try and help me out because they wanted to make it happen.  Nick and I are pre-school buddies so our parents and families have been friends a long time.  With their generosity along with my awesome dad who offered to chip in and help me have my dream wedding, we now get to have them play!  So although it's going to be a pain to reconfigure the seating chart, I think it's worth it.

I wont' go into detail about the other reason I had to move things around, but let me just say this-- to anyone who gets invited to a wedding-- be courteous of the extreme planning that goes into a wedding and the bride and groom-- send in your reply card on time, be respectful of how many guests (if any) they are allowing you to bring and try to be understanding!!!  I wont' go into detail...but can't stress the importance of this!  It's amazing sometimes- the things that can happen!

And boys are the worst, let me just say--- maybe they don't get it until they get married, maybe it's something in their genetic make-up, IDK!  All I'm gonna say right now is thank goodness some of them have girlfriends... I got more accomplished with the girlfirneds in 2 hours last night than I have with them in the last 7 months- NOT exaggerating!

A big congrats shout out goes to my good friend Jennifer Inouye and her fiance Mike Bruggeman! Sooooo happy for those two!  It's about time! ;-)

And now for my shower pics!

Extremely excited about my "Mrs. Smith" attire that Samantha made me!!!!  Thank you so much to everyone for the great gifts from our registry and the generous monetary gifts for my "shoe fund" hehe... too fun!!!  I was also pretty excited that I could save the super cute poster Aunty Ruby made and use it for my shoe closet =p

I felt it only appropriate that I post my Hawaii shower pictures before I start writing about my California one... It was yesterday and it was SO much fun... the theme was "shoes" hehe...

The decorations were adorable... christian loubiton, prada, manolo blahnik & jimmy choo shoe boxes everywhere with pink, black and white ribbons everywhere... there were also black and pink heels all over for decorations as well as pink roses wrapped with black and white polka dotted ribbons on all the tables... Aunty Bet had a pink "shoe" cake made and shoe cookies were given out as favors.  You can imagine my delight!!! 
All the girls were asked to wear their favorite, fun shoe and one of the games was to stick out your foot and the judges (Aunty Ruby, Denise, Bet) walked around rating everyone's shoes... they had prizes for smallest shoe, most diva shoe, highest heel and most colorful! 
Another game was trivia-- questions such as what do the 4 C's stand for, what is the most popular month for weddings, proposals, what is the average price of an engagement ring, etc. 
Then another game was played, and it was "How Well Do You Know The Bride?" I was very happy that 2 of my bridesmaids won that one-- Casie and Samantha.  I think the funniest part is that when everyone was filling out their answers, Aunty Denise was asking me questions out loud.  They were questions about the Groom and how well I knew him.  Some of them were a little puzzling, but I have to say, I was pretty happy because I think I got all but one right!!!  Some were really easy- favorite color: blue, favorite thing to do: halo, favorite food: sushi....etc.  Some of the trickier ones were- who would Sean be if he could be anyone? I answered Kobe, and was right!  Another one was if he could go anywhere where would he go? I said somewhere tropical, his answer was Bahamas. Also what is his most embarassing moment?  I said- Sean actually doesn't really ever get embarassed.  And she said yes!  He said he didn't have one.  Aunty Denise also asked him what his favorite thing about this wedding process was and he said: spending time together.  Everyone was like "awwww", but Jenny and I were like "what a suck up!!!"  I think I turned bright red and almost cried when she said "your favorite thing about Lauren" and he said: putting herself 2nd.  I know a lot of Sean is sarcastic and jokes, but to hear a sincere answer that couldn't really be a joke, was like wow!  It really caught me off guard!  Another funny thing is that she said if he could have any car he wanted, and it's so weird because I literally just asked him this question out of the blue when we were driving around the other day... of course, you know me and cars, I was like shoot, I think it was a lambourghini and she was like no, porsche-- they all sound the same to me!  Whoops! 

I feel very, very blessed and loved.  Both my showers were amazing and it was really obvious how much work and preparation went into planning them.  I know I am biased, but they were the best showers I've ever been to!  I feel so lucky to have such great friends and family... and to be marrying into such an amazing family as well. 

Thank you Aunty Denise, Ruby and Bet & Samantha for hosting my shower-- and thank you so much to all my friends and family who were able to come out and celebrate :)  Love you all!  Pictures to come!

Such a fun and special day... spent with my friends, family and loved ones.  We played games, had good food, the cake was delicious, Aunty Darene brought mochi from Fukuya... opening presents (slightly embarassing haha) and getting all dressed up-- I'll never forget this day!

Here are a few pictures from later that night... Krazy Karaoke then Paparazzi and Ka for Bachelorette's night out!  Thanks again Shell for arranging all of that!