New Events by Evonne Blog

YAY! I am very excited to announce the brand new home of Events by Evonne Blog - "AWAY SOIREE"! As our company grows and the direction that it's heading, it is time for our blog to finally has its own identity. Please be sure to update your blog readers to the following address:

http://awaysoiree.com

This blog will still be here for those who want to check out the older posts, but it will no longer be updated and will remain as an archive as of today. I am glad that my blog content will no longer belong to Google now! :) Again, please don't forget to update your blog readers to "Away Soiree". See you all there!

EBE Loves SMP and WSJ too!

The acronyms are too confusing for you? 2 days ago, I came across a little article in The Wall Street Journal about blogs in general, and they mentioned one of my favorite wedding blogs - Style Me Pretty.

Yesterday, I had to email Abby (founder of SMP) to let her know that she received the "Blog Luv Award", so I briefly mentioned to her about the article as well. Little did I know that she was going to blog about it today on her lovely blog. Click HERE to see her post!

Thanks for the credit, Abby! Actually, that credit should go to my wonderful hubby, Darren, 'cuz he was the one who said: "Look, honey... Style Me Pretty is in the Journal today"! Needless to say, I am very impressed that he knows about SMP! :)

Blog Luv Award

Thank you to Charlotte at Delovely Designs for nominating Events by Evonne for the Blog Luv Award. It means so much to me to be recognized by fellow professionals in the wedding industry. Mahalo for the support!

This is how the award works:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link of this post to the person from whom you received the award.

It's so difficult to narrow down to just 10 as there are so many other blogs that I absolutely love, but here is my blog list (in alphabetical order):

Chewing the Cud
Critsey Rowe Photography
DK Designs
Melissa's Smitten
Project Wedding
Savadelis Films
Southern Weddings Magazine
Style Me Pretty
The Bride's Cafe
The Flirty Guide

One of my weddings is featured in Project Wedding!

I am very excited to see that Lena and Noel's October 12th wedding at the Sugarman Estate is featured on Project Wedding's Blog this week, as well as on their Real Weddings page.

Thank you, Margaret, for such a lovely post!

Photo Credit: Amity Mason

2009 WeddingWire Bride's Choice Award

Events by Evonne is extremely honored to receive the 2009 WeddingWire Bride's Choice Award for "Wedding Planning" in the Hawaii region!

The Bride's Choice Awards recognizes vendors in the top 3% of the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride's Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through surveys and reviews. The winning vendors have set the bar high for this competition, demonstrating excellent service and expertise in their industry.

Mahalo to all who voted for me! Your support, as always, is greatly appreciated!

Featured Wedding - Jaime and Peter

I had a wonderful time planning the wedding with my Canadian couple, Jaime and Peter. They are such a fun and laid back couple. When Jaime told me that her New Year's Eve wedding was going to be all black and white, I got really excited because I have always wanted to do a black and white wedding on Mau`i.


FLORALS: Bella Bloom. LINENS & LIGHTING: Pacific Event Group. PHOTOS: Bill Stockwell. RENTALS: Pacific Isle Rentals.

Jaime's parents spend 6 months out of a year here on the island. There was no better place to have this lovely wedding than at the lawn and pool deck of their house in Wailea. They are such a wonderful family. Jaime wore a beautiful Vera Wang gown and Peter was in his stunning Georgio Armani suit. Everything was perfect from the flowers to the decor to even the weather. It was still pouring even the night before the wedding!

Congratulations, Jaime and Peter! All the best to both of you and hope to see you again here in Hawai`i or in Vancouver!

Welcome/Rehearsal Dinner @ Tommy Bahama Cafe

My hubby received a $50 gift card in the mail from Tommy Bahama a few months back, and the expiration date on the gift card was this past Saturday. So our plan was if he couldn't find anything he liked in the store, we would have lunch at the Cafe instead. We went to the one at Shops at Wailea. Now based on the pictures below, you know what we ended up using the gift card for! But the question of "Why would they send him a gift card?" remains a mystery.

His reasoning was because he spent quite a significant amount at their store at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto 3-1/2 years ago for all of his groomsmen gifts. But that was 3-1/2 years ago. Why would they wait so long to send him a "Thank You" gift card? Hmmm... Maybe it took them this long to track us down and finally realize that we have relocated to Mau`i? :) Who knows?!

Mango Iced Tea

Sour Dough Bread

SOUTH SEAS SCALLOP SLIDERS
Two sauteed jumbo sea scallops served between mini buns with Asian slaw,
roma tomatoes, fresh basil, chipotle aioli all topped with crispy "Tobacco" onions

ARUBA ARUGULA SALAD
Caribbean cracker-meal seared jumbo shrimp and scallops on a bed of fresh baby arugula,
tossed with tamarind vinaigrette. Garnished with sliced papaya and chopped peanuts

SABA STEAK SALAD

Marinated and char-grilled tenderloin medallions, served over a bed of fresh mixed greens,
tossed with tamarind vinaigrette. Garnished with grilled potatoes, vine-ripened roma tomatoes, shiitake chips and garlic aioli

Photo Credit: Events by Evonne

Anyhow, the food at their Cafe was excellent. The service was wonderful and it's at a great location. If you are thinking of having a welcome dinner or a rehearsal dinner on the south side of Mau`i, you should definitely consider the Tommy Bahama Cafe. Or even if you want to do just a bridal party luncheon, it will be a great spot for that as well.

P.S. These pictures were taken with my new Canon lens 50mm f/1.4 USM!

2009 Internship Opportunities

Recently, we have been approached by a few college students asking about internship opportunities at Events by Evonne. As our 2009 wedding season is fast approaching, it's time to start the search and the interviews.

If you are interested in wedding/event management and have what it takes to work in a fast paced, high pressure environment, please email your cover letter and resume by February 28th to evonne@eventsbyevonne.com. We do not accept any applications by phone. Please see details below:

We are looking for two to three qualified candidates to assist us throughout our 2009 season. I will begin interviewing those who qualify starting in March.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Maintain communication between team and vendors
• Assure effective coordination during the event
• Assist in set up, facilitate both ceremony and reception alongside a team member
  

EXPERIENCE & REQUIREMENTS

• College junior or senior in a related field preferred
• Strong organizational and leadership skills
• Excellent interpersonal communication and phone skills
• Must be a dependable proactive team player who is able to multi-task and think on their feet
• Must be detail oriented and work well under pressure
• Must be energetic, fun, with a positive attitude
  
• Previous event experience a plus
  

COMPENSATION, HOURS & LOCATION

• This is a part time, non-paid internship
• Hours will vary by event (mostly on the weekends and some weekdays/weeknights)
• Most events are on Mau`i where we are based, but we travel throughout the Hawaiian islands (any costs relating to travel to the neighbor islands if necessary will be covered)
  

Events by Evonne's New Assistant

After months of searching, I have finally found my new assistant and here he is, hard at work and reading all of my brides' emails!

Please join me in welcoming Sheldon to the team, and if you have any questions on your wedding, please feel free to email Sheldon and I... we will take very good care of you!

Photo Credit: Evonne's hubby!

Here is Sheldon after a VERY long day at work!

Rain and Wedding = a BIG no, no!

I am all geared up for the New Year's Eve "Black and White" wedding tomorrow, but the weather hasn't been cooperating in the past few weeks. For the 3-1/2 years that I have lived on Mau`i, I have never seen this much rain all within a month. I am hoping that the Rain Goddess will be kind to us tomorrow and decide to take a break for just one day. It will be an absolutely amazing wedding and I can't wait to see how everything comes together. It's going to be a lot of fun! Please... rain, rain, go away! :(

Photo Credit: Jessica Claire

Photo Credit: Blue Orchid Designs

Photo Credit: Estilo Weddings

My best Christmas gift(s)...

OK, besides the Canon EOS Rebel XSi Digital SLR camera that I got almost 2 weeks ago (and which I used to take this photo), the next best Christmas gift is probably the Spring/Summer 2009 issue of the Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazine!

Events by Evonne Hawaii Online Listing

I didn't expect to see the magazine in my mailbox as the Spring/Summer issue usually hits the newsstands the first week of January, but as a Platinum List® member we get our complimentary issues a week earlier! YAY! Needless to say, I am all curled up with a cup of hot chocolate (yes, it's a little nippy here on Mau`i) and the magazine in my hand, enjoying every page of pure fabulousness!

Please be sure to check out my listings on page 196 for Hawai`i and page 200 for Northern California! :) As always, thank you all for your support!

Cute ring bearer photos on Style Me Pretty

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Style Me Pretty, asking all of us Little Black Book members to submit photos of the cute little ring bearers from our weddings. I submitted the following and they posted them on their blog today! You can read the post HERE!

This first ring bearer photo was actually from my very own wedding at the Moana Surfrider on O`ahu on June 2, 2005. Our ring bearer, Langston, was my hubby's nephew. He was 4 at the time and he did so well walking down the aisle all by himself. As we were lining up, I remember him asking his mom why the flower girl was crying! Needless to say, the flower girl didn't walk down the aisle as planned (but she was totally fine during the rehearsal). That's how children are, they can be unpredictable and we just have to go with the flow! :)

Photo Credit: Sanford Barr

This 2nd ring bearer photo was from my September 13, 2008 wedding at the Haiku Mill. Evan was the nephew of my beautiful bride, Angela. His brother Caleb also walked down the aisle with him. I love this photo because as sharp as Evan looked in his tux, his little tie was all crooked and his shirt wasn't even tucked in anymore right after the ceremony! :p How cute was that?!

Photo Credit: Tad Craig

Featured Wedding - Eri and Aris

Eri and Aris are such a sweet couple. I met them the first time when I flew over to O`ahu for their scouting trip on Valentine's Day, and Eri's parents flew in from Japan as well. It was fun spending time with them, checking out different locations and meeting with vendors.

After the scouting trip, the rest of the planning was all done via email as Eri spent most of that time in Japan, but everything went very well on the day of, and it was exactly how they envisioned their wedding to be.


CATERING: D'lish Catering. FLORALS & LINENS: Yvonne Floral. PHOTOS: Visionari. RENTALS & LIGHTING: A'A Party Rentals.

Eri and Aris had their wedding at Lanikuhonoua, which is one of my favorite locations on O`ahu! Eri chose lime green, coral and yellow for their decor colors to complement all of her bridesmaid's dresses. The colors were just perfect, even for a November wedding. In fact, a lot of my 2009 brides have asked me about those colors for their wedding next year! It was such a gorgeous day with absolutely no wind and rain. - practically a planner's dream! We couldn't have asked for better weather, and Eri looked stunning in this wedding gown that she selected with her mom.

The highlight of this wedding was the entertainment toward the end of the reception with the hula dancers and the fire knife dancer. It was a surprise for the guests and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Congratulations, Eri and Aris! All the best to both of you and hope to see you again here in Hawai`i or back in Northern Cal!

One more wedding in 2008!

Just when I thought my wedding season has ended for 2008, I just took on another one today for New Year's Eve! Yes, 20 days from today! My good friend Debbie of Pacific Event Group mentioned to me that this bride really needed a coordinator to help her on the day of, and since we both work very well together at all of my events, she thought it would be great if I could take on this last minute wedding.

About 6 months ago, I stopped offering my day of wedding as well as partial planning and coordination services. I prefer to plan the entire wedding from start to finish. That way I know exactly and have more control as to what's going on throughout the planning process. It's always hard to jump in the last minute to try and figure out how the day is going to pan out. But the bride, Jaime, seems like a sweetheart and I just couldn't possibly say no when she said she'd love to have me there to help her.

Photo Credit: Jessica Claire

Photo Credit: Project Wedding

I am hoping to get more information from Jaime in the next few days, so that I can start compiling my 10-page+ detailed wedding day timeline and the complete vendors' list for her! According to Debbie and Nicole (the floral designer), the decor is going to be black and white. I have always wanted to do a black and white wedding, and I can't wait to see how this beautiful wedding turns out! :)

San Francisco Vendors/Bloggers GTG!

Even though I was only in San Francisco for 2-1/2 days, I had the privilege of meeting my fellow wedding colleagues and friends - Jewel Savadelis of Savadelis Films, Viola Sutanto of Chewing the Cud Weddings and Stacie Tamaki of The Flirty Guide. We had such a wonderful time at Hotel Sofitel, catching up over a few drinks... If the bar wasn't closing, we probably could have talked all night!

One of the many reasons that I love what I do is because I am constantly surrounded by talented professionals in the wedding industry, and I am so blessed to be able to collaborate with them and call them as friends. These 3 ladies are truly inspirational, and I have to say that they are all on the top of their field. I know that we are going to be friends for a long, long time.

From left to right - Jewel, Viola, Evonne and Stacie!

Besides being talented, Jewel, Viola and Stacie are all super sweet too... they are like sisters I never had! Look at all the goodies I received from them:

A bottle of dessert wine (my favorite)

Stationery samples - did I mention they are letterpress? :)

Desk accessory/cake topper - in my company colors
(green and brown)!

Much mahalo, ladies! I can't wait to see you all again the next time I am in town - which is May 2009! It's going to be a blast I am sure, and hopefully it won't be as cold! Brrrrrr... :)

A new Weddingbee blog!

For those of you Weddingbee fans out there, it seems like you need to set aside even more time now to catch up on their 2nd blog which launched today - the Weddingbee PRO! It's a group blog updated everyday by top wedding vendors across the country. You will find tons of great ideas, inspirations, photos, videos from the pros on there.

I just sent in my application to be one of their bloggers. Hopefully Mrs. Bee will send me an invitation to join their wonderful team! If not, then this is still where I am going to be at! In fact, as Events by Evonne keeps growing, this blog will have a completely new name, new domain, new look, new colors, new identity... so stay tuned for the "transition" post! :)

"OMG, my wedding is on TV!"

No, no, no... not my own wedding, but one of my June 2008 weddings will actually be featured on the new TV segment - "OMG, my wedding is on TV!" of Get Married. I don't have the exact air date yet, but as soon as I find out I will post it here. YAY! That's very exciting!

AND... Colin Cowie, my idol and wedding planner extraordinaire, is going to be the new host of Get Married starting on January 5th... so don't miss it!

Featured Wedding - Lena and Noel

Lena and Noel are such a laid-back couple. They have been together for 14 years and they finally tied the knot on October 12th at the Sugarman Estate. I met them for the first time when they came out to Mau`i on their scouting trip back in March. As I get to know them better, I realized that they love things that are unconventional. Instead of going to a bridal salon to pick out her dress, Lena had it made by a designer in San Francisco. It was beautiful.

Here are the professional photos by Amity Mason:


CATERING: Aloha Events Catering. FLORALS & LIGHTING: Dellables. LINENS: Pacific Event Group. PHOTOS: Amity Mason. RENTALS: Pacific Isle Rentals and Envisions Entertainment.

As we started the planning process, Lena told me that she liked crimson red, teal green and bronze. We tried to incorporate all of those colors in her decor, from the flowers to the dining canopies to the lounge furniture...etc. Everything turned out perfectly.

Congratulations, Lena and Noel! All the best to both of you and hope to see you again here on Mau`i!

"Life is Like a Movie"!

I would love to take this opportunity to introduce you to Jewel and Chuck Savadelis of Savadelis Films. This wonderful husband and wife team is based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, and their work is just AMAZING! Just see it for yourself...

Here are some notes from Jewel of what it took to make this 3-minute movie trailer:

1. When we saw their logo, we thought it was very nice. So we asked for and received the Illustrator files of the logo from the graphic designer and animated Emily and Danny's logo.

2. Emily's Mom and Dad were at the second story window looking out. The window was too blue, due to the reflection of the sky and ocean. Chuck masked the window and color corrected it so their skin tones looked normal. He then gave a different color correction to the area outside the window so it matched the other images of the exterior of the building. Then, he did the same thing for each FRAME (there are 30 frames per second). We color correct pretty much every clip in the entire wedding movie. This adds 2-3 weeks of effort. We also modulate and "sweeten" the sound throughout a wedding movie.

3. At the last minute, Emily and Danny asked us to do a time lapse of empty to full seats. Since this was the weekend of the women's golf tournament, we could not leave a camera outdoors unattended. So, at our own expense we hired someone to "camera sit" just to get that 3-second shot.

4. After the bridesmaids walked down the aisle and Emily was waiting alone in the foyer, we finally see a bit of her nervousness. It was charming.

5. By coming to every rehearsal (no extra charge), we know what is going to happen and when. So, we were in the best positions to catch Emily hugging her in-laws and Danny hugging his in-laws.

6. Chuck caught Emily's favorite uncle sketching at the rehearsal. He finished the drawing during the ceremony. We were able to scale the sketch to create the maximum impact when we dissolved from the sketch to real life. This impact can only be achieved in a moving picture medium. A photo would not convey the same dynamic feeling nor the emotions it creates. This unexpected event inspired the opening and closing scenes of this piece. Chuck bought a special piece of software to create a look that was similar to the Uncle's art style.

7. During the table toasts, we wanted a specific look. It was very dark in the ballroom, so we needed small (20 watt) lights. Instead of having them mounted on the camera which would light people from the front, giving an unflattering flat look, our assistant was lighting each scene from the side, for a softer and more sophisticated look - still using only a 20-watt light. We aim to be unobtrusive. In fact Emily's parents thought Chuck was the only cinematographer there. They never saw me or our assistant! And the only reason they saw him was because he was in the foyer with them just before they walked down the aisle.

8. We went back to the Ritz and filmed the ocean scenes on a non-wedding day.

9. The scene where the camera pulls back from a couple standing at the window watching the sunset? It was shot much earlier in the day when the sky was blue. Chuck color graded it to look like it occurred at sunset to match the other images immediately prior.

10. Because Emily and Danny are real foodies, we made special arrangements in advance with the staff at the Ritz to be able to film the food preparation without interfering in the flow of their work.

11. The second course was burned on the top, so Chuck lightened just the burnt tops so they looked more appetizing. (No need to mention this, as it's a poor reflection on the Ritz.)

12. We knew the photo booth would be a centerpiece of the reception. So, the week before the wedding we spent several hours experimenting to determine the best combination of strobe flashes per second, direction of supplemental lighting, and a few other factors which matched the photo booth flashes best. So, on the wedding night, we were able to flash our strobes for less than 3 minutes total time. Everyone thought the strobes were the band's mood lights.

13. We asked for and received the DVD of all 663 photo booth images. We combed through every one of them to find the ones that matched our footage and found some additional ones that had a lot of energy.

14. We strongly suggest couples engage us until the end of the evening because you never know when great moments will happen. The bride's cousin started break dancing. This occurred well after the end of our contracted time. We had packed up and were ready to go. Nevertheless, we grabbed a camera and shot this scene.

15. In order to know what images we need, we storyboard a short piece like this. That takes hours. We allow for whatever will happen at a ceremony, but we need to think through transitional elements in advance to give a sense of movement. For example, we knew ahead of time that we would need to film a steadicam shot entering the front of the Ritz and a steadicam shot following some couple, any couple, out to the gazebo area. So, we put these shots into our schedule for the day.

16. In general, we have close-up and wide shots, camera angles that are on the ground and way overhead. There are small camera moves and steady shooting. It is a matter of knowing which of these techniques to use and when to restrain your movement for maximum effect.

17. And, we need to know who are the key people and capture them without fail.

18. We looked at over 500 pieces of music to find the one that had the right beat and mood to match Emily and Danny's personalities AND match the images we brought back.

As you can see, it requires at least 100 to 200 hours of editing time to create each of their wedding movie. Every little detail and emotions are captured on film. In fact, I cried watching a few of them because I was so touched by everything... and I didn't even know the people who were at the wedding!

If you are interested in seeing more samples or hiring them for your wedding, please send me an email.

Wedding feather banners

The first time I saw these wedding feather banners, it was at my friend's wedding in Bali this past March (photo #1 below). They look amazing in person and will definitely transform your outdoor wedding to something extraordinary. I just wish they come in different colors to match my clients' decor.

For my clients who are interested in these banners for your wedding, please send me an email.