DolphinMareDVM

thanks for that!

got mine from etsy.com the seller was mudcards and it came out amazing. it's made out of clay/putty and she'll make whatever you want. it's a really great deal, for a beach theme, the two of us and our dog, it was less than $100 with shipping. good luck!

Welcome to the forum! It's a great help. I'm in a similar situation, I'm American and my FI is Australian and we're Down Under now. We're getting married on Kauai because Hawai'i is halfway between the two families. We'll also be honeymooning on the Big Island and Maui. If you have any questions let me know! I'll have plenty of answers when we get back in a month. Happy planning!

those look awesome!

My FI and I are planning to go have drinks with the "young people" at the St Regis one evening around sunset. There's supposed to be a bar with an amazing view over Hanalei Bay. It's not set in stone, but something I'd like to do. If we end up there, I'm sure we'll take pics. I'll forward them on.

those look great!

OK, so to do this the easy way. Since it won't let me edit my original post and I'm gonna spend years on here trying to figure out how, I'm just reposting the picture of the inside of our passport invites here. Whew!

Thanks everyone! It was a lot of work, but we've been planning for 18 months, so I had time. Good call DWbridetobe, I hadn't even noticed! Thanks!

wow, they are great! may have to re-do my whole dinner playlist!

Ok, so, since I have to wait another few weeks to post my planning thread, I thought I'd post what I've done so far. I have done a lot of DIY to save money for our wedding and it's paid off (no pun intended). My FI and I decided to go with a travel theme, not just because we're having a DW, but also because we met while away from home. So get ready for lots of photos. I will say, Microsoft Publisher (comes with Microsoft Office) and a $10 paper cutter were my best friends in this whole DIY process! I made a logo and that would be carried through the whole wedding. I couldn't find one I liked, so I made one. The kangaroo represents the FI since he's Australian, and the hula dancer represents me, an American girl. We even got our logo printed on our coozies for our OOT bags, but those pics are still to come. So, our STDs were sent out a year ago. I don't have a template for this one because I just cut the paper to the size I needed. We also put adhesive magnets on the back so people could put them on the fridge. They were a big hit. Our invitations were passports. This way, I didn't have to send newsletters or updates to our guests as well. Saves on postage. We had all our pre-wedding activities planned by the time invitations were sent out. I just used glue tape to attach the first page to the cover and tacs to keep the pages together. I bought corner cutters from a craft store for the edges. I've had a lot of people tell me they're the best invites they've ever seen! Front Cover: Inside page: the picture is a photo sticker I purchased from Walgreens.com: Each page had details of different events, a map of the island, accomodation info, and other relevant travel info. We used postcards for our RSVPs. I just went to Wal-mart and bought the pre-made Avery paper and used our printer. It helped keep track of who was coming and who was participating in which event. Our seating cards are boarding passes. Each table is going to have the name of a place FI and I have been. There's a number there, but that's in place of a seat number. These are extras just in case someone comes at the last minute. For the passport and boarding pass, I got my templates from here. They were free. I'm still working on the final details of the welcome book. SuntreeDesigns on Etsy is customizing the front cover and making the pages in the color I want. They're only $2.50 each. A bargain for something custom made. We'll put all the info the guests need (directions, exchange rates, etc) as well as double sided adhesive dots. This way our guests can print out their own photos, attach them to the pages, and use it as a keepsake photo album from the week. Hope this helps spark some ideas for you ladies!

Hey Christina, I'll be flying US Airways to Hawai'i in a month and am having the same issue. Any luck on finding a garment bag?

Hads, Ryan Fox is associated with Gaylords Restaraunt. His email addy is [email protected]. He wasn't our first choice because he was off island when we visited in Sept and did our tastings. But our other caterer received a once in a lifetime job opportunity in San Fran so he & our WC highly recommended Ryan as a replacement. He's been great to work with ever since. Hope that helps!

Hey girl, Thanks so much for posting this review. You're wedding pics are awesome. Even though I leave for Kauai in less than a month (yikes!), it's still helpful to read. I'm not that fussed on the little details, but I have to say, without my WC, I'd be so overwhelmed! We also had a hard time finding a location. We wanted to have a the ceremony in a backyard that bordered on the beach. We visited Kauai in Sept, looked at a few places, and discussed which one we liked on the way home. By the time we landed, the location we decided on was booked! We ended up finding a place in Kilauea on a bluff over looking the ocean. But it sure was a headache to find! So, to any Kauai brides out there, if you find a place you like, book it right away. I'm flying US Airways from Orlando to Kauai. It sucks that the most conveinent airline isn't very good. I've seen bad reviews about them before. Did you have your dress steamed/pressed when you got there? I'm going to have to post something similar when I get back, especially since we're using totally different vendors from yours. There just aren't enough Kauai brides out there, so I agree, we should help each other out. Thanks again for sharing!

Mudcards did my cake topper as well. Just got the pics today! She even got our dog just right! SuntreeDesigns is doing our welcome book. I'm going to put info for our wedding events and maps on the first few pages, then put adhesives so our guests can place there own photos in the rest of the pages. That way it can be a keepsake photoalbum!

Thanks Bee. I left my FI in charge of that. He's Australian so I figured the one thing I could put him in charge of would be the booze. He's talking to Ryan about it now. I'm hoping everything on my to-do list is done by the time we get our license the day we fly in. I'll let my wedding coordinator deal with the rest! Besides, I have a Napali Boat cruise and a luau to enjoy!

This is great! Can't wait to get mine!

HaHa! We thought totally the opposite about Icing on the Cake and CC! Goes to show you how important it is to visit, if you have the budget for it. I wouldn't say either one was bad tho FutureMrs, so whichever you chose will be nice. Thanks for the heads up about the alcohol. We figured Costco would be easier since we're there for a whole week and have to go there anyway to get food. I'll have to chat to my fiance and wedding coordinator about that one.

My FI and I did a tasting with Contemporary Flavors. The food was great, but it was expensive. On our estimate they nickel and dimed us for everything. We're going with Ryan Fox. For our 50 person wedding, which includes finger foods for our guests during cocktail hour, a buffet with 2 meats and 3 veg, & dessert for half the price CC would have. That includes flatware, food, wait staff, and taxes. He's also arranged for a bartender at even though we're supplying our own alcohol that we'll be getting from Costco. I'll let you know how we go.

Thanks for sharing! This is the last project I have to do, so glad I found this post!

Hey ladies, My FI and I are giving separate speeches at our reception. In mine, of course I'll thank everyone for coming but focus more on thanking different people for the role they played in great moments of our relationship but I don't want it to be boring. I had a great idea of making it like an oscar-speech but my sister-in-law who just got married did that 2 months ago! She didn't mean to steal my idea, we never talked about it. (She actually wore the dress I almost bought, and we didn't talk about that either! We're just so much alike!) Anyway, I need a new idea for a speech theme that isn't your run-of-the-mill thank you speech. I want it to be funny & entertaining since it's the last one of the night. My sister and I thought of a "Real Men of Genius" type speech (music and everything), but half our guest are from Australia and wouldn't get it. Any other great ideas out there?

I'm a Doctor (veterinarian) and my fiance isn't. We're getting married in April & we'll be introduced as Mr. & Mrs. After the wedding, I'll be changing my legal name to Mrs. NewLastName but in the clinic I'll still be practicing under Dr. MaidenName. For me, becoming a Doctor was a huge acheivement that most of the people at the wedding shared with me, but becoming Mrs. is another one. On our wedding day, I want to focus on that. Hope that helps!

Our wedding is a travel theme. Not because we are having a DW but because we've traveled lots of places together. Our STDs were luggage tags, our invitations were passports (each page had specific info for each event, maps, & accomodation), and our seating cards are boarding passes to tables with places we've been instead of numbers. So in keeping with that theme, I bought my girls passport covers (J. Crew is having a sale now for $8 each), travel jewlery pouches, and jewlery for the day of. I was MOH in a wedding recently and one of the gifts was robes with our names embroidered on them so we could wear them while we were getting ready. We didn't mess our hair up taking them off!

I'm a vet and my fiance is a podiatrist (why feet? i still have no idea).

We'll be spending a week in Kaua'i getting all the last minute things sorted. We'll be on the island long enough for a day-after brunch. Then we leave for the Big Island for 4 nights where we'll do lots of hiking and relaxing in small, luxury inns. Then we move onto Maui for 3 nights where we'll play Hawaiian tourist and stay in a large resort.

Hey Sugar, My fiance and I just returned from our trip to Kauai where we met with a bunch of vendors/officiants for our April 2010 wedding. We met with Greg Frazier & Manulele. Both are great people. We chose Manulele because she's very sweet and down to earth. A lot like a grandma should be. Manulele's ceremony is more Hawaiian but is non-denominational christian also. There's a lei exchange between the couple. There's a part of the ceremony where you honor your family, she speaks to the moms & dad & siblings separately and they each get a lei signifying their roles in your lives up to this point. She can add or remove any part of the ceremony to your tastes. We're having a sand ceremony instead of a unity candle and she's working that into the ceremony also. She says that the ceremony lasts ~30-40 min, but the actual western ceremony part lasts ~10 min. Hope that helps! Maryann