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Saturday, 07 July 2007 |
Well the day has finally arrived,,, LUCKY 7.7.07! I remember hosting the spring series of workshops last year when I helped over two dozen anxious brides find their perfect wedding vendors for lucky 7.7.07. Then again, during the fall series following, I helped another two dozen excited brides find their must-have vendors. By the ending of 2006, I was STILL helping brides EVERY week getting hitched on 7.7.07 look for ANY available vendor!!! And believe it or not, even this spring series had a handful of bright-eyed, newly-engaged brides who so wishfully wanted to walk down the aisle on 7.7.07! By this time, they were meeting the assistant to the assistants of the vendors they really wanted in meetings, getting married on public beaches versus private gazebos as they originally planned and had to get their hair and makeup done at 5am since all of the makeup artists were absolutely swamped all day long...
You've seen it in the papers, you've heard about it on the news (heck, even Tony and Eva are getting married on 7.7.07!)... so what's the buzz about lucky 7.7.07?
When I asked the brides WHY 7.7.07, here are some of the reasons they dished out ::
1. It's lucky!
2. It's my favorite Vegas number (corresponding with answer #1!)
3. It's easy to remember... he won't forget our anniversary!
4. Didn't think about it, it fell on a Saturday in the summer
5. In Japan, 7.7.07 is an extremely lucky date that is used in ancient tales about long lost lovers
6. My family from the mainland is going to be in Hawaii
7. My friends are back from college by then
8. I'm out of school during July
9. And just plain ol'.... it sounds good!
Whatever the reason may be, Happy 7.7.07 to everyone!
It's amazing to see what a flurry this lucky-numbered day has caused in wedding industries all over the world. I've chat with several wedding vendors who are magically performing double, even triple, the amount of weddings they normally do on a typical Saturday. They're calling in their reinforcements and making sure 7.7.07 goes off without a hitch. Photographers and videographers have 2-3 weddings, hotels are turning 7-10 events, florists are designing anywhere between 1-12 weddings today, tux shops are bare from all the rentals, hair and makeup people are scattered throughout the island making brides beautiful all day long and the catering teams are all working overtime. Kudos to the phenomenal Hawaii wedding industry!
So for all you "lucky, favorite-number, easy-to-remember, Saturday-summer, Japan-tale-believer, family-and-friends-organizer, summer-break, it-just-sounds-good" brides.... have a WONDERFUL wedding on a day that will DEFINITELY go down in history! Don't forget to come by the cafe and show me your wedding pix!!!
PS-With all this hype, I can't wait til 8.8.08, a REALLY lucky Chinese number!
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What is Your Ideal Vacation? |
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Wednesday, 30 May 2007 |
Earlier today, Roy, Karen and I sat in Starbucks and chatted about our "ideal vacation." Hmm... great question. We debated for a few minutes the pros and cons of sleeping on a plane. Interestingly enough, Bryson and I are major plane-sleepers, Roy can't really sleep on planes, and Karen choses NOT to sleep on planes! The conversation went on, and my mind started to wander to my ideal vacation spot.
OK, ideal vacation... I definitely want shopping, a LOT of shopping. I'm talking about aisle after aisle of cool boutiques with trendy lil' dresses and wedge sandals. It would be warm so I could be comfortable shopping, of course, but not too warm to break a sweat lugging my bags around!
Wait a sec... bags! How could I forget bags? My favorite souvenir! I would also have an entire boulevard lined with shops that carried my favorite knock off bags. Yes, we all love the real deal, but I'm talking about super cute bags from the hippest LA-fashion-district shops. Ooh.... LA?
Maybe my ideal vacation is in LA since I fell in love with the hustle and bustle of the city. All the celebrity spotting (I swear I saw someone that looked like a Michael J. Fox wanna be at the LA Farmers Market last week!) and great eats. There are restaurants galore and SO many smart people with a razor sharp eye for anything and everything cool!
Oh cool.... I changed my mind, I want to be in cool weather. I have a great pimp Coach leather jackets that would look fab with my new skinny jeans and a cashmere scarf from Banana. Maybe my ideal vacation will lead me to Portland to visit my best friend Adrienne. Or maybe to New York! I've always loved New York and the broadway shows...
Hey, speaking of shows, I promised myself I'd make it to Chicago to see Oprah one of these days! Yes, that would be my ideal vacation... seeing Oprah live! Or better yet, being flown out to be ON the Oprah show! She'd fly me first class to the Windy City and put me in a plush hotel room with the softest pillows....
"...pillow around my neck, stretch my feet and toes out and try to fall asleep on the plane," said Roy. "So what would be your ideal vacation, Tanna?"
"I don't know, haven't really thought about it... maybe Paris."
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It's a Small World After All... |
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Monday, 09 April 2007 |
Living in Hawaii, every trip seems like a real "destination." I mean, both a quick weekend stay in Napa Valley or a weekend getaway to Hilo town requires you to travel over parts of the Pacific Ocean. So you know what I mean, anytime you board a plane from the Honolulu Airport, you are GOING somewhere.
Our latest, greatest travel took me, Bryson, my sister and her friend to the beautiful land down under. I'm talking about SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA! (**note** We snagged $450 tickets roundtrip to Sydney on Hawaiian Airlines!)
We played the tourist role and climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge, pet koalas and kangaroos, went surfing at Bondi Beach, toured the Rocks and ate our way through Darling Harbor. Of course, I did my two favorite activities as well when in a foreign place - I shopped like crazy and enjoyed a coffee (or a Tall Black as they would say in Aussie!) at a cute neighborhood cafe.
For eight days, we explored Sydney and took in their culture. We learned "funny" words that they used (like "bloke" is a male friend and "sheila" is a female friend) , tried imitating the way Australians talk in their cool accent, went to a Rugby game (Bryson even got a hat from a die-hard Rabbitohs fan), sampled all the true Australian beer and wine, watched the bats fly from one side of town to the other at sunset and perused all of their local wedding books and magazines at the bookstores.
What an amazing city Sydney is! Full of life and energy! The people are so unbelievably kind and friendly.
On our last day in Sydney, we had some free time to hang out and relax before heading to the airport. I remember sitting at a coffee shop, overlooking the shiny blue ocean of Bondi Beach (yes, this is the beach that blocks out sharks with nets!) sipping a Tall Black. I was sitting on the tables that lined the sidewalks of the streets listening to the Austalians gab and chat. Some of them spoke French, some of them spoke Chinese, but the majority spoke in their great, Australian way. I was reflecting in my notebook how lucky I am to be so far away from home, experiencing a completely different lifestyle. I thought about what my lifestyle is and my everyday routine. How Australians and Americans appreciate similar, yet different things in life.....
I was dazing away, enjoying my metaphorical thoughts... when a conversation brought me back to life.
"I know! I don't know what I'm going to do about my dress! The wedding is only three weeks away and there's still so much to do... David is going to help me plan the rehearsal dinner though... don't forget to save that Friday night...." I looked over to see a beautiful, Australian girl, in her mid-20s sitting a couple tables down from me with a huge pink binder and a small stack of wedding magazines and ripped out pages. She was sitting with her sheila (get it? female friend?), sharing a plate of "chips" (they call French Fries chips!) and what looked like a strawberry smoothie. I smiled, looking at her stressed-out-yet-loving-being-a-bride face that was oh-so familiar to me, and knew that despite my thoughts of being so incredibly different, it really is a small world after all...
xoxo, Tanna
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Friday, 16 March 2007 |
So at The Wedding Cafe, you'd think we only do "wedding" events. Wedding Cafe = Wedding Events. Go figure! Well, we are proud and EXCITED to announce that we have officially kicked off a brand new NON-wedding series for the trendalicious girl with a passion for fashion called I AM A DIVA.
What are these cool, funky DIVA events?
Well, this style brainchild started when we had to say good-bye to a few very loyal brides. They went through our Wednesday Night workshop series, had their bridal showers at the cafe and anxiously walked down the aisle and became a Mrs. We saw them less and less... and it was a BUMMER since we built such a strong and trusting friendship with them!
So... what could we do to continue bonding and having FUN with our past brides? We thought about a Baby Cafe (yes, we did entertain that thought!), workshops on life insurance, buying a home, saving for retirement... but none of those topics sparked my interest. I asked myself, "What makes me happy as a newlywed?" Or rather, as a female? SHOPPING!
Now, I'm not talking about going to a department store and perusing the sale racks (although I do enjoy that hobby when I have an hour or two to kill). I wanted to focus on SERVICE, a personal stylist per se! Someone who could teach us girls how to tie that tricky obi belt, when to wear our dresses over jeans, where to apply blush on our cheeks or when it was cool to wear a long, chunky necklace. So many questions, but who had the answers???
We did our research and teamed up with Hawaii's HOTTEST fashion moguls - Emi and Alyssa from Fashionistas Market, Alli from Alliway, Jessica from Jessica's Traveling Boutique, Tiff from Bamboo Sky, Iwalani from Pualani Swimwear, and the list goes ON and ON. It was incredible! We built the hype and drew a crowd.
I'm happy to report that our first event, CELEBRATE STYLE, was a huge success. On Monday night, 100 crazy shopaholics came to The Wedding Cafe to snag the latest, greatest pieces from Fashionistas Market, try on Alliway's spring collection, get their brows waxed compliments of Touch Spa, learn how to wear those cutie Bellina pins, and get their hair and makeup done by CJ Bae! The energy was contagious... the buzz was in the air. But the best part was that these 100 shoppers were being EDUCATED on how to sport the looks and wear the trends.
Everyone left happy. And I left with four new pieces of clothing, an amazing Lotus necklace, killer wooden earrings, waxed brows and a total new look for the night thanks to CJ. A true success for all!
If you want to be on our I AM A DIVA list, email me at
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and I'll happily make you a DIVA, too!
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Sunday, 25 February 2007 |
I'm always up for a good challenge.
So when our staff at The Wedding Cafe mentioned running the Great Aloha Run (GAR) in Feb, I was in.
8+ miles? Not my everyday run, but I loved that we were going to complete this challenge as a team. Every time we talked about GAR, we joked about our finish times or how we were "in training." Some of us ran everyday, some of us never ran at all!
I have to admit, my adrenaline started going after we got dropped off in downtown. The streets were packed with anxious runners and walkers, everyone proudly flashing their running numbers pinned to their chest. There was a certain buzz in the air, a feeling of confidence, health and definitely excitement.
The five of us made a pact to meet at the finish line, no one gets left behind! We all started together, but as soon as the gun was shot to start, we took off in different directions, setting our own comfortable paces. Running down Nimitz at 7am gave me a lot of time to absorb the other people around me... there were groups of people walking together for their companies or charities, highschool friends flying past me, Mothers pushing their sporty strollers, couples running hand in hand (Hey, have you been to The Wedding Cafe? Ha ha), the army running in formation and tons of children and senior citizens making their way to the finish line.
And as I ran the 8 miles, I thought about all the people who set this challenge for themselves and would successfully be completing their challege in an hour or so. The race was great, I finished in 1:36.
I'll never forget sprinting down the corridor leading into the Aloha Stadium where the FINISH line greeted you. My legs were like jello, but they never felt so good. There were tons of people at the finish cheering, waving and giving high fives to all the finishers. I looked around to see thousands of faces, not knowing anyone in particular, with huge, content smiles on their face. What amazed me, was the fact that there were so many different walks of life who at one time shared the same exhilarating feeling of completing a challenge, one we all did it together.
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