Hey there! So you found the most interesting page on my site. This is my recent Oahu wedding, Hawaii wedding page. Honestly, it's a blog. The story behind this blog, well, it started out purely about Hawaii weddings, then it evolved into everything and "all of the above." Basically, ITS MY THOUGHTS!! So I write about anything on here. I updated this blog quite frequently. You can learn more about me, my quirks, my style here. And of course, you'll get wedding tips as well.
Call me if you want to make me richer..I mean, book my services! 1-877-WED-IN-HAWAII or email me at info@dreamweddingshawaii.com
Friday, April 30, 2010
Movie Reviews - because I'm bored
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE: TWO THUMBS UP!
MOVIE REVIEWS BECAUSE I CAN
Two blogs in one night! The first about wedding permits, now...a movie review? Why am I writing about a movie review on my wedding blog? Well, beacuse I can. I own the damn company so I think I can write about anything haha. All-in-all, my movie reviews actaully serve a great purpose to couples. I can save you the dreaded horror of wasting money at a movie theater when it's date night. So you can thank me later? Or you can always send me a check :)
So lets get straight to the movie reviews!
Hot Tub Time Machine...rocked. It was awesome, it was stupid, it was funny, it was 100% unrealistic and the funniest movie next to Eurotrip that I had ever seen in my life. A perfect date movie. The humor is a bit sexual. I take that back, it's extremely sexual. A family came in with their little boy and left within the first FIVE minutes. It's vulgar! But what were they thinking?!!! I promise you, if you see it, you won't stop laughing.
There was this one kid who saw the movie and after the film finished, he turned to his girlfriend and said outloud, "That movie was soooo unrealistic!" I was about to slap him in the head and ask him, "What part of Hot Tub Tim Machine realism were you expecting? Didn't you read the friggin title? Geez....get a life!" I mean, was this Einstein of a kid actually expecting realism from this movie....
SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE: FUNNY ROMANCE
I liked this movie because it's an underdog movie. Nerdy guy gets awesome looking girl, who can't like a movie like that right? The lead character in this movie reminds me of a young Colombo, even sounds like him too. If this kid were not an actor, he'd actually be kinda creepy to talk to. Strange voice. The girl in this movie....great looking. Perfect casting. Thank god they didn't cast Uma Thurman in the role of the hot girl...or Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton to me looks as though she tried to squeez her head through a fence one too many times.
Perfect date movie guys.
With Sandra Bullock, anything is possible.
THE BLIND MULLET, I MEAN SIDE
By now, you've seen this movie. It's based on the true story of NFL offensive tackle Michael Oher and how a rich, generous, Christian family, adopted a black kid and supported him through the thick and thin so he too could become rich like them. Love it. It's not 100% accurate. If you want the real version of the blindside check out this link: The movie is long and I'm glad I didn't see this in the movie theater. I stopped the movie twice or maybe three times just to get up and walk around. It's that long.
Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for this movie. Her performance was good, but I honestly think Wall-E from the movie Wall-E gave a much better performance.
All of these movies have some life lessons in them. First lesson, if you have nice looking women around you at all times that care for you, you shouldn't really be complaining about life. Second, money isn't everything, but it sure does help. Last lesson is, Why are you looking for lessons of life in movies? Get a job!
Now that we got all of this movie reviews out of the way...I better head to bed. I have a busy day of doing nothing ahead.
The first amendment of the United States of the constitution clearly states that, and I quote:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
When getting married in Hawaii on a public beach, you are practicing your freedom of speech and right to peacefully assemble. In many cases, if your wedding is a religious one, then you are practicing your freedom of religion. The State of Hawaii, by enacting a beach wedding permit law, is therefore selling you back your 1st amendment rights for $30.00. This of course, is unconstitutional on many levels. You are guaranteed these rights as an American, and those rights are not for sale.
Many wedding companies, including myself, banded together to repeal the beach permit by hiring a constitutional lawyer early last year. A ruling was recently handed down to us that gave the wedding industry both a win and a loss. Unfortunately, the State of Hawaii was found not-guilty of violating 1st amendment rights, therefore the beach permit law stayed intact....but wait, there's more. On the upside, the judge did rule that if the State of Hawaii were to enforce their permit law, and to stop a wedding, they would then be 100% guilty of violating your 1st amendment rights. In summary, the judge ruled that the State of Hawaii cannot be found at the time, guilty of committing a crime because they had yet to stop a wedding. This is not what the State of Hawaii wanted to hear. See...good news, bad news for us.
So what now? Well, our case has been bumped up to the federal appeals court. In the meantime, the State of Hawaii continues to collect beach permit fees for a law which they cannot enforce. If any wedding is stopped in Hawaii, they would then be guilty of violating your 1st amendment rights, then we would get our day in court and this beach permit law would go away quickly. But, of course, the State of Hawaii is not enforcing it, just collecting money, and following this path....for obvious reasons.
Am I getting a permit for my weddings? The answer is no. And many other companies are doing the same. Plus, I did some research into it and found that it is almost impossible to get an insurance company to cover what I do, wedding planning. The State of Hawaii wants companies to attain umbrella insurance coverage over the beach and State of Hawaii in order to become eligible to apply for a beach permit. Not one reputable insurance company would cover me. A lot of online sketchy ones would...but not anyone reputable like State Farm.
What happens if the DLNR stops one of my weddings? Well, my couple would probably end up about $20,000 richer. That's what the 2001 settlement called for when a wedding in Maui was stopped by the DLNR. Shortly after, the beach permit law was then quickly repealed. It resurfaced this past year as a "Right of Entry Permit." Same thing, different name. Chances of the DLNR stopping one of my weddings? Zero percent. Since I do all of my weddings at secluded beaches, the DLNR, who is underfunded and short staffed, couldn't find me if they wanted too. So unfortunately, no hitting the 20K lotto on your wedding day if you book with me. In town, at Waialae Beach Park, where 10 weddings happen per day, the DLNR has not showed up once to check for permits, according to a friend of mine who does all of his weddings there.
By the way, most wedding companies who charge you for permits, are not getting permits either. They charge you for it, then don't follow through with it. In a way, this permit law has given birth to more corruption in the wedding industry if you ask me.
Anyway...that's the wedding permit update :) It's kinda good, kinda bad. But hey...this is me, shooting to you straight from the hip. I tell you the way it is.
BUSY BUSY BUSY "this is starting to feel like a real job..."
It's 11:38pm right now and I need to get to bed. I have a busy day tomorrow. Waking up at 5am in the morning, picking up a friend and dropping her off at the airport. Then, I'm headed to a morning wedding, then a sunset wedding. Between that, I'll be stopping by my office to catch up on some paperwork.
I believe this May I have somewhere close to 20 plus weddings on my plate. Although I've been doing this for over 10 years, it truly never felt like a job, until now...haha. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy what I do, because to be honest, I never have a bad day at work. But you know, sometimes...just sometimes, it starts to feel a little more like work every now and then.
I promise though, I'll start blogging a bit more. Before I go, check out some new changes to my site! I have a new vacation/honeymoon planner available on my home page! Isn't that frigging cool? Yeah, it's basically your direct access to my travel inventory for my company. So now, it'll be uber-easy for couples, friends, and family to browse travel via my website. I'm also putting together a travel portion of my website that will focus on things to do in Hawaii and hotel reviews.
Okay, so next up on my topics for blogs. I have a handful of weddings of course, then there are some much needed movie reviews, my two cents on Goldman Sachs, and an update on the unconstitutional wedding permit law. All I can say is that it's looking good for you and bad for the state! Blog ya later!
FROM FACEBOOK TO THE BEACH Thank you Mark Zuckerberg?
So who in world is Mark Zuckerberg? He's the creator of facebook, wealthy (worth $4 billion), and only 25 years old. (I didn't know who he was until I did some research for this article) Man, don't you want to add this guy as a friend...haha. Mr. Zuckerberg created facebook in his dorm room with his classmates. What I don't get is how Mr. Zuckerberg is worth 4 billion dollars when facebook only grosses 300 million per year. Things that make you go hmmm....
Anyway, if it wasn't for Zuckerberg and his nerdy friends, Tim and Kelly would have probably never met. Talk about the butterly effect.
Their wedding
During their vows.
Tim, a natural comedian, was extremely serious when it came to their ceremony
Tim and Kelly first met each other as children then lost touch over time like most childhood friends. Decades passed, and they reconnected through facebook, and the rest was history. As soon as I met Tim and Kelly, I knew that they were the perfect match for each other. Their personalities, sense of humor, went together perfectly like chocolate and peanut butter. Why did I say that for? Now I'm craving some Resees.
Their wedding went pefectly as planned. The best part of the day happnened when Tim and Kelly updated their relationship status to married on their facebook page via their mobile phone. Ah....facebook. It makes everyone a walking reality TV show. Gotta love it.
Updating their facebook page to "Married!" - we're all nerds now.
The garter belt tease shot, all Tim's idea..great idea.
Sunset shots, always great.
Do you see the rock builder in the background? What the...
Ko'olina beach wasn't empty as it usually was. There were maybe 15 other people there, scattered throughout the cove. That's still not a lot of people. One guy, got on my nerves. He was some crazy tourists dude who had an obsession with stacking rocks. You can see it some of their wedding pictures if you look closely. He starts stacking rocks one by one from the beginning of the photo shoot, and by the end of it, he basically got it about 6 feet high. I guess he was some type of professional Jenga "athlete." Personally, I have no idea what's so great about rock stacking. Every time a tourist does it, I usually take it down the next day. Other than crazy Jenga rock stacking man, everything went great :) Honestly, he wasn't any problem at all, I think he's just a dummy.
I put Tim and Kelly in front of crazy rock stacking guy...and the beach looked perfect...haha
I really enjoyed having Tim and Kelly as my clients. They were both a lot of fun, cooperative, and easy to work with. Not to mention, they were both photogenic and easy to photograph. Some people just naturally settle into poses, so I don't have to do much. And some look like Chandler on friends... Hey, I'm just saying....
All of these shots by the way, all shot on my G10. This is the "Patriot Package" at work. I still find it rather funny when I use my G10. It's basically a high performance snapshot camera that I shoot in manual mode. Here I am, snapping away next to some other amateurs or professional cameramen that show up on the beach to shoot sunsets with huge cameras. Their look on their faces when I pull this camera from my pants pocket to shoot a wedding is priceless. But it's like what I tell all my couples, it's not the size of the camera that counts, it's how you use it....
With this picture, my cat, Junior, could run for President. I promise, he will show more fiscal restraint than our government as he has no idea how to sign a trillion dollar bill into law -- taken on my Canon G10
THE FIRST STEP: YOUR WEDDING BUDGET Everything ultimately starts here
During our wedding ceremonies, our ministers always mention that being married means being one in flesh with the one you love. Reverand Elias Parker puts it best when he mentions that marriage is probably the only time in life where math does not make sense as 1 +1 = 1 not 2. This brings us to the topic of finances. In marriage, you are not only one in flesh, but also one in thought, one in action, and also...one in dollar. If you haven't already, you will share a savings account, share investments, retirements, and this sharing will ultimately begin before you get married when you start planning your wedding budget...TOGETHER.
So from here, I want you to throw out what you've learn from wedding books, magazines, etc..etc.., because in all honesty, they have no idea of what their talking about. Now, lets get started.
SETTING YOUR BUDGET
THE WRONG WAY: A wedding planner will often ask you two numbers when planning your wedding. One, being how much you want to spend; and two, what is your max ceiling you cannot go over. And ultimately, the wedding planner will end up putting together your wedding with the price tag falling in between the two.
THE RIGHT WAY: The truth is that your wedding budget is not set upon how much you want to spend or a max ceiling, but, on what you can SAVE IN CASH. Yes, cash is king when figuring out your budget. It's actaully that simple.
FINANCING YOUR WEDDING
THE WRONG WAY: I once learned of local wedding planners who were advising their brides to take out a second mortgage on their house to pay for their wedding. Unfortunately, that couple could never make up the debt, and ended up losing their house partially for throwing their "Dream Wedding." Was it worth it? No. The couple, brought upon through financial stress, divorced. The moral of the story, never fiance your wedding through debt which mathmatically doesn't make sense. This means not using large lines of credit or taking out loans to fiance your dream. If you do, your dream wedding, could turn into a long lasting nightmare.
THE RIGHT WAY: Let me repeat myself here. Cash is king. So the only way you should fiance your wedding is by saving. If you can only save $300.00 in cash for your wedding, then spend only $300 and not one dime more. If you can save $10,000 in cash, then your budget is $10,000...exactly. If you must use a credit card, make sure you can save enough cash to pay it off immediately.
THE NO. 1 BUDGET BUSTER
The biggest budget buster of any wedding is always the wedding reception. On average, you will spend $100 per head at your reception, even if you are just having a small dinner after your wedding. This means that if you have 200 guest at your reception, you will spend $20,000 just on food alone! That's not counting the cost of photography, the minsiter, video coverage, decorations, the cake, etc..etc... If you are having a wedding in your home state, you will most likely spend $20,000 to $40,000 on your wedding, because the head count for your wedding reception will get out of control. Escaping to Hawaii, or any destination, dramatically lowers the cost of your wedding because you go from having a 200 headcount reception, to a small family dinner of 10 in a fancy restauranti. This means, you go from spending $20,000 on food to $1000.00. Hmm....much better right?
The golden rule to keep your budget from busting is to keep the headcount of your wedding under control.
Beware of the following other budget busters:
THE SELF-INVITER: This is a friend, cousin, co-worker, or family member that hears that you're getting married in Hawaii and invites themself and their family. Their selfish action can automatically increases your budget by $200 per self-inviting couple! Self-inviting spreads like the plague. Once one friend for family member does it, then they all do it. Next thing you know, you have 50 people coming to see you elope at your wedding.
How to avoid: Make sure you make it very clear to your friends and family that you are eloping (even though you may not be). Am I telling you to lie here? Well, yes, if it means saving yourself 1000's of dollars! Honesty may work as well, but most of the time it doesn't. Lately, I've been telling brides to point the finger to her fiance so she doesn't look like the bad guy. So you can say something like, "Well, ______ wants it to be only us, and he's pretty animate about that one part...so I'm sorry, you can't come." Of course, that makes your fiance look like a complete butthead, but it usally stops the self-inviter dead in their tracks.
THE MOTHER/MOTHER-IN-LAW - Sometimes mothers have a tendacy to start treating your wedding like their own then start inviting relatives and friends to come once they learn of your wedding. They knowingly increase your budget, but they offer to pay for some of your wedding. You agree, but now that mother/mother-in-law uses their generosity as leverage to as what goes on in your wedding.
how to avoid: Honesty works the best here. Lay down the law. Upon announcement of your wedding, make sure that both set of parents know the guest who will be attending your wedding will be left completely up to you. You can listen to recommendations, but who makes the list and who gets cut remains to you and your fiance.
Your wedding is not a "Going into debt party." Remember that. All-in-all, even though it is your wedding, it is truly just a party. The more money you throw at a wedding does not translate into more years of happy marriage. If that were true, Hollywood couples would be the role model for most weddings. Be realistic when it comes to figuring out how much you want to spend on your wedding. If buying a house together takes priority over planning a large wedding, then do so...go small on your wedding plans. After all, all what matters in the end is your life together.
Obama's birth certification as found on his website
DID YOU KNOW THAT WHERE YOU APPLY FOR YOUR MARRIAGE LICENSE IS THE HOME TO A VERY HEATED DEBATE? Yes! Hawaii is the home for to our President, but...hmm...is it really?
First off, let me come out of the gate and tell you that even though the Department of Health has been caught up in the middle of a heated debate to whether or not Obama is a natural born citizen, you will not find it difficult to get your marriage license in Hawaii. There are no protesters at the Department of Health. And even though the office has been flooded with phone calls, letters, and with concerned citizens looking for Obama's birth certificate, it has not affected their ability to quickly issue your marriage license, and to process it effectively. The only true thing that stands in the way of getting your marriage license is Friday. On most Friday's, the Department of Health has been closed as it has been furloughed in an attempt for our government to balance its budget. Safe rule of thumb, if you are going to get your marriage license on Friday, get it from an independent wedding agent. If you need their phone number, just email me.
So what's all this Obama fuss anyway? I'll take to make this as short as possible.
Well, in order to be the President of the United States of America, the only requirement which is required is that he or she be a natural born citizen. Was Obama born in Hawaii? It's hard to say. When questioned about his natural born citizenship, Obama brushed off the accusation and produced the certificate of live birth as seen above. But this truly isn't a birth certificate, but just a paper that certifies Obama was born on this date.
Here is a true birth certificates that were issued around that same time from the State of Hawaii.
This was the copy that was filled out by the attending doctor.
The black negative copy is what you kept for your records. My mother, parents, friends, family, all of our birth certificates look like this, not like the green one Obama produced.
---provided by law (HRS §§338-17.7, 338-20.5), the following persons may apply for an amended certificate of birth:
A person born in the State of Hawaii who already has a birth certificate filed with the Department of Health and
has become legally adopted, or
has undergone a sex change operation, or
a legal determination of the nonexistence of a parent and child relationship for a person identified as a parent on the birth certificate on file has been made, or
previously recorded information in relation to the person’s surname and/or the father’s personal particulars has been altered pursuant to law.
A person born in a foreign country who has been legally adopted in the State of Hawaii
Isn't that interesting? A person who is not born in America, can amend their birth certificate in Hawaii after they are legally adopted.
Now, I have friends who are from the Philippines, who have been adopted here in the United States, and can produce the same GREEN certificate of live birth in which Obama did. Their original birth certificate, signed by the Mid-Wife or attending physician, is of course, in a different country. Unfortunately, as smart as they are, they can never be our President because they are not naturally born. Obama was adopted because his original father went AWOL. There is an outside chace his situation could be the same as my friends. A citizen of the U.S. through adoption...
Is Obama a natural born citizen? Hey, who knows. But all what the "Birthers" are asking is that he show his real long-form birth certificate, the same one I can produce if asked... and that's all. If they are wrong...they're wrong. If I had to show my long-form birth certificate to play Pop-Warner football, why can't we ask for him to do the same to constitutionally hold the office of President?
I think it's a legitimate request and easy one to fill....
Anyone who challenges Obama's eligibility to hold the office of the President of United States is called crazy by the Democrats, The White House, and a handful of conservative talk show host such as Glenn Beck. But is it truly that crazy? I honestly don't believe you can categorize "Birthers" into the same category of nuts that believe George Bush took down the Twin Towers.
Now that is a great shot... THE TALE OF CHRIS AND JEN and how it all came to be
If you haven't figured it out by now, I mostly work at strange hours, especially as of late. Many days, I just don't burn the midnight oil, I kill the morning rooster and work until it's 11 a.m. For the most part, it works out because my couples who are on the mainland, end up calling me at strange hours anyway because of the timezone difference. Chris was not the exception to the rule. He called me at around 3am in the morning, and was surprised he got someone on the phone.
It was then that Chris and Jen expressed to me their wedding ambitions: to escape to Hawaii, to rent a vacation home, to get married on the beach, and to throw a small dinner for whoever could make it down to Hawaii with them. While I agreed with that it was a great idea, I warned Chris and Jen that we may run into a few problems.
I informed them that vacation rentals here in Hawaii were mostly illegal, even though vacation rentals actually paid a 12% hotel tax to the State to keep in operation (I don't understand that either). Consequently, vacation rental owners tried to keep a vacationers presence a secret, so the community wouldn't report them to the State. This mean that owners forbade any type of gathering on their property: whether it would be for a wedding reception or a birthday party.
In the still of the night
Now here's what I truly don't understand about the state's law banning weddings to small wedding dinners on a private properties. First of all, what is the difference between a birthday party, a dinner, and a dinner for a small wedding party of ten? None. Why is a wedding party singled out and classified as "illegal?" I can understand that a LARGE wedding reception would possibly violate the maximum allowed fire-code occupancy for a residential property. But doesn't that fire-code only apply to commercial properties? I can also understand that large weddings with a DJ could violate a noise ordinance. But small dinners don't have DJ's, just a chef. So why should a small dinner, not truly a reception, be considered illegal in Hawaii? Is it illegal to hire a chef? Don't celebrities do that all the time?
I did forward Chris a few vacation rentals that were willing to skirt the law, and Chris did some research on his own. He ended up finding a few vacation rentals that were amusing, but turned them down when he found out that the owners monitored the vacation rental with web cameras. The vacation rental owners claim that they did this to make sure renters did not throw any parties. But past history throughout the world has proven otherwise as compromising videos of couples, magically appeared on websites provided by vacation rental owners. I mean come on...web cameras to monitor your vacation rental? Give me a break. Isn't that a violation of your right to privacy? Just imagine if hotel rooms installed webcams in your room? Seesh.
Everything went perfect on their wedding day
I told Chris bluntly, to just rent a vacation rental, that of course, would not be monitored by webcams, and throw your wedding and small dinner anyway. Having relatives in the police force in Hawaii, I was informed by them that, they, the police, had never shut down a wedding or dinner, especially if it consisted of just a small handful of people and they kept to themselves.
Chris agreed with my plan of action, and after a month or so he found a vacation rental he liked, and booked it. It was smooth sailing from there on out.
Their first kiss as husband and wife
So we didn't get the normal Hawaii sunset, but we still got great pictures
I honestly think Chris and Jen have movie star looks.
Everything on their wedding day went together well. Reverend Elias Parker gave a great Hawaii Wedding. The beaches were clear, the mood was romantic, it was great. The only bummer was the weather, which wasn't clear, so I really couldn't get an awesome sunset shot. But other than that everything turned out pretty much perfect.
Shot on my Canon G10
Another Canon G10 shot.
For dinner, Chris and Jen went with my referral and booked Chef Elmer Guzman. Chef Elmer is the BEST chef in Hawaii in my non-humble opinion. He's worked as an executive chef for many of the famous chefs you see on tv, and many of the chefs in Hawaii. Just recently, his store, Poke-Stop, was featured on the food network. In fact, Elmer was filming that episode before he came to Chris and Jen's wedding to cook.
Chef Elmer, hard at work
I'm not sure which dish this was, but it looked awesome
Dining outdoors in style.
Cameo appearance by my lighting stand in the background...haha.
So just how did these two star-destined couples meet? I'd love to tell you the story, but there's nothing like hearing it directly from the bride. Here is Jen, unedited:
"Chris and I actually met online, although at the beginning we used to tell people we met at the gym since we were embarrassed about being on a dating website...LOL. But we've since come out of the "closet" with that since people started accepting the whole online thing in recent years. We started chatting online in early December 2004, and then we starting talking on the phone. After about a month, we decided to meet at a little coffee shop in between our houses. It was pouring rain that day, and I hate rain so I was annoyed, and the town we met in has bad parking, so I was annoyed about that too. But once we met in person, grabbed some coffee and started talking, it was all history from there. He made me laugh like no other. I wasn't sure about him the first couple of dates, and I had to make sure he wasn't a serial killer, but by about date #3, I knew he was "the one". The funny thing is, he is the first guy I met in person through any online dating service (and the last!) After our first few dates, I canceled my dating website membership and never looked back. We have led a nontraditional path...moving in together, having our first child in April 2008, getting married in Hawaii October, 2009 and now our second little one due in June of this year, but it's all been an amazing ride. We are looking forward to creating the large family that we both never had and eventually retiring to somewhere sunny & beautiful where we can relax and drink lots of good red wine. That's all we really want out of life."
I don't know about you, but does Chris look like a serial killer? Haha. Hey, but you never know these dayst? Jen's right about the entire meeting online thing these days. There are SOoooo many couples meeting online. And, as you can see, it's not just reserved for nerds.
A little photo art I made at their house when I had some time to kill.
More photo art
Chris making sure that he ordered a wedding cake
Geez, it looks as though they are going to be nice to each other.
Nope. Not nice.
For some reason, I hear "Once Again" by Frankie Jordan when I see this picture.
On the day Chris and Jen tied the knot, I had two other weddings. My day began at 7am, and ended somewhere around 11pm. Luckily, I had a great assistant to help me get throughout that entire day. I don't usually have an assistant for my weddings, but for crazy days such as this, it really helps. This body is not made to work for more than 2 hours at a time...haha.
My final comments about Chris and Jen? I'm just glad to have met a cool couple such as these two. They have one kid already and another on the way. I could already tell, just by the way they treat each other, that they'll end up being great parents as well.
Nerdy duo buys cool product, yet still remain uncool to many
THIS BLOG HAS NO ONE TOPIC I'm writing about everything
Here's the deal. It's 4:30am in the morning, I just finished answering my emails from last night, and I'm just writing just to write. Lets start with a wedding story.
I had a small wedding yesterday at Ko'olina and the weather was horrible. I mean cats, dogs, elephants, horrible. In fact, I had never seen it so bad at Ko'olina before in my life. I sat with the couple in the lobby of the JW Marriott to discuss possible alternatives, such as postponing their wedding till the next day, or performing their wedding in a light drizzle, then taking nice pictures in blue sky weather the following day. But then, when it looked like all hope was lost, the rain stopped, the sun popped out, and everything went from gloomy to perfect.
I breathed a big sigh of relief, to say the least. So far, my record of great weather for outdoor weddings remains at a 99.999999% rate. I have only had 3 weddings out of the thousands which I performed, that had to get called off because of rainy weather. And because of yesterday, this record stays intact!
MY THOUGHTS ON THE iPAD
So lets switch gears to the iPad for a second here. Now, I don't own an iPhone, or even a Mac, but I seriously thought about getting an iPad. I know it's just a big iPhone, but I checked it out at the Mac store, and it was cool. I even ran one of my wedding videos on there with no problem. But because its platform does not support Flash, for the time being, I'll have to pass on it. 75% of all websites include flash, including the Philadelphia Eagles website! If I can't visit my Eagles website, why should I get an iPad? There are other tablet PC's that will hit the market later this year, so I remain in a holding pattern for now. The other tablet computers will have Flash support...something I'm really looking forward to.
One day, you will be mine
This iPad talk brings me to another subject, technology. Isn't it cool that when you look back at old movies or television shows, you can see how far we came in technology. I remember when Michael Knight had televisions in his car (KITT), and I thought that was coolest thing. I have one in my truck now. But, my truck doesn't talk to me. With that being said, my truck could drive automatically for me because it is a TOYOTA! (hahaha)
Remember Star Trek and their communicator things? Now, I have a Nextel phone that does the exact same thing! Do you remember Miami Vice and how cool Don Jonson was with his HUGE 1980's cell phone he pulled out of his sleek Ferrari Testarossa? And here we are today, complaining that cell phones are getting too big, haha. The only thing I'm waiting for is the flying Delorean. Mark my words, one day, I'm going to be driving around with a Delorean, modified as an exact movie replica from Back to the Future of course! It may not be able to fly, it may not be able to go back in time, but it will be the ultimate wedding machine I swear. I will show up to a wedding in one of these... Wouldn't I be the coolest wedding guy if I did that?
Ahh....dreams....
On a different but serious subject, business wise, I will be launching a new portion of my website dedicated purely to travel. While I do offer travel to all of my couples, I am going to attack the travel industry with more tenacity. After hearing horrible service related stories regarding online travel companies, I think I need to do this to truly help out couples from getting ripped. I'm planning on launching the travel portion to my website next month. So look for a very-small redesign to my company website by the middle of next month. I'll be blogging about hotels, things to do in Hawaii, restaurants, you name it, all in the name of educating the Hawaii bound traveler on how to save money here, and to be a smarter traveler.
Alright my brides and fans, I am outta here. I'm going to turn on the DVR, and fall asleep watching my favorite TV personality, Neil Cavuto.
A bride hit by "Red Lobster Mania" USE SUNSCREEN PLEASE!
Good morning my brides. For today, I want to address an epidemic that has hit destination brides AND grooms like the plague. I call it "Red Lobster Mania" and it has nothing to do with the restaurant, but everything to do with looking like what's on the plate at the restaurant. If you didn't piece together what I'm trying to say, here it is in plain English. Don't get sunburned, it's not cool, especially before your wedding day. Hey, it's simple logic right? But why is everyone doing it?
I understand that many tourists, honeymooners, you name it, all wanna get that killer tan before they head home. Well, let me tell you, that first off, you don't need to bake in the sun to get a great tan. In fact, you can use a very high SPF, and still get an awesome one. Tans are created naturally over the long haul. So if you use a high SPF, are out in the sun casually everyday in Hawaii, you'll return home with a tan. Trust me on that.
Take a look at this product:
This is the best sunscreen out there "Ocean Potion Extreme Sport 50 SPF"
This sunscreen, sun-lotion, whatever you wanna call it, is the best sunscreen you can get out there. I picked it up at Walmart one day and have been personally been using it ever since. You can too... With this sunscreen, you can head out in the HOT HOT sun in Hawaii, and not get burned. You will still get tanned, but the key is, you will not get burned. It's waterproof and not oily, which is also a plus. Don't worry about the high SPF, you'll still get a tan using this. And another plus is that it protects you from all those other UV rays as well.
While were on the subject of tanning, lets also talk about tan-lines. Using this sunscreen will definitely help you avoid tan-lines, but it's not a guarantee. Avoid wearing clothing before your wedding that may create detrimental tan-lines on your weddings day. In other words, if your wedding dress is strapless, make sure you don't go sunbathing around in a traditional bikini top, use a tube top. Also, sunglasses, can create unwanted tan-lines on your head if you're not careful. If you or your fiance are going to wear shades here in Hawaii, make sure to use some good ol "Ocean Sport Sunscreen" on that face of yours.
If you have a convertible, please, keep the top up, at least before the wedding!
So I hope you see my drift. While I do shoot on film, and that film is very gratious to couples who have decided to de-evolutionize themselves into lobsters, film does not solve everything. Computer graphics, can't do much either in even the worse cases.
Stay cool until after your wedding day, literally....
Taken yesterday on my snapshot G10 HAPPY MONDAY MORNING!
It's 3:44am in the morning and I'm about to go to bed. Just thought I'd post a wedding picture for the day! I have some new wedding blogs coming up. Talk to you all soon.
The Presidential egg roll derby HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
Thought I'd just drop by my blog today. Today is Easter. I have a family dinner to attend after my wedding at 6pm today. It's a small wedding, Patriot package only, so I only have to show up to the beach with my snapshot camera. I wanna bloviate here for a second. Just in case you are not regular follower of my blog, yes, I do take pictures for the Patriot Package with a snapshot camera you can buy at Best Buy. It's not a digital SLR, but a high end snapshot camera. And I love it because I've gotten really good at using it. Here are some pictures that I snapped earlier this year with my snapshot G10.
Josh and Jennifer walking on the beach during sunrise
Josh and McKenzie at Sunrise...(a different Josh)
By the way, that's not a typo. I had a double wedding last month, two Josh's, two different men, both in the military, married their sweethearts, Jennifer and McKenzie, at the same time. I'll blog about them in the next few weeks.
Now, not anyone can pick up a snapshot camera and take these shots. There's some talent involved here. I actually shoot my G10, 100% in manual mode. Meaning I control the shutter speed/aperture, and flash power to get the pictures you see. And I can do this because I understand light. Most photographers, especially digital photographers, shoot their cameras in auto mode most of the time.
The only touch-ups I have to do is to add a little contrast to touch up the shots, and the pictures are good to go. My dream is one day that digital will become as good as film so I can just carry my snapshot camera to ALL weddings!
Well, it's 4pm, I better get ready for my 6pm wedding, which means grabbing my G10 off the table and putting it in my pocket..haha. Happy Easter everyone.
I HAVE NO IDEA HOW GOOD THIS MOVIE IS BECAUSE... I WALKED OUT 1/4 WAY INTO IT!
Movies are getting pretty expensive to watch these days. On average, it cost around $10.00 for a ticket, $10.00 more for food and drinks. If you're on a date, throw in $10.00 more for an extra ticket...maybe $10.00 more for more food. So that's $40.00. Wait-wait-wait, lets not forget the 3-D surcharge of $7.00 per ticket. So lets see, that's $54.00 for a movie these days! Can someone scream inflation? You better bet your frigging dollar that when I see a movie, I'm going to make sure I get my moneys worth.
So, getting to the story, I head out to see Clash of the Titan's, not with a date, just with my buddy Keith. I pay about $17.00 for the ticket, no food or drinks. I'm looking forward to it, and well, the movie starts, and it's blurry. I tolerate it for about 1/4 way through the movie, then make an executive decision to leave before I see the entire movie in BLURRY-D. I give my 3D glasses to the young ushers and tell him the screen is blurry. He puts on the glasses, looks at the screen, and says, "It's supposed to be like that."
"Have you seen Avatar, or any other 3-D movies?" I ask.
"Yeah, they are all blurry like that, that's what gives it the 3-D effect."
I tell him sternly. "Look, I used to work in the movie industry. I'm a photographer by trade, and I know when your projectionist isn't focusing the screen correctly. I want a refund."
He acknowledges my displeasure, takes me to the front counter, and I get a refund. I ask the girl working the counter.
"Did anyone else complain about this?"
"Oh yeah, about five other people said the same thing. But that's the way 3-D is, blurry", she repeats.
Wow. So, this theater believes that 3-D movies are synonymous with blurry movies, meaning... you pay $7.00 more to watch a blurry screen... What theater is this? None other than the Ward Theaters in Honolulu. I'm not watching another 3-D show there, probably never another movie. The best movie theater which you can find in Hawaii is the IMAX THX theaters are Dole Cannery. In order to be a THX theater, they must pass certain viewing standards.
What troubles me even more is that these kids did not want to seriously look at what might be a legitimate focusing problem. If 5 customers complain, there must be something wrong right?
In case you're wondering, this is how a 3-D theater works
The reason why the movie was blurry was because the projectors were not setup correctly before the movie. If one camera is just slightly out of position or focus, it will ruin the entire viewing experience. Even if one camera is moved a few millimeters to the left or right, the result will be a blurry picture. There is supposed to be a union projectionist monitoring the movies to make sure everything is perfect, but hey, guess what...they didn't do it!
Will I go back to the theaters to watch Clash of the Titans? I dunno. If it comes out on IMAX here in Hawaii then I might consider it. But I think it's a wait for DVD movie now.
