Tag Archives: Maui Stamper wedding

Family First

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I’ve neglected the Maui Stamper all month, and sorry, but I’m not sorry. Our family celebrated a wedding last weekend and the past few weeks have been abundant with love and joy. The last of the family is headed back to the mainland today, and I am trying my best to re-enter my version of the real world.

Let’s go back to the beginning – at least the Maui Stamper beginning! Here’s the Save-the-Date I collaboratively created for my daughter Sara and her fiancé Ben:

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Ben and Sara Save the Date

I’m not going to tell you how many of these I made, but I will tell you that my die cutting machine and my dies may never be the same and my fingers were WORN OUT. But it was worth it – I loved how they turned out, and so did Sara and Ben.

Next project was an invitation:

Maui Stamper Stampin' Up! Ben and Sara Invitation
  • Stamps: Climbing Orchid (retired), Beauty Abounds, Wonderful Romance (retired)
  • Color Palette: Whisper White, Granny Apple Green, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral
  • Accessories: Orchid Builder framelits (retired), Die cutting machine, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers

In both cases I printed the text onto Whisper White card stock, formatting with Microsoft Publisher. There was an additional card included with the invitation with a few more details, and it was cut to to the size of the interior panel. The Save-the-Date measures 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and the Invitation is 5″ x 7″. We ordered yellow envelopes that coordinated well, since Stampin’ Up! doesn’t sell that size.

I sent Sara and Ben a sample of EVERY color of Stampin’ Up! card stock, as well as some samples of embellishments and embossing folders. Most of our design work was done via text and photo, with a couple of FaceTime sessions as we narrowed things down. It was such an enjoyable process, and an honor for me to make the invitations.

Fast forward to last weekend:

The ceremony was at Olowalu Plantation House, and despite some iffy weather earlier in January, the day was spectacularly gorgeous. Everything went smoothly, and the whales provided a nice touch as they spouted, breached, and showed their tales all afternoon. The flowers were amazing, done by Dellables and of exceptional quality. Look at the bride’s bouquet three days AFTER the ceremony:

There are advantages to being Mother of the Bride at a destination wedding – Mr. Maui Stamper and I brought home a lot of beautiful flowers!

Speaking of The Mister, he’s a craftsman in his own right. He created an extraordinary marker for the event: a redwood sign with the home town and distance of every wedding guest on arrows:

That’s the beautiful Maid of Honor, our oldest daughter Carol, with her wonderful partner, Shanti. There are more home towns and distances on the other side of the sign, and as an engineer, Mr. Maui Stamper made sure that each arrow pointed correctly towards its destination (within 22°). He also made quite precise measurements, and used the appropriate unit of measurement for the country. This sign was a big attraction!

A late addition to the décor was a set of table numbers and escort cards to help the guests find their seats. There wasn’t a set seating chart, but guests were grouped at their tables so that family and friends would be able to sit together.

I can’t say enough about White Orchid Weddings and my dear friend, Jackie Ishikawa. I’ve known her since our kids were in grade school together, and when it came time to find a wedding coordinator there was no question about who to ask. Jackie did a fabulous job of guiding Sara and Ben through the process, and made sure that on the day of the celebration we were all guests at the party!

The bride and groom kicked off the festivities and the celebration was one to remember. My family is spread across the globe, and having an occasion like this to gather made my heart sing.

A very special sign

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Carol was inspired by something she saw on Pinterest and asked her dad if he could make a sign for the wedding.  The guests were coming from many, many places, and Carol wanted something that would acknowledge the distances traveled.

Mr Maui Stamper, aka Dad, is a craftsman in his own right.  His medium is wood, and though it’s been a few years since he did a project of this scale he immediately started planning.  His skill and attention to detail resulted in an extraordinary sign:

Maui Stamper Dad's SignThere were a few locations that weren’t represented by name but were within a hundred miles or so of another destination.  And those distances are not approximations, but were carefully calculated using specific coordinates for the EXACT distance!

The sign required a pretty substantial footing, and that meant removing a couple of the distance arrows from the bottom in order to put it in place.  Carol loves her power tools:

Maui Stamper Wedding Destinations Sign

The sign began and ended the week installed in our back yard – in fact, it is going to be permanently installed in the garden.  For our parties at home, we wanted it to be more accessible so it went in the middle of the lawn:

Maui Stamper Wedding Destinations SignDid I mention that Carol is an engineer too?  She and her dad worked together on the back yard installation as that is a big sign and takes at least two people to put in place.  Guests at the various parties took photos with the sign and admired both its physical and technical beauty.

It was a pretty impressive installation at the reception, too:

ScottDrexler Photography

The wedding invitation

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It all began – at least from a paper point of view – with the invitation:

Maui Stamper Wedding InvitationI made about 8 different samples and sent them off to Australia for Carol and Clarence to see.  Thank goodness for Skype, Viber and email!!  We compared and adjusted and tweaked until we were all happy, and then I set to work creating the invitation.

Maui Stamper Wedding InvitationIt doesn’t look like much here, but it was beautiful to hold and very elegant.  I scored an    8 1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock as a tri-fold, then created a panel to complete the front.  That Elegant Lines embossed panel was spritzed with Champagne Mist shimmer paint, and I made a few extras that came in very handy later on.  There’s a little Very Vanilla Seam Binding across the bottom, with that Decorative Label embellishment popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

And no, there isn’t a larger Decorative label punch – that’s two Garden Green labels cut in half and attached to the back to create a mat – you can see it clearly in the first photo.  We were careful to keep the front smooth since we didn’t want to pay for any additional postage due to extra thickness – these invitations travelled far and wide and the necessary postage was already enough!

Maui Stamper Wedding InvitationThe interior was simple – just their invitation to the guests and a few stamped images.  The extra layers of paper gave it substantial weight that felt good to hold.  We used Blushing Bride ink with Garden Green and Brushed Gold cardstock – I didn’t have enough Pear Pizazz cardstock when I made the invitations.

I sent out the U.S. invitations and shipped the rest to Carol and Clarence to mail in Australia and Mauritius.  I confess I was relieved when Carol texted me a photo of the box of invitations safe and sound at her desk in Perth!

Rows and rows and rows….

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If it hadn’t been for my girlfriends this would have never happened:

Maui Stamper Wedding FavorsHave you ever made one of those little paper rosettes?  You stack 6 or so scallop circles, push a brad through the middle to hold them together, dampen the paper and then scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.

It took a LOT of loving hands to make all of those rosettes!

Maui Stamper Wedding Favor MakersRobbie, Peggy, Cheryl and Crystal literally saved my life – and my fingers – and we had a wonderful time doing it (ok, mostly – it was a little bit insane).  Once the rosettes were made it was pretty simple:  a doily from the Petite Pennants Bigz die, a flower trimmed from the 5/8 inch Flower Trim, some Pear Pizazz Seam Binding (a Clearance Rack SCORE!), Hemp Twine (also from the Rack) and Linen Thread.

Maui Stamper Wedding FavorsI made the tags a couple of days later, although Crystal was the one who designed them so that I could print them on my printer and then punch them out.

These favor jars were filled with an amazing seasoning salt made here on Maui by a dear, wonderful woman named Iris Nitta.  Carol knew her from her Baldwin High School days, and when Carol graduated from college she worked on Maui with Iris’s son-in-law for a while.  He brought the season salt to his co-workers as a Christmas gift that year, and when it was time to find something for the favors Carol knew exactly what she wanted.  Iris made up a special batch for us and for a few days my car – and my house – smelled divinely as nearly 40 pounds of salt waited to be put into jars!  All the loving hands that participated in this wedding made every aspect so special.

I’m really glad Carol and Clarence decided to keep the guest list under 100 guests.

Memories and messages from the guests

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My daughter’s wedding was a very personal event.  She and Clarence had many choices to make, but each of them had a very personal touch.   They were looking for a different sort of guest book – not the traditional “sign your name” variety.  Since everything had to go back to Australia (boo!) after the wedding, we didn’t think one of those big photo mats would work.  I came up with the idea to encourage each guest to write a little “love note” to the bride and groom, and of course they couldn’t write those notes on scratch paper:

Maui Stamper Wedding Guest BookOnce again the fabulous Needlepoint Border TIEF added just the right touch!

Maui Stamper Wedding Guest Book

I used stamps from the Summer Silhouette, Loving Thoughts, and Everything Eleanor stamp sets to embellish the cards.  One was at each place setting along with a sign designed by Crystal:

Maui Stamper MDS Wedding Memories Table Sign

These signs were printed 3×5 inches on Very Vanilla card stock and were put on small table tents, two per table.  The guests drew, told stories, gave advice, and created a wonderful reminder for the bride and groom.  I didn’t get a photo before they left, but when all the cards were gathered together I created a front and back cover and made a book to hold all these wonderful messages.

A special wedding welcome

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My daughter Carol and her husband Clarence wanted to be sure every guest at their wedding felt welcomed, and they wanted that welcome to be very personal.  They decided to give each guest a lei greeting and take a photo with them.  We set up a table for the lei:

MauiStamper wedding pennantsOne thing I have to make clear before I go any further is that when I say “we” I mean Crystal.  Honestly, if you are planning a wedding you need a lot of friends to help!  Crystal has a great designer’s eye, and she offered to set up decorations at the reception site while I was being MOTB.  We did lots of pennants – sorry to say I don’t have photos of all of them.  The bird cage (courtesy of Cheryl) was to hold cards and our idea of a guest book.  Wish I had another photo of those goofy birds at the foot of the birdcage – they were hilarious – and 75% off after-Christmas clearance!

Maui Stamper Birdcage Pennants

The pennants were cut from the Perfect Pennants Bigz die and embellished wtih the new Needlepoint Border TIEF from the Spring catalog.  I also used the fabulous new 5/8 inch flower trim from that Spring catalog – THANK YOU STAMPIN’ UP!, your timing was impeccable!!  And if you are wondering about the color scheme, we used Blushing Bride and Pear Pizazz – both retired In Colors from 2010-2012.  Again, Stampin’ Up! had incredible timing as these two colors of cardstock (and a number of related accessories) hit the Clearance Rack just when I needed them!  I had been hoarding bits and pieces, but with all the paper I bought I was able to do anything I wanted!

Check in later this week – I have more photos for you to enjoy!  It was such fun to create these small touches for my daughter’s wedding day.

Memories to last a lifetime

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ScottDrexler Photography“There’s no such thing as the perfect picture…just the perfect moment.”

That’s a quote from Scott Drexler, the enormously talented photographer who captured many perfect moments for our family last weekend.  We spent the week before the wedding celebrating with family and friends who arrived from near and far.  Saturday was a gorgeous Maui day, and our hearts were full to bursting with love as Carol and Clarence celebrated their commitment to one another.

ScottDrexler Photography

The tables at the reception were perfect with gorgeous arrangements by Teresa Sena and a few hand-made touches by MOTB (Mother of the Bride).

ScottDrexler PhotographyThere’s a story behind those favors, and I promise to tell it in the next week or so 🙂

This weekend is the RemARKable Stamper’s Stamp of the Month Blog tour, so it’s back to Stampin’ Business!!   Be sure to stop by on Sunday to see an abundance of creations with the Collage Curios stamp set, and then check in next week for more wedding details!

RemARKable Stamp of the Month February