Weddingbee Blog

A lot of our friends were coming a week before the wedding to beach, surf, and play. Before they arrived at their hotel, we wanted to drop-off a little welcome gift. Everyone loves a welcome gift – be it cookies, a fresh towel, or a refreshing cocktail. I know I do!

In our RSVP cards, we asked that our friends let us know where they were staying. Armed with this info, my sister and I headed to Waikiki at 5:30 in the morning (to avoid traffic and easily park on the street) and delivered the goods. I love her. Mr Piglet was sleeping. I still love him, too.

So what were in these bad boys?

Actually, let me backtrack for a sec in case you’re wondering where we bought them. The 0% plastic totes are from Gap. They weren’t the cheapest option, but we knew our friends would use them as beach bags, and maybe continue to use them when they went back to the mainland. I’ve put mine to good use, for sure!

The clear totes were our welcome gifts to Mr Piglet’s family who traveled from Korea. We felt so loved that they traveled the distance to celebrate with us, and wanted to express our gratitude with none other than Kona coffee, chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and some more local goodies.

We also wanted to provide our guests with info on wedding activities for the week. Remember the trifolds from our wedding invitation suite? Due to a printing mishap, we had a grip of extras so we added a trifold to each bag since it included a schedule of activities, and directions to our ceremony site.

And lastly (thanks to my wonderful bridesmaid Min), a welcome packet of recommendations for things to do and places to grub was also added to the bag. My favorite of all the recommendations is Bubbies! The mochi ice cream is heaven in my mouth! Mr Piglet and I always stop by Bubbies and treat ourselves to some espresso mochi ice cream when we drive back to Waikiki from Waimanalo Beach (our favorite beach spot).

sources (1, 2)

Our friends appreciated the list of eats, and things to do, so I thought I’d post it here in case any of you are planning a visit to Oahu. Here’s a snippet of what Min put together. The rest, you can see here.

Get a taste of the ‘Obama Eats’! These are the spots where the Obama family dined during their visit to Hawaii.

• Indigo (1121 Nuuanu Ave.) The Obamas ordered: the dim sum plate (goat cheese won tons, lumpia-wrapped shrimp, duck mu shu rolls); toasted black mustard and pepper crusted ahi served rare with wasabi soy, sun dried tomato and olive tapenade.
• Alan Wong’s, (1857 S. King St.)
• Rainbow Drive-In, (3308 Kanaina Ave.) Plate lunch.
• Zippy’s: “Zip Min”, a bowl of noodle in hot broth with everything from won tons and vegetables to fish cake and sweet pork.
• Grace’s Inn: chicken katsu on top of a bed of chow fun noodles, two scoops of rice and a side of mac salad
• Island Snow Shave Ice, (130 Kailua Road, Kailua) Cheeseburgers
• Sakura Restaurant, (41-1801 Kalanianaole Hwy., Waimanalo) ahi poke, fried gyoza, and the 12-ounce ribeye steak.
• Kua Aina Sandwich, (1200 Ala Moana Blvd.) 1/3-pound cheeseburgers, six 1-pound cheeseburgers, 10 Kiddie Burgers and 20 orders of fries.
• Koko Marina Paradise: The tuna melt, now called the “Presidential Order”. (I really don’t like the food at this place, personally. I can make a better sandwich than here any day.)
• Kokonuts Shave Ice, (7192 Kalanianaole Hwy., Hawaii Kai) Small lemon-lime and cherry shaved ice.
• Mariposa, (1450 Ala Moana Blvd., Ala Moana Neiman Marcus)

Enjoy!