The Paipaikou Hongwanji is a venue that has been transformed over the last year. The wood grain walls and pillars did a lot to improve the venue's appearance. This has got to be one of the nicest and best kept event spaces for a Hongwanji on the island. It was a perfect setting for this country themed wedding. This was the wedding of Jon and Shailyn.

Country themed weddings are a great idea for a themed wedding. It can be described as rustic with a casual elegance. A very organic ambiance with a natural feel. Country music also has some of the greatest love songs that are perfect for weddings. Songs from Edwin McCain, Blake Shelton, and Heartland are artist and groups that provide just a few country wedding classics.

I was surprised at how much work the groom put into making the decorations for this party. There were wooden fences, tables, chairs, signs, along with hay on the floor. It was obvious a lot of work went into creating this atmosphere and it showed. The ambiance was fantastic! For the lighting for this night we used amber lighting with light shadowing and touches of white. Lighting like this helps preserve the natural look.



In the picture of the head table above there was amber lighting with white lighting on the remembrance pictures on each side of the head table. It's always a great idea to bring loved ones that could not be present into a wedding. It really adds something special. String lighting also works very well for a country themed wedding. We did not use that technique at this wedding, but I wanted to throw that out because of how well it goes with a country themed event. I look forward to many more country themed weddings in the future. Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs. Menino!

To contact the Papaikou Hongwanji Hall call (808) 964-1640. For more info on Eclipse Effect Entertainment services, please call (808) 936-3552 or email bookings@eclipseeffect.com. Don’t forget to sign up for our bridal newsletter filled with useful wedding tips and downloads. Click on the link on the left of this page to sign up and for your bonus download.

- Blog written by Jase Takeya. jase@eclipseeffect.com

Tags: papaikouhongwanji, papaikou, Hawaiiwedding, Hilowedding, reception, Bigislandwedding, Country, Countrytheme, Countrywedding, Bigisland

The Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa at Keauhou Bay has some great amenities. Not only does the hotel have a great pool, definitely one of the better ones in Kailua-Kona, but they also have a great restaurant called Rays On The Bays where the sunset views are fantastic. A great atmospheres for couples and families to stay. Where the hotel especially does shine are it’s areas for weddings. This was the perfect atmosphere for Jonathan & Naomi’s dream wedding.

This wedding took place in the Convention Center. It’s a great indoor ballroom that has movable walls that allows the room to expand for a bigger wedding or downsize for a smaller more intimate wedding. This room also holds so much possibility for creativity when it comes to lighting. Not only does this ball room have tall ceilings, but there are many possibilities to do some nice designs on the projector screen in the venue. Instead of leaving it blank and drawing attention away from the screen it can be used behind the head table as part of the decor. That is what makes this ball room unique.

Here is the design we put together for this wedding.



We used turquoise and white for lighting to match the wedding colors. This lighting design was a full room uplighting design with turquoise hearts on the sides of the head table and custom gobo with water effect on the screen. This room has to be one of the most versatile ballrooms on the island to light up. The Sig Zane designed carpet also adds to this rooms elegance. Congratulations to Jonathan & Naomi Corrales and thank you for having us along for your special day.

For more information on weddings at the Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa at Keauhou Bay visit http://www.sheratonkona.com/weddings/overview. For more info on Eclipse Effect Entertainment services, please call (808) 936-3552 or email bookings@eclipseeffect.com. Don’t forget to sign up for our brand new bridal newsletter filled with useful wedding tips and downloads. Click on the link on the left of this page to sign up and for your bonus download.

- Blog written by Jase Takeya. jase@eclipseeffect.com

Tags: Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa at Keauhou Bay, Sheraton Keauhou, Kailua-Kona, Kona, Keauhou, Sheraton, Hawaii, Hawaii Wedding, Bigisland, Hawaiiisland, Wedding, reception, Weddingreception

The Hilo Hawaiian Hotel offers many benefits for weddings. They offer many accommodations from a ceremony site, two rooms to hold a reception, lots of parking, areas near by for wedding photos, food, and rooms for family and friends. For the wedding of the brand new Mr & Mrs. Ragasa, the reception took place in the Mala Ikena. A room that holds meetings more often than weddings, but it provides a nice intimate setting for a reception.



The Mala Ikena room is the room next to the buffet. This room is great for a small wedding intimate wedding. That’s exactly the feel that Jon and Brenda was looking for. It was a nice reception with family and friends having easy access to each other for socializing and catching up. Dinner was trips to the buffet which also comes with free drinks for the night. I think this is fantastic idea for a wedding. Not only are your guests able to eat as much as they want including desserts, but with the unlimited drinks you basically have an open bar. For the lighting set up we decided to set up lighting around the perimeter of the room in the wedding colors of light blue and white. This room works well with uplighting because it is small in size with low ceiling. This allows the uplighting to reflect the lighting better off of the walls and ceiling.



With this set up there is no need for the top lights to be on. It’s nice to find rooms at venue that not many people think of holding weddings in often. For a nice small wedding on the East side of the island consider the Mala Ikena Room at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. With it’s great accommodations it the perfect venue for an intimate wedding. Congratulations to the newly married Jon & Brenda Ragasa! Two great people with many years of happiness to come.


- Photo by Christopher Parayno

For more info on weddings at Hilo Hawaiian Hotel call Dallas Ide (808) 935-9361or visit them at visit them online at http://www.castleresorts.com/Home/accommodations/hilo-Hawaiian-hotel. The cake for this wedding was made by Chef Coen of Hilo Bake Company. Visit them online at www.hilobakecompany.com. For more info on Eclipse Effect Entertainment services, please call (808) 936-3552 or email jase@eclipseeffect.com.

- Blog written by Jase Takeya. jase@eclipseeffect.com

Tags: Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, Banyan Drive, Hilo Weddings, Hawaii Wedding, Bigisland wedding, Wedding reception, Mala Ikena Room

The Wainaku Center is one of the most grand looking venues of the East side of the island. This former C. Brewer building that has been fixed up and restored to be a great location for a wedding. It has a look that rivals any venue in Waikoloa and provides a great ocean view as well as a fancy looking building. If you want a venue that has an elegant look to it, but don’t want to travel to Waikoloa due to the cost or convenience of your guests, this is the perfect wedding venue for you.



Recently we got to add to the beauty of the Wainaku Center. We provided lighting services for the brand new Mr. & Mrs. Filipovich. It was a day that started with an amazing wedding ceremony complete with a flower pedal drop from a helicopter. That is a sight to see! From there it was a reception where there was live acoustic music then dancing. We had a lot of fun teaming up with Pepe of CJ’s Sound for this wedding. The food was fantastic from Aloha Mondays. They are highly recommended. They use fresh ingredients grown here on the Big Island and have a creative menu.

Here is what we did for the lighting for the night. An original design we created in 2012 was to light up the whole exterior of the building and we have been refining the design since.



For this wedding we did lighting in teal as well as blue in the patio area to match the weddings ocean theme. We also did a palm tree pattern and white wash in the grass as well as string lighting under the tent. It was a design that really worked well for this wedding. Lighting is always a worthy addition to a wedding at this venue. The ocean view is a great back drop in the day time then the building becomes that great back drop at night. In all it’s always an elegant affair at the Wainaku Center. For more information on the Wainaku Center visit www.wainakuventures.com. Check out what delicious tasting Aloha Monday has this week by going to www.alohamondays.com. For more info on Eclipse Effect Entertainment services, please call (808) 936-3552 or email jase@eclipseeffect.com.

- Blog written by Jase Takeya. jase@eclipseeffect.com

Tags: Wainaku Center, Hilo Weddings, Aloha Mondays, CJ Sounds

The Hilton Water’s Edge Ballroom is one of those venue where you feel like you are in those really elegant venues you see on Pinterest. Not only do you have that view of the man made bay behind you, but you also have the one of a kind architecture as the central point of the room with the spiral staircase. It’s always a treat to work in this ballroom. The elegance of the room goes hand in hand with the lighting design. Both compliment each other well.



A few weeks ago it was the wedding of Bo & Tara in the Hilton Waikoloa Water’s Edge Ballroom. It was a tough set up not because of the difficulty of the lighting design, but the amount of time we to set up. It was going to take 4 hours to set up this lighting design we had in mind. The only problem was we had only 1 1/2 to make this happen with a brand new member to our set up crew. How were we going to pull this off?

It was an intense set up. We worked with Pele’s Wedding & Events to create lighting design of fall colors. The colors of fall were represented with amber and orange. Ambers work well in any room to give a room a high end feel.





We also did an elegant pattern on the dance floor. This created a focal point for the night.



The new set up team worked very well together and we did pull off the set up in time. I was simply amazed and relieved. The bride and groom were also two very laid back people that knew how to have a good time. This just brought the night together very well. It was also great working with Pele’s Wedding & Events again. Their planning and decor services are some of the best on this island in terms of quality. It is always a pleasure to work with them and I can highly recommend them.

The Hilton Waikoloa Water’s Edge Ballroom is always a good choice for a wedding venue. Its elegance and feel is one of a kind to this location. For more details on the Hilton Waikoloa and their wedding services visit http://www.hiltonwaikoloavillage.com/romance-overview/wedding-ceremonies. For more details on Pele’s Wedding & Events services visit http://www.peleswedding.com. If you have any questions on our services here at Eclipse Effect Entertainment? I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Please call (808) 936-3552 or email jase@eclipseeffect.com.

- Blog written by Jase Takeya. jase@eclipseeffect.com

Tags: Hilton Waikoloa, Waikoloa wedding, Water's Edge Ballroom, Bigisland wedding, Hilton Waikoloa Wedding, Hawaii Wedding

Nani Mau Gardens is turning out to be a very busy venue on the East side of the island. It’s no wonder with it’s friendly staff, wonderful gardens, and excellent prime rib. You have everything you need for a great wedding all in one venue. Weddings have a great feeling there and the wedding Kaho’okele and Jaymee was one of those. It was a wedding of over 300 people. It was a huge wedding, but it’s nice have a choice to hold a bigger wedding there. Some of the party had to sit outside, but that is a good thing especially if you place the drinkers outside when putting together the seating because that’s where the bar is. Nani Mau does have one of the best prime rib on the island. Here’s a sample plate of what you may be ordering for dinner that night if you go with the prime rib.



It’s as good as it looks. There were also great fellow vendors we worked with this night. John Kunishige of 808 Cakes always does tasty and elegant cakes. We’ve worked with him for four events in a row. That’s one busy man for good reason. For the photographers we worked with Joe Febo of Hana Hou Photography and he did some very creative shots with the spot lights and the bride and groom. Lighting works very well and changes the mood in the reception room due to its low ceilings and white walls. Here is a lighting design we have been doing recently that works well for this venue.



In the top picture we have the head table set up with a classic uplighting design behind the table. We also did some star gobos on the wall to give the design an extra elegance. Purple was the wedding color and the bride really wanted stars in her wedding so it was a perfect design. The bottom picture is during the dancing part of the night. There was a wash of color that changed on the dance floor as well as the gobos on the back wall changing to the beat of the music. Another beautiful wedding in the books, but it’s really the bride and groom that stands out in our minds. Congrats to Kaho’okele and Jaymee and many happy years to this fun couple. For more info on our services here at Eclipse Effect Entertainment please call (808) 936-3552 or email jase@eclipseeffect.com.

- Blog written by Jase Takeya. jase@eclipseeffect.com

Tags: Nanimaugardens, nanimau, Hilowedding, Hilo, Bigisland, Bigislandwedding, primerib

Kilauea Military Camp is not a venue that you think about with the word wedding. Though it turned out to be an amazing night at this venue. The room which the wedding took place in was right next to the arcade and bowling alley. It’s a little smaller then the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel Moku’ola Ballroom with the same low ceiling. With a low ceiling the room can really transform with lighting. Low ceiling and a medium size room is perfect for a full room lighting set up. Lighting is also essential in this KMC room due to the amount of wall paint patches all over the place. Lighting hid this flaw amazingly well.



With the help of Salina of Smiply Said...The Wedding Store who did the awesome decor, the room really looked elegant.



John Kunishige of 808 Cakes also did an amazing cake that matched the room decor and a delicious dessert bar for the night. It also was a night filled with a lot of emotion. It was a night filled with joyful tears of many of the family and guests along with the bride and groom. The speeches were unbelievably touching. One of the most emotional weddings we’ve been to so far, but that is a good thing. Many guests have been waiting for these two to get married after 13 years together. The bride and groom are also good friends of mine so it’s also nice to be a part of making this special night for these two.



Congratulations to Kapua & Anela Kalima! Thanks for having us at one of the biggest days of your lives.

Written by Jase Takeya, jase@eclipseeffect.com.

Tags: Kilauea Military Camp, KMC, Volcano, Wedding, Hawaii Wedding, Volcano Wedding