Nadine Kam photos
This Paloma Blanca satin charmeuse capped-sleeve sheath gown with empire lace bodice, sash and brooch is $1,875.

The Wedding Cafe and The Bridal Boutique teamed up to play host to 75 brides-to-be, their friends and a handful of supportive grooms-to-be at the “27 Dresses” Couture Wedding Gown show Sunday night. The event had the vibe of a giant bridal shower with desserts, wine, and fun and games from beginning to end.

As usual, guests lined up early and were eventually greeted inside The Bridal Boutique, 614 Cooke St., by the music of Ben Vegas and Maila Gibson, who is a great singer. I’m hyper-critical about that because I sing and I can never figure out how, on “American Idol,” after auditioning thousands and thousands of wannabes, they come up up with such mediocre talent in the top 24. Listening to Maila outside the door, I thought I was listening to a recording and Tanna Dang, of The Wedding Cafe, later told the audience that she booked Ben and Maila for her wedding as soon as she set her date, before making any other arrangements. They are that good.

Before the show, guests lined up for dessert.

From there it was onto wine sampling compliments of Wine the Experience and desserts from Aloha Cakery, such as Heavenly Haupia Squares, Hawaiian Honeymoon Brownies and Strawberry Dream Wedding Cake. My favorite was the Cloud 9 Cream Puff.

Of course, everyone came to see the wedding gowns modeled by friends of the hosts, to show how gowns fit brides of every size. But the star of the evening was 5-year-old flowergirl model Kaylie, who put on her best attitude, even doing a backward stroll down the runway to Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.”

Cheri Cabillon, left, is looking forward to an October wedding, while Belinda Sanchez has set a date in September.

I took an empty seat next to Cheri Cabillon and Belinda Sanchez, two of the most stylish in the house. I asked Sanchez if she was in the fashion biz. “No,” she said, “but I’m French.” She said she didn’t want a traditional wedding dress, and had originally searched for something “couture or funky” to suit her style sense, but once she tried on a wedding cake sort of dress, she was hooked by that traditional image.

Once the show started, she had to remove her jacket. “I’m getting hot, this is serious business,” she said.

Can’t have a shower without toilet-paper games, with Maryn as blushing bride.

After the fashion show came the games testing brides’ planning and mathematical skills. Apparently, few were good at math under duress, even when it came to figuring out something simple like the cost of cake, at $3.75 per slice, for 150 guests. I talked to Danna about that later and she said it’s typical that when brides first come to see her, they don’t know how to price services or set a budget.

“We sit them down and help them to figure out what’s important to them and how they can make it happen, even if it means cutting back elsewhere,” she said. “They usually find a way to get everything they want.”

In the end, the bride left standing was Veronica Prado, who survived the toilet-paper gown contest, math problems and “Price is Right” challenge to win a wedding gown priced up to $2,000.

Neilani Siatini, left, with Amanda Corby, was among the lucky handful in the audience who received the models’ bouquets during the fashion show finale. Siatini not only could keep the flowers, but also won a certificate to have her wedding bouquet provided by Sweet Petals Florist.

Tanna Dang, left, watches as Christina Loftis wraps Veronica Prado in toilet paper in recreating one of the evening’s runway gowns.

Kaylie was one of the stars of the runway.

Tiffany Rodriguez, left, with Lillian Macoba, won a gift certificate for a Touch Spa facial after being deemed the evening’s Bridezilla, the most meticulous and retentive of all the pre-brides in attendance.

Elsewhere online:

bridalboutiquehonolulu.com
www.TheWeddingCafe.net
www.winetheexperience.com
www.alohacakery.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 10:41 am and is filed under Bridal, Parties, Fashion shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.