Hawaii's Wedding Professionals Show#41 - Charity Formals and Abilities Unlimited

Edward Jackson, Ridge Agbisit, Dale Lee-Roche, Kimberly Ho, Maria Orta and Karen Mukai of Abilities Unlimited and Charity Formals

Stanette Kitamura of Abilities Unlimited

Show Times on OC16

Premiers: Friday, August 12 at 6:30pm

Repeats:

Monday, August 15 at 11:30am

Thursday, August 18 at 10:00am

Friday, August 19 at 5:00am

When tuxedo shop Hale Niu closed its doors after 60 years of business, they wanted their closure to benefit a non-profit organization and in so doing, continue to serve their loyal customers with the same reputation for excellent service that they were known for during their long time in business.  So, they donated their inventory and created the social enterprise that is now called Charity Formals. 

Charity Formals has an all inclusive tuxedo package that includes the tuxedo jacket, pants, vest, tie, shoes all for the amazing price of $69.95 with no hidden charges (such as a late fee or alteration fee).  And, the customer can even designate $10.00 of that price to their favorite charity.

What is even more amazing than the affordable price of the tuxedo is the work program that has been developed in partnership between Charity Formals and Abilities Unlimited.  Host Kahu Kalehua Featheran interviews Maria Orta of Charity Formals, as well as Stanette Kitamura, Kimberly Ho, Dale Lee-Roche, Edward Jackson and Ridge Agbisit of Abilities Unlimited who share this partnership program with the television audience.  Tune in to see the training programs that takes place at Abilities Unlimited to help prepare individuals with disabilities to become people with abilities that are unlimited.  It’s a great story and when Kahu Kalehua heard about it, he wanted to share it with all of you.

Hawaii’s Wedding Professionals Show #40 True Vision Center and Paradise Beauty Salon & Spa

Lisabeth Fletcher of Paradise Beauty Salon & Spa

Dr. Melanie Tantisira of True Vision Center

Host Kahu Kalehua Featheran’s first guest is Dr. Melanie Tantisira of True Vision Center.  Dr. Tantisira graduated from UH Medical School, second in her class and completed her residency at the University of Pittsburg.  As an ophthalmologist, Dr. Tantisira is able to help patients with many types of eye problems including lasik surgery.

Dr. Tantisira is transforming her practice to also include cosmetology, helping people to look better via “facial sculpting”.  Tune in to hear Dr. Tantisira discuss the use of Botox as you see “before and after” photos of some of her patients.  She provides free consultations and often sees brides and mothers of the brides, who wish to get a little rejuvenation before their wedding photo sessions.

In downtown Kapaa, Kahu Kalehua meets Lisabeth Fletcher, owner of Paradise Beauty Salon and Spa.  Lisabeth went to beauty school in Belgium and opened her salon in 1998; she’s been in the same spot for the past 14 years, catering to locals with services such as skin care, weddings, manicure/pedicures, face lifts, massage and body treatments.  She even has a mobile service.

Usually the bride, groom and their party come in a day before for nails and body treatment (lomi lomi, Swedish, shiatsu or reflexology massage) and the day of the wedding is reserved for hair styling and make up.  Lisabeth not only handles wedding services, but also for occasions such as proms, graduation or a special night out with that certain guy or girl.  She said “just bring a picture and we can pretty much do anything you want, as long as there’s enough time.”  Reservations can be made several months up to a year in advance.  Paradise Beauty Salon also offers “green and eco friendly” products.  As an example, there is a mineral make up made of pharmaceutical grade minerals that’s great for the skin and a hair spray can that can be recycled.

Hawaii’s Wedding Professionals Show #32 (Encore) Harpist Tatyana Shapiro and Live Maui Webcasts

Stephen Boeker, Live Maui Webscasts

Harpist Tatyana Shapiro

 

First guest, Stephan Boeker of Live Maui Webcasts came over to Maui from New York City about 11 years ago.  Seeking a change, he moved to Paradise, and can’t imagine living anywhere else.  Stephan started by doing wedding photography and then began dabbling in video because he kept hearing the bride or groom saying, “how I wish mom and dad could be here”.  He looked for a way to fill this need and as the tools to do this started becoming available, he got into the business of live streaming weddings. 

Stephan meets with the couples and explains his various packages to them, so they have a selection.  In Stephan’s best package, he provides the live webcast, it streams worldwide live or on demand, it can be viewed at a later date from the archives, the couple gets a fully edited DVD which includes interview of the couple abd guests.  The differentiating factor between Live Maui Webcasts and others is that Stephan likes asking deep probing questions of the bride and groom so when they watch the DVD years from now, they can see and hear what they were thinking. 

The lilting sounds of White Sandy Beach being played on the harp fills the air as we open the next segment with guest Tatyana Shapiro.  Tatyana is originally from St Petersburg, Russia.  Her father was a professional opera singer and her grandmother a good pianist, so musical ability runs in the family.  When she was 6 or 7, she was already playing the piano and at 10, she got interested in the harp.  Tatyana also lived for many years in Los Angeles, where she performed as a concert harpist, while also doing weddings and other events; she has also played in an orchestra and pop and rock bands.

Tatyana was married herself on Maui and she thinks it is the most beautiful place to get married in the Hawaiian Islands.  It can be taken to the beach or any place; she also has a smaller harp for when she can’t transport the big harp.  She always meets with the bride and their most popular choices of songs are the Bridal March by Wagner, Mendelssohn’s Wedding March, Canon in D and the Hawaiian Wedding Song.