THE BIG QUESTION
Married to her job
Bride & Groom magazine's owner wants a "wow" effect
Since taking over Hawaii Bride & Groom magazine, Julie Aragaki has increased the number of tales of courtship and romance in its pages.
"Everyone likes to know about other people," Aragaki said. "We want to take the reader to the wedding. They will learn about how the couple met, their engagement and wedding planning."
Aragaki hopes the biannual publication started by Bridgette Adams 15 years ago will continue to get bigger and better under her watch.
"We want to keep what we like and create something unique," she said.
The next issue, scheduled to hit newsstands sometime this week, features several couples, including local girl Jennifer Darrah's wedding. After graduating from Punahou, Darrah met her Nigerian soul mate, Kanu Okike, at Harvard. The details of their wedding, which had guests from the mainland, Peru, El Salvador and Brazil on boats headed to a secret island, are included in their story, "A Global Gathering."
Aragaki wants the magazine to be identified with Hawaii. The upcoming issue highlights the Matson navigation era.
"It has a vintage look. We are bringing back the old-Hawaii-days look with hair, makeup and gowns," Aragaki said. Gavin Kobayashi is the award-winning graphic designer helping to revamp the magazine.
"We want a 'wow' effect."
Innovative technology also tops the list of magazine additions, including a feature on video guest books.
"We want to keep brides up to speed on what kinds of products are there for them," she said.
A sticker page has been added to help brides tab pages for easy reference.
Aragaki came to the magazine as a professional photographer and hopes to make people aware of the numerous options available to them in wedding photography.
"There are a gadzillion types of albums," she said. "When I got married, there weren't any choices."
A one-hour wedding show is slated to run on "Hawaii Instyle TV" in conjunction with Hawaii Bride & Groom on Nov. 30 on OC16.