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TheBuzz

BY ERIKA ENGLE

A cover girl’s
smile goes miles

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KHNL anchor Diane Ako smiles out at shoppers from the cover of the Spring/Summer issue of Hawaii Weddings & Honeymoon Planner -- not just from store shelves in Hawaii but some mainland cities as well.

Published for eight years by Dun Corp., the magazine with this issue made its West Coast debut thanks to interest from Tennessee-based Ingram Periodicals Inc. The company distributes more than 3,200 magazine titles to more than 9,500 bookstores, newsstands and chain stores.

"We were already in those stores in Hawaii," said Hawaii Weddings Publisher Dun Uchimura, "and they contacted me to see if I wanted to take it a little further." He did.

Hawaii is a popular honeymoon destination for many West Coast honeymooners. About 2,000 additional copies were printed to be distributed in various localities. "We're going to see how this initial phase goes," Uchimura said.

The magazine until now had targeted just the local market with its glossy pages and so-called "advertorial" content where stories inside highlight sponsors who have purchased ads.

Married late last year Ako made her unpaid appearance in the magazine as a newlywed but she wasn't even engaged when Uchimura "proposed" the cover shot in June.

"I was kind of laughing about it at that time because I wasn't (engaged)," but the following month she was -- to The Affordable Casket Outlet LLC partner Claus Hansen.

Uchimura has asked for pictures of her wedding to include in the Fall/Winter issue, due out in August.

The current issue features photos from the wedding of KHON TV weather anchor Trini Kaopuiki along with a narrative she wrote. By contractual agreement neither TV personality is allowed to endorse local companies and did not accept payment for appearing in the magazine.

Ako is pictured in the current issue wearing a $3,000 Anne Namba wedding gown with a white-on-white crane print.

In her own wedding she didn't wear a traditional gown, "so it was neat wearing six different kinds of (wedding) dresses," Ako said. She's apparently hooked, as she'll appear in Uchimura's "World Class Wedding Expo" the first night of its two-day run, April 12 and 13.

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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com