Tuesday, July 28, 2009

What a beach wedding is all about...


Seashell necklace, orchid bouquet, sand, sea and just a touch of tan lines!



And not to mention a lot of great friends & family. I had to share this photo - do you notice the nine year old boy trying to fly out of the picture??

Friday, July 24, 2009

Steel Pan on Trunk Bay, St. John

Mr. Carl Freeman does most of our steel pan on St. John. He is such a warm and friendly man, we just love working with him! I have a lot of brides that ask me what steel pan will sound like so I took this little video at our wedding last week. I have a little Flip Video Recorder and I don't think the sound came through very well. It is not as "ping-y" in person (and don't use that word, I have it trademarked). =)



Steel pan players often play a classical pan as the bride walks down the aisle and then something a little upbeat as they make their way back up the aisle (a little reggae mix). They play a wide range of songs and the uniqueness of the pan and it's roots in the Caribbean, I think, make it the perfect instrument for a beach wedding.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Xtreme Wedding!

I've been wanting to blog about this wedding for a couple of weeks now but needed to wait until the photographer had some photos for me to share. I had my camera with me but I knew there was no way I was going to be able to capture the magic of this wedding the way their photographer could! Bob & Mollie brought their own photographer with them from home - Greg Wyatt of Greg Wyatt Photography

Check out Mollie & her maids. Don't they look great? I love the colors.



Bob & Mollie were married at Casa Del Mar on the northside of St. Thomas. This villa is situated right on the face of a cliff...it makes for very dramatic views...



Now...you may be wondering why I am referring to this as an "Xtreme Wedding"...well, a few days before the wedding, I met with Mollie at the villa to determine the best spot for the ceremony. Bob had picked out a small grassy area with a tall palm tree....right on the cliff! There were very limited ways to get to this area but we were able to have the bridal party climb down a fairly rocky path with the help of the groomsmen...(I took the next three photos with my camera)...



The groomsmen helping their next maid...



And see how close they are to the edge of the cliff?? The officiant told me after the ceremony that she has a fear of heights! She told me the entire time, there was a voice in the back of her head saying, "if you take three steps back, you'll fall off the cliff" - even though she knew she wasn't going to take three steps back, she couldn't get the voice to shut up!

Here are all the guests gathered around the deck to watch the ceremony down below...



It was hard for me to get a shot of the bride & groom during the ceremony so I give MAJOR applause to Greg Wyatt for his very hard work! I have to imagine that this type of set up is probably a photographers worse nightmare! He has some really wonderful photos of the ceremony and I hope to share some soon - here is one that I took...



And one more from Greg...



Congratulations Bob & Mollie!!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Something different for mom...

Brides often ask if they should get a corsage for the mothers - a pin on or wrist corsage. Both are nice ideas of course, to help honor the women that brought you into the world - without that effort, no wedding would be taking place afterall. =)

Another nice idea is to ahve a small spray of flowers for them to carry instead - nothing to pin on the their dress which may not be good for the fabric or could ruin her look and no scratchy flower attached to her wrist. Just something to carry for the ceremony and photos afterwards - it could even be put in a vase later at the reception, depending on the type of flowers used. Below you will see an example of what our florist did for a wedding a few weeks ago.



These flowers were part of the wedding I like to describe as my most "Xtreme Wedding" yet - I'll explain in my next post!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Waterfront Bistro, St. John

In the last month, we've had two events planned with Waterfront Bistro on St. John and I'm just so happy to be planning events there. The owners are so nice and they have such a great space. I tried to get some photos to share but my little camera is no match for the professionals - if the flash went off, the effect was way to harsh and did not represent the space. So I kept the flash off which gave the room a very warm, glowing effect. I haven't edited these photos, they are straight out of the camera, but they really reflect the type of warm glow that was felt at the reception. (Forgive my bag sitting on the ledge by the tree - should have moved that! Don't worry, it was moved before the guests showed up!)


Beautiful beachside seating...


And just so you can see our gorgeous couple at their Trunk Bay ceremony...


Do you love the bamboo chairs?? I think they look great with the bamboo arch.

And another straight out of the camera, no editing shot...can you get over the vibrancy of these flowers??? I've seen a big trend in bright orange and pinks lately. I love how lively they are.


We've really been swamped lately at Island Bliss Weddings, no complaints of course, but I'm hoping to give the blog some more love over the next week. I have so much to share!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

In case you were curious...

In my last post I spoke of how absolutely beautiful my bridesmaids looked in last weeks wedding - the bride just sent me a link of photos that her family had taken and I just had to share one with you. Each black dress was different, but the ribbon tied them all together. I just loved this look.

And remember, this is the same wedding with the signature sign at the beach. They stepped it up even more with a very personalized cake topper - love that!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Real Life Experience...

So I brought my Flip Video Camera with me to my beach wedding Saturday morning. This wedding took place at Hawksnest Beach, St. John. It was a 10:30 ceremony with reception following at the Waterfront Bistro in Cruz Bay afterwards. Everything was set up and ready to go, I was just waiting around for everyone to show up when I decided to make a little video.



Now, I really should have narrated it as I went, because the script going on in my head was pretty funny. You'll see I had the bouquet in front of me, pretending to be the bride, walking down to the beach, seeing the empty chairs, the steel pan man's set up, and boom, it dawns on me that I'm getting married! And you see I hightail it back to the car...I think I'm funny, I don't know, do you? =) Next time I'll add the screams that were in my head.

Don't you love the little pathway down to the beach though? Such a perfect aisle.

This wedding was really a gorgeous one - I really wish I had pictures of her bridesmaids and their colors, it...was beautiful, I just don't know how else to describe it. I mean, check out the flowers below and imagine them with beautiful girls in short black dresses with a bright green ribbon around their waist. It was unbelievable. If the photographer shares some photos with me, I'll definitely post them here.



And probably my favorite element of the wedding? This sign made by the GROOM for his bride as a surprise! I put groom in all caps, because this is just not the creativity you see from my grooms. I love these types of personal touches!