Friday, December 24, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mod Ornaments Holiday Card
Shop hundreds of holiday photo cards at Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.


I'm in love with my holiday cards this year! Elisha Orin took these for me back in October. I just love her work and am so happy to capture these moments of my girls.

I'll be leaving island on December 27th for a trip up to the mainland - my oldest has been asking to see snow this year and so we're taking a trip in search of the white stuff! I probably won't get to blog too much while I am gone so I wanted to wish all past, present and future clients a very Happy Holiday season and a Happy New Year too! See you in 2011!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

52 years and such an honor...

Monday afternoon, on my way to set up for a wedding, I got a phone call from Valerie, telling me she was on the Eurodam, headed for St. Thomas, and wanted to know if she could get married...tomorrow! Turns out, she was really looking for a vow renewal. She had 12 others joining them and just needed something simple - some flowers, an arch and a little coordination.

We often do vow renewals - sometimes for couples that legally married just a week or two before coming to the islands. Either they did the legal paperwork back home and wanted the ceremony here or they had the big wedding back home to make family & friends happy....but had really wanted an island ceremony for themselves, so they do the ceremony on the honeymoon just for fun. We've helped people renew their vows for their first anniversary, 8th, 10th, 25th - 32nd....you name it. I didn't ask Valerie on the phone how many years it had been, so I was shocked when she told me it was 52! Not only because 52 is such a significant number, but because look how YOUNG they looked!



And so, so in love...



I have never felt so honored to be a part of something. It was magical. They had run off as teenagers, behind her parents unapproving backs, and married...just the two of them.

On this day however, they were surrounded by children & grandchildren.




It was so touching, loving and beautiful. Congratulations Valerie & Mike.




(PS And thank you Sunny Liston of Sunny Liston tours for referring them to me! Thanks for adding to the majic of the day!)

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Happy Holidays!


I took my girls to visit Santa on Sunday. The little one is still a bit afraid of the big guy and did not want to sit on his lap. Normally, I am a big fan of the Santa photos with terrified children - but my oldest was doing so well, was so excited to sit on Santa's lap...I didn't want to ruin it for her. As much as I appreciate the crying tots on the big mans lap photos, I appreciate a photo of me and my girls, all smiling, all looking at the camera, a lot more. Thank you Ashley of Ashley Photography for creating such a wonderful keepsake!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Caribbean Tourism Organization

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take part in a mini-trade show that the US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism was sponsoring for the Caribbean Tourism Organization. I actually took a part of it with the St. Thomas & St. John Wedding Association. It was really a fun way to meet travel agents in the Caribbean market. I, along with Eric Johnson of Paradise Pictures and Ashley Armitage of Ashley Photography, represented our group (which includes Passion Fruit Chefs, VI Desserts, Chris Robbert music, Sugar & Spice Artistry, East End Flower Shop, DJ Snow and HiDef Video - check out the website at www.viweddingassociation.org!).

Our little booth:



We didn't have any give-aways at our booth, but Biras Creek of Virgin Gorda had killer canvas tote bags they were giving away! I chatted up the rep from their resort in hopes she would hand me one, but no such luck. I love give-aways! Next year, I'll have to pretend I'm a travel agent instead. =)

The highlight of the show for me was the Caribbean Ritual Dancers. They put on an AMAZING show and even had a traditional moko jumbie perform and entertain the crowd. We've hired them before to entertain at weddings and they are always a huge hit.





Thank you to the Wyndham Sugar Bay for hosting the event and to the tourism department for sponsoring it!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Our First Christmas

I'm taking my little girls up to Indiana this year, shortly after Christmas and through New Years...my oldest has been talking a lot about snow this year and while I had planned to wait until they were both older to visit the white stuff, I decided we could use a vacation from their school vacation (three weeks at home - ACK!). I like to have a special ornament for them each year and decided to buy a snowflake ornament while we're in Indiana, preferably with 2010 on it and 75% off after the holidays. =) I couldn't help myself today though and sneaked over to Etsy.com to see what they had. I didn't find a snowflake ornament for the girls, but I did find these incredibly cute First Christmas together ornaments from aphroditecanvas...



from MyPrimitiveBoutique...




and thebackporchshoppe...

Friday, December 10, 2010

Peterborg Wedding


I hope to share some more photos of this wedding with you - the day started off rainy but was so beautiful by time the ceremony began! I just loved the whispy clouds!




The ceremony was held at Villa Jamie, which made it easy for the photographer to zip the couple down to the famous Peterborg Point for some additional photos. Beautiful!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Sometimes you need a little elbow grease...


I was going through some of the pictures of this wedding last week at Lindquist Beach and just cracked up when I saw the ring photos. A lot of our brides & grooms tend to overindulge a little on the ships (this couple was from the Freedom of the Seas) and well...all that salt & sugar can tend the fingers to swell up a little, making something like a simple wedding band a bit tough to slide on!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

New Addition to My Blog Roll!


Introducing BelAmi Voyages!

I don't know how I got introduced to BelAmi, but I started getting email updates about new posts on their blog....so I journeyed over and fell in love. If I could redo my honeymoon, I would TOTALLY be booking a trip with BelAmi and sailing around the USVIs and BVIs. Their blog is a fun read and an interesting peak into the islands, especially boat living (which is an awesome way to live if you're not familiar with it). Check out their blog - linked on the right side. You may want to bookmark it as winter continues to creep upon you northerners! =)

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!


To all my American clients - past, present and future!

Who is going to be out shopping tomorrow at 2am? Here in the islands, the only store that really has a Black Friday sale is KMart and they open at 6am. I did it one year - to save $4 on a carseat! Ha! I'm sleeping in tomorrow...

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Plan Bs


The weather has been so crazy this past year. I used to be able to tell brides, "oh, it hardly ever rains! We've done hundreds of weddings and rain has only ever affected about 2 or 3". That, my friend, is no longer true. This past spring (April & May) and this past fall, things have been WET. Quite a few weddings had to be rearranged, often very last minute.

But, this is why you hire a wedding coordinator! I'd like for all my brides to wake up on their wedding day and not fret about a thing. If a Plan B is necessary, we will take charge and make what changes are needed. It's often moving to a covered location and if possible, moving the time or even the date. Our ultimate goal is to make sure your wedding is beautiful, rain or shine.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Did you meet Skylar?



I posted this picture on our Facebook page last night (excuse the poor iPhone quality photo!). I believe this is the first time I had a couple bring down their furbaby for their wedding! I love it - little Skylar got all dressed up to celebrate with mommy & daddy. So cute! I thought she'd make a good laugh for all of you about to start your weekend...

And for another laugh...this week has been very crazy busy with weddings. I've been running around a lot this week and haven't carved out a lot of time to feed myself. On my way to set up for my wedding yesterday, I grabbed a snack bag of Oreo cookies at the gas station. This morning, I was getting my girls in the car to take them to school and my four year old sees the empty bag of cookies. Our conversation follows:

Marley: "Are those cookies??"
Me: "Yes, but they are all gone."
Marley: "WHO ATE THEM?"
Me: "Well, they were for work...."
Marley: "So a bride ate them?"
Thinking it will save me a lot of grief for eating them all and not saving her any, Me: "Yes, the bride wanted them for her snack."
Marley: "Cookies are not a healthy snack."
Me: "Yes, but a bride can have whatever she wants on her wedding day."
Marley: *puckering her bottom lip* "I wish it was my wedding day."

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Cruise Ships & Flowers

Some of the cruise lines have a policy about taking fresh fruits/vegetables and flowers on and off their ships. Thankfully, I have never had a bride tell me that she wasn't allowed to bring her fresh flower bouquet back on board of the ship (if you are a past bride that couldn't get your flowers on board though, please do leave a comment and let us know!). I think the security guards don't have the guts to tell a bride all dressed in white that she isn't allowed to keep her bouquet!

Some brides have not wanted to take the chance - or simply want to keep their bouquet forever. If this is the case, silk bouquets are a popular choice. I wanted to share a picture I took of a bouquet that a bride brought down a few months ago for her island wedding. There are a lot of online shops that sell silk bouquets (to my surprise, at the same price or much more than fresh flowers). Silk bouquets are also a good alternative for brides that want phalaenopsis orchids (live phalaenopsis orchids are very fragile and do not hold up well in bouquets). In the bouquet below, there were pink phalaenopsis orchids. They really do a great job replicating these in silk flowers!



The pink phalaenopsis boutonniere:

Monday, November 1, 2010

We have a winner!!

When my husband asked me how I was going to chose a winner, I told him that I take the number of comments and put that in www.random.org - he asks, "did you just make that up? Is there really a website called Random.org???" and yes, there is! It is not made up.

And I did just that - and it chose number SIX! Which is Carrie L'Abbe! And, interestingly enough, Carrie had commented on my post about the cool wedding invitation and it turns out, she used the same Etsy vendor for her invitations! She even sent me a picture that her photographer, Elisha Orin, had taken of the invite.

Isn't it awesome??



Carrie, I just sent you an email - congratulations! Thanks everyone for playing!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!!



We are in the midst of a very busy family weekend! My father (shown above) is in town to visit his grandbabies (also shown above in their adorable Halloween costumes!) and we've got back to back Halloween parties all weekend long.

The giveaway contest ends tonight at midnight! Make sure you leave a comment before the end of the day. I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow afternoon.

Have a safe & Happy Halloween!!!!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Too cool not to share...



I think passport invitations or Save The Dates are a great idea (event though you do not need a passport to visit the US Virgin Islands!) as you can cram some really great info in their booklet style. This one popped up on my Etsy homepage today and I just loved it!

Check out the listing for other great stuff: http://www.etsy.com/listing/60033535/deposit-passport-wedding-invitation-or?ref=fp_ph_26&src=favitm

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Make your plans for 11/11/11...or 1/1/1 or 1/11/11 or....



10/10/10 was a crazy busy wedding day! As was 9/9/9, 8/8/8, etc etc. I was thinking how next year, there are going to be a ton of these kind of crazy days. Just imagine:

1/1/11
1/11/11
9/10/11
11/1/11
11/11/11

We're already starting to book up for these dates! If you're considering a unique wedding date for 2011, let us know. We'd love to help before we get too booked up!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Love these colors...


I love how the orange just popped against the green bridesmaid dresses!

Don't forget about the giveaway below! And yes, if you have already been a fan of our Facebook site, you are still eligible! =)

Friday, October 8, 2010

Exciting giveaway from MissNowMrs.com!


I got to meet with a lot of great people in the wedding business while I was out in Las Vegas for the Wedding MBA convention last month. One of the coolest exhibits was MissNowMrs.com. This great website makes changing your name so much easier than trying to figure it all out on your own. And because they are so awesome, they have given me a gift card to give to one lucky blog reader! You do not have to be an Island Bliss Weddings client to win. All you have to do is go to our Facebook page and become a fan - or hit like, or whatever it is Facebooks wants you to do these days! Once you've become a fan of our Facebook page, come back to this site and leave a comment on this post letting me know you have done so. We will then use random.org to chose a winner from the comment sections.

Contest ends October 31st! And considering we haven't had any comments on like, the last 5 posts, good chances are you could win!! =)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A new addition to the blog roll...

Check out our newest blog addition to the blog roll (on your right, towards the bottom). Eric Johnson of Paradise Pictures has joined the blogging world! EJ has lived on the island for almost 20 years - his blog focuses on photographer but also island life, which will make for an intersting read!

Check back on Thursday - I have a giveaway for my clients, straight from the Wedding MBA convention in Las Vegas!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Congrats Tom & Amy!


This fun couple was married just the other day at Lime Tree Beach - very simple, just the two of them! I loved this photo of them walking up the aisle together - they were so cute!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Viva Las Vegas!

Island Bliss Weddings is in fabulous Las Vegas this week to attend the wedding MBA. It's been very informative, not to mention fun. Being in Vegas reminded me of a thank you card my husband received from a bride & groom last year and I just had to post it and show you. The Virgin Islands Montessori School puts on a Las Vegas Night fundraiser every year and one of the staff wanted to actually get married at Las Vegas night and have an Elvis impersonator as the officiate. Who better than my husband, Stuart Scott, of USVI Services?? Didn't he make a great Elvis?



Better than these bozo's that I met on the street yesterday.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Back to normal....

Things on St. Thomas...or at least for me (I think St. Thomas is as normal as ever, if you can consider St. Thomas normal!), are getting back to normal. I finally have internet back at my home & office. I do apologize for the lack of blog posts, but for the past few weeks, I've had to find Wi-Fi hot spots to download & send emails. I'm hoping those days are behind me!

I wanted to share a few images of what Hurricane Earl did to St. Thomas. We were really lucky - things could have been much, much worse. Just a lot of trees down (our landscaping was a mess!) and power lines. Some people just got their cable fixed last week.

View from my hotel room, this was probably the worst of the storm...



Conditions of the roads the next day...




Beautiful Magen's Bay



We actually had two weddings cancel because of the Hurricane. And I have never had a wedding cancel due to weather - usually just fiances that turn out to be jerks (am I allowed to say that!?). I have always been able to tell cruise ship brides that we've never had a ship not come to port but that's no longer the case. Do you think it will be comforting to clients if I tell them there is a greater chance that they'll call off the engagement then the ship not coming to port??? =)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Hurricane Earl

Please be patient with us as we deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Earl. My office is still without power but I am travelling wherever I need to be to get internet connection and get caught up on emails. A huge apology to any clients that received 10 or more emails in a row from us! Not sure if that happened or not, but we had about 20 messages stuck in our outbox yesterday and they finally all sent - but not sure if they sent multiple times. Ugh, technology. One day I'll grasp it. =)

I'll post some pictures of the storm and it's aftermath in my next post and HOPEFULLY it will be the last hurricane related post of the season!! Fingers crossed....

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Flying Flowers

We do a lot of our weddings at Lindquist Beach and there can be a good breeze there. There is nothing worse then putting down rose petals, only to have them blow away. It's like watching dollar bills rolls down the beach. Sometimes there is no breeze at all and the petals stay perfectly in place as our bride walks down the aisle. A breeze is about as predictable as a sneeze.

On days when the breeze is particularly strong, I've made the executive decision to not put the petals down. In these events, I keep them safely tucked away until after the event, and let the photographer know that "we have petals" wink wink. After the group shot, he or she gives me the nod, and I pass out the petals to the guests. Then on que, the magic happens as the petals are tossed into the air and engulf the happy couple...




Precious, isn't it? Thanks to Blue Glass Photography for passing this photo along for me to share.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

A Bliss Baby!!

And NO, it's not MY baby! =)



Eric & Jenny were married in St. Thomas on Magen's Bay this past May. They were a great team to work with - very laid back and very much in love. You could feel the excitement in the air on their wedding day, their friends & family had such good vibes surrounding them. Greer Rivera took some amazing photos of them and of their reception at Villa Botanica.

Eric & Jenny emailed me this past week to share some wonderful news - they're expecting a baby girl in February - just nine short months from the day they said I Do! Had it been a little boy, they were considering the name Thomas for a boy after the island they married on. They have a gorgeous baby girl name picked out - which is not Janelle - my suggestion. =)

Congratulations Eric & Jenny! I can't wait to see photos of your little Bliss Baby!

Friday, August 13, 2010

My ?? turned into a !!

We did a wedding last week at Villa Botanica, one of my favorite locations. My bride told me that the caterer was helping her put the favors together, which would be "cupcakes in a jar". I kind of had to think about that one, cupcakes in a jar?? I wasn't quite sure how that would work out. So when the caterer arrived, I definitely needed to check it out. And that's when my ?? turned into a !! These things were adorable!!



I took pictures before they were fully assembled. They used ribbon to tie a spoon to them and were set out prior to the guests leaving, so they could take the little snack with them. I think it would have been adorable with a little silver gellato spoon as well.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

My husband thinks I'm nuts...

I don't have any tattoos or really ever had a strong urge to get one. I could never figure out what I wanted or where I would put it. But I've always loved seahorses (this sounds a bit morbid, but when I was a little girl growing up in Indiana, I had a dried seahorse in a little plastic container - must have been from a trip to Florida - but I counted it as one of my prized possessions!). So when I started Island Bliss, I knew I wanted seahorses as my theme. A few years ago, we started attaching little silver seahorses to our wedding bouquets as a gift to our brides. I kind of started thinking, if I ever do get a tattoo, I'd love to get a little seahorse. So I got very excited when one of my brides ran with the seahorse theme for her reception at Cabrita Cliff Haus here on St. Thomas.

Check our the adorable drink stirrers she made:



And the favor tags:



That little seahorse is ADORABLE! If I ever get the courage to get a "tat", I'm totally taking these pictures with me and telling them to make me a cute little seahorse just like these little guys! I kind of like the deep purple look too. =)

And I promise, if I ever do it, I'll post about it!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Because I'm a sucker for seahorses...


I just love the seahorse place cards I saw on Etsy.com lately. Aren't they adorable?? TimelessPaper has a whole series of nautical themes that I think are just too cute.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Bugs are back. =(

And no not mosquitos. You may remember awhile ago I posted on the blog about email issues we were having - seems to be the case again. I've gotten a few phone calls from brides wondering why I haven't responded to an email and I had! For some reason my emails are not getting through and I'm not technically enough to figure out why! If you are expecting an email from me and haven't received one yet, please do email me again. Our response time is usually very quick with emails, normally no longer than 24 or 36 hours and often within just a couple hours - so again, if you've emailed me longer than 3 days ago and don't have a response, please let me know!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Succulents as Favors

Succulents as Favors

A friend of mine sent me this link - I haven't had much of a chance to explore the site yet, but it seems to be dedicated to wedding favors, or really, favors in general. I'm a HUGE fan of wedding favors! Favors and cakes, it's my thing. Love them both. I think they are a great way for the bride & groom to reflect their personalities. Now, succulents as favors would not really work out for a destination wedding. I'm pretty sure customs would say "heck no" if you tried to leave St. Thomas with a local plant. But I had to share the idea, I thought it was adorable! And the website - if you're favor nutty like myself, its definitely worth exploring.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

We're home!

We made it back to the islands earlier this week and are glad to be back. Although, after viewing the images of this wedding we had in June on St. John, at the lovely A La Mer Villa, I wish THIS were home!!

Check out this back yard!!





And the front yard isn't too shabby either!



I'm not sure I could rent this place for a week's vacation - they would have to have security remove me. Great job to Eric Johnson of Paradise Pictures - lovely!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Tiniest Wedding Crasher to date!


We had a lovely vow renewal lsst week - I was watching the cremony when a tiny little crab crawled out to say hello. Can you see him in the sand?

I'm still off island and will return on Sunday. I do have email access but can not configure my laptop to send mail from the place I am staying, so I have to drive a mile away just to get my emails to send (thank you free wifi at Starbucks!).