Can you believe this was at night?!

These pictures were taken when it was pretty much dark outside.





I felt so bad for this bride & groom! They put so much work into their wedding and then 10 minutes before the ceremony was to start, the skies opened up and it rained for the next hour. Right through sunset. =( We gave them some options...take the ceremony back to their villa, wait for the rain to stop, or hold the ceremony under one of the pavilions at Trunk Bay. We decided to wait for it to stop, but it was pretty dark by time the ceremony started. Many many kudos to Alain Brin of Blue Glass Photography and the magic of him camera for capturing these images with such little natural light!

Safe sealife place card holders

This idea is not new to me, I have seen brides do this before and it's always really pretty. But what surprised me when I opened up the box that the bride sent me was the fact that these are resin starfish and sand dollars. You may not know this, but real starfish? Smell crazy bad! And sand dollars? Uber fragile. They can chip like crazy. I loved these so much, I asked the bride where she found them and she got an amazing deal on them from Christmas Tree Shoppes. I tried looking for them online but with very little luck. If you happen to find them anywhere, please post in the comments below for other brides.

Introducing our newest staff member...

My real life new staff member will probably be annoyed that the car got top billing here, but I'm pretty excited about the newest addition to our fleet of cars!



It's a BMW X5 and it's really fun to drive...although I think the first time I took a couple to the courthouse in it, I'm pretty sure I made them carsick. I was still adjusting to it (ok, still am, it takes me awhile...).

I spend a lot of time answering the same questions over & over and it's totally my own fault. One thing Island Bliss Weddings's is lacking is an FAQ section somewhere on the website and it's my goal to get that completed by the end of the year. I often get asked what the included transportation is in our packages...is it a taxi? Limo? Well, here's the answer...

We have a Lincoln Navigator and now, a BMW X5. 90% of the time, it will be one of these two cars that picks you up but if for any reason, these cars are not available, we hire a Cadillac Escalade or similar SUV to pick you up. The islands, being as mountainous as they are, are HARD on cars. We have to replace the breaks and tires at least once a year. Plus, the ocean environment does it's damage as well. The Lincoln has been in the shop for a total of at least 2.5 months this past year. With this in mind, we can never guarantee which car will be picking you up. We can take requests, but they cannot always be honored.

I had a bride email me this past summer that she was disappointed in the car that picked her up - during the planning process, she had asked what kind of car it would be and at the time I answered it would be a Lincoln Navigator. A day before her wedding, the Navigator broke down and went into the shop. We rented the nicest car we could find with such short notice, and while it was a full sized SUV, it was not a luxury brand car. I learned my lesson right then and there to never say with absolutely certainty which car will be used. I also took down "transportation in a luxury SUV" from the website. While we will always do our best to use either the Navigator or the BMW, again, these cars cannot be guaranteed. We prefer not to rent a car, as it costs us money (we would never pass on the cost of a car rental to a client because one of our cars is broken down!) so we do our best to maintain them, but again, we often don't know until the actual wedding day which car will be used. We have recently found a taxi driver who drives a very nice Escalade and he is our "Plan B" in the event that neither car can be used. We even have a taxi driver that drives a very nice Navigator for "Plan C". So there is a very good chance that a luxury SUV will be picking you up....but I never want to disappoint another bride again based on the car that picked her up so I will not advertise that an SUV, luxury or otherwise, will be picking you up.

I do promise that you will not be picked up in a jalopy.

A cruise ship PARTY!

It's not very common, but every once in awhile, we get a group off the cruise ships for like 100 people. It's wonderful! We often do large weddings, but most cruise ship affairs are a bit smaller, normally less than 30 people. It's always fun to work with a large group though. This bride & I have been working together since September of 2010 to get all the details together. It was a really simple affair, just a nice wooden arch and a decorated aisle. Something unique about her wedding was the fact that she brought along her own photographer. Know what's really cool about that? All day photos, on the ship, on land, in different locations...so pretty. Check out their photographers blog for a timeline of their wedding day:

http://www.michaelwachniak.com/realloveis/2011/11/stephanie-colin-st-thomas-cruise-wedding/

My favorite photos? The ones in front of the Fort. Amazing.

PS I was TICKED that there was another wedding on the beach that day (you can see the other arch in the background). There is a calendar for wedding planners to use so that we can schedule weddings on this beach, as the beach is not very big for multiple weddings (like Magan's Bay can handle). The other wedding was NOT on the schedule. The wedding planner left it off on purpose so that we wouldn't be aware of their set up. Shady!! Then they had the nerve to ask me to move my set up! Fortunately, the bride & I had discussed the set up and she liked the idea of the arch being parallel to the water, not facing it, so my spot was perfect for her. I wasn't going to budge, especially since my wedding WAS on the calendar. Please note though, if you are not using Island Bliss Weddings and found the blog by some other means, PLEASE make sure you check with your wedding planner to make sure they have your wedding on the calendar or if they know of other weddings that are taking place at the same time. I really felt bad for the other bride, as I'm sure they did not tell her that there would be a wedding for 80 people at the same time.

Busy, busy, but.....

It's been a crazy week and keeps getting crazier (in a good way of course). I feel like the Energizer Bunny on weeks like this, but I do like to stop and truly appreciate some of the emails I get. For example, this one arrived yesterday and put a smile on my heart:

Today is Ben and my 4th anniversary! Time has surely flown by. I went to your website when relating to some friends how wonderful our wedding was with you. (I keep some photos up at work)

Your website is FABULOUS!!!

Having enjoyed both you and your husbands planning and performing our service, I have to say the beautiful pictures capture just how wonderful the experience truly is! Lindquest Beach looks as perfect as ever!

Best of luck to you and your beautiful family. We hope to see run into you both again on the beach in the future!!

I love to hear from my past brides!! I am very thankful for having a job where I have the ability to really make others happy!

A record breaking November!

Just a fair warning to my brides, this month is crAAzzy for us! We have a record number of November weddings which means I will be out of the office a lot during the day while I am on location at weddings. My November schedule will look something like this:

5:30am - wake up and respond to as many emails as I can before the kids awake. Then focus on getting them out the door to school.
8:30am - back from running kids all over the island to pre-school and kindergarten
8:30 to 9am - COFFEE

Depending on the Day
9 to 5pm - emails, emails, emails & return phone calls

OR

On-site for weddings

5pm - kids home from school - family time until bedtime
8pm till I crash - emails, emails, emails

There are 17 days in the month of November that I'll be "on-site" more than in the office. Very weirdly, only one of those days fall on a weekend. So of the remaining days that I will not be on-site, 7 of those are weekend days when the munchkins are home demanding my attention. That only leaves 6 days in November when I'll be able to really return phone calls. I try not to answer the phone while I am at a wedding unless I know that it is a vendor calling about that specific wedding (taxi guy telling me he has left with the guests, cake delivery confirming the location of the reception, etc). But by not answering the phone, it can put me really behind on messages that need to be returned. So please, if you need to get in touch with me during the month of November, please, please email instead. Emails get checked often and I can get back to you much sooner that way. I don't think you want me calling you at 5:30am. =)

I'm hoping to be better at blogging this month than I have since September though. I have some pretty cool ideas in store and will keep you posted.