Thursday, May 31, 2012

Congrats to Isola Bella!

As you know, I love me some Isola Bella. I just found out they are being featured in the Spring/Summer issues of WELL WED magazines in the Hamptons, New York, Cape Cod + Nantucket + Martha's Vineyard and Vermont Vows!

Congrats from Island Bliss Weddings!


Monday, May 28, 2012

Happy Anniversary My Love...


Happy anniversary to my husband. Seven years ago today I married my best friend on the tiny island of St. Thomas...we had only been living on island for 9 months and were building up our own wedding business. Our lives have "snowballed" (really wrong terminology for an island, huh?) into some really amazing things. A booming business that allows us to be with people on their happiest day, two beautiful & healthy children, a new home that we recently moved in to...our cups are running over with joy! I could not be happier than I am right now. Much of that is thanks to the amazing clients. Thank you.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Special touches..

I love when a bride adds her own special touches to the wedding. Whenever I can, I try to grab photos of these items to share on the blog. I realize I've been collecting them for awhile now and figured I'd better get to posting!

This wedding was from way back in April (seems like ages ago!). The groom is in a band and the bride made a special boutonniere for him.


She also did these very pretty chair reservations.



Another trend I'm seeing is TOMS wedding shoes - so love these! The bride bought this beautiful garter from Etsy.com.


Another bride had a special touch just for her guests - flip flops for the beach ceremony! You can purchase these fairly inexpensively at places like Old Navy and of course, get them to match your wedding colors!


I really enjoy seeing cultural influences as well. This bride & groom brought their cake topper with them, a shout out to their heritage.


This bride also had a fun way for guests to find their seat.



I was a big fan of this too - a large wooden tray with moss & beautifully labeled envelopes.



Be sure to check back often for more fun ideas!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Deep love of coral...

Remember that new aisle decor I told you about? Well I don't have pictures of it in use as aisle decor quite yet. A bride of mine had sent down some elements for her centerpieces to be used at her Sand Dollar Estate wedding in St. Thomas. We were discussing back and forth flowers, no flowers, adding driftwood to the tables, etc...and I mentioned that I had just ordered some resin coral pieces and if they came in I'd be happy to let her borrow them. Mainly I was curious to see how they would work on tables and you know what? They looked awesome!



Look for a blog post soon on these little babies used as aisle decor.  And one last picture to show you her idea on the chair ties:



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

If only I had 1/2 a bottle of wine...

I was scrolling through Facebook today as I was awaiting a group to arrive from the Freedom of the Seas for their Lindquist Beach wedding...and I stumbled upon this photo from Isola Bella:


My eyes may have popped out of my head a little bit. I love, love, love this. I mean, how cute can it be? I have a slight obsession with wine bottle stoppers (and salt & pepper shakers but no need to go there today). Unfortunately, there never seems to be a bottle of wine sitting around my house that needs to be corked - those puppies are usually finished shortly after they are opened! =) I think these would make fabulous bridal party gifts though.

I also received an email from Isola Bella yesterday introducing their newest St. John based design. If you have ever been to St. John, then you are already familiar with the infamous petroglyph symbol (when I first saw it, I thought it looked a lot like an outline of a dog nostril - which still made sense to me because St John is so dog friendly!). These would make a fabulous favor for your guests, just take a peak at the second photo for an idea on how to present them to guests.



And guess what?! This weekend they are having a sale! You can take 10% off your online purchases by entering the code SUNNYDAYS. It is this weekend only - Friday through Sunday. Shop away! OH!! And best of all...if you want to order anything specifically for your wedding, let Gina know that you are an Island Bliss Bride. I can pick up the order for you and hold it until your wedding day - no shipping fees!

(Disclaimer: Isola Bella does not pay me or even ask for me to promote their items - I just really love their stuff and think the items make great island favors for your guests!)

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Congratulation Yuliya & Ander!






Congrats to Yuliya & Ander who were married on 5/3/12 on Lindquist Beach! Alain Brin of Blue Glass Photography sent me these photos - I love the last one, she looks like she's floating!

A very meaningful bouquet...

As promised, I wanted to share with you the bride's bouquet from Saturday night. The brooch bouquet is not a new concept to me, but how she came about her bouquet is definitely different than what I've seen before. For her bridal shower back home, the hostess had asked all the guests to bring a brooch to give to the bride. It could be new, borrowed, old, blue, etc. The collection of brooches she received was really amazing. Some belonged to her grandmother, some to a deceased cousin...they all had a very special meaning.

A little something blue....


A little Irish shamrock for luck...



When I saw the bouquet I thought perhaps she didn't want our little seahorse on there, so I gave it directly to her instead of pinning it on the bouquet. But I was wrong, in fact, they even had a special place reserved for it!


Really, just beautiful....

Monday, May 7, 2012

Caribbean Ritual Dancers!

I had such a fun weekend! We worked hard on so many fabulous weddings - my clients were all happy, laid back and fun and you really can't ask for anything more than that. Of course I took a ton of pictures and I thought about doing one large blog post on all our weddings this weekend but I think I'm going to break it down a little. I first wanted to write a blog on the Caribbean Ritual Dancers...they are amazing. If my daughters choose to get married in the US Virgin Islands, you can be that these girls will be at the wedding (well, not these exact girls - they'll probably be too old to move like they do by time my babies get married!).

Look how gorgeous they are!


After dinner, we had the bride & groom cut their cake and then the dancers were introduced and wow'd the crowd with their island girl moves...









My bride & groom mailed me a large box of Mardi Gras masks and boas - in the middle of the performance, the dancers grabbed a handful and started handing them out to the guests. It was a huge hit - everyone on the dance floor, dancing and learning some new moves. You can't ask for any better entertainment at a reception!

We have another full week of weddings ahead of us but I hope to put up as many blog posts as I can to show you all the fun we're having - plus all the great ideas my brides bring with them. Just wait till you see the bouquet from this past Saturday night!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Villa Botanica...one of my favorites...

Two posts in one day?? Crazy, right? =) I just remembered that I forgot to share these photos from Tim Rothwell. Tim traveled to St. Thomas on the Norwegian Epic with my lovely bride & groom, Mariah & Matt, to photographer their wedding at Villa Botanica on St. Thomas. Villa Botanica is an amazing venue, we often do weddings there, and it quickly becoming my favorite location for a bride & groom who are traveling on a ship to have both their ceremony & reception (it's already one of my favorites for couples that are staying on the island).

Tim & Sasha Rothwell did an amazing job! Check out these photos and then check them out at:









Welcome May!

Can you believe it's May already? I'm in a little bit of shock. May is our busiest wedding month of the year and there is so much going on this month, so many exciting weddings & other events. I kind of feel like I need to put a seat belt on in order to prepare for it! I have some absolutely amazing events planned for this weekend and I can't wait to share photos with you next week (or after a really long and solid nap on Sunday).

I wanted to share a quick photo today of our bridal bouquet from yesterday. Some bouquets are uniform all the way around - it doesn't matter which way you turn it, it looks the same. Yet this one was like one of the hologram stickers - every which way you turned it, it looked different. Everyone commented on how gorgeous it was and the bride even said "this is the prettiest bouquet I've ever seen in my entire life!". That's what I love to hear.



And I have something I am dying to tell you - it's new decor for our aisles that I am over the moon about. I know you remember our newest addition to the Island Bliss family:


But just you wait to see what I have up my sleeve. I get giddy thinking about it. And you're probably thinking, wow....my wedding planner is a dork. Maybe. Or maybe you'll see what I'm talking about and you'll join me as we shout it on the rooftops. Probably not...I'm probably just a dork. =)