Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

If you have a Pinterest account, you must go and type in "Halloween Wedding". I'm kinda wishing I hadn't...massive time suck!




Congrats to Jerry & Jami!

I am way behind on my "favorite elements" challenge for October - if I didn't get to your wedding, I promise I will do so by the end of November! November is yet again a very crazy busy month for us with a crazy busy December to follow. I'm looking forward to January! (not really, I always get the post-holiday blue, I miss Oct/Nov/Dec when they are over!).

I had to get Jerry & Jami on the blog today though - their wedding was yesterday morning on Lindquist Beach, St. Thomas. With my October challenge, I was always looking for my favorite element of the wedding. The moment the bride stepped out of the car and told me her rooster story, I knew it would be the roosters! She told me many years ago she had gone to a psychic and what else but love topics come up with a psychic? The psychic told her she kept seeing roosters everywhere. Wouldn't you know that Lindquist Beach is covered with roosters?! The bride stepped out of the car and there must have been 20 of them with their chickens running around!

Of course we made sure to get a picture of the bride & groom with the roosters. Kelly O was their photographer but I was in charge of throwing bread combs in front of the couple to get them to cooperate. Kelly got some amazing photos - the photo below is NOT hers! I don't have a copy of Kelly's work yet - this photo is just one I snapped in between bread crumb duty:

St. Thomas wedding packages


Virgin Island weddings

I love these kind of stories. When I was a senior in college, my roommate and I went to a psychic. The only thing I remember about the session was she told me I would meet a man that would take me closer to the sea. Less than a year later, I was practically engaged to my now husband and less than 3 years from that session, I was moving to St. Thomas!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Good Luck New England!

I'm starting to get a lot of panicky emails about the weather. Even more so from my New England brides! We had an amazing wedding last night at Villa Botanica and most of the guests that attended are now stranded on St. Thomas with their return flights home cancelled because of Hurricane Sandy. Which honestly...I can't think of anything better than being FORCED to stay in the islands longer! =)

But in all seriousness, I want my brides to know that the weather here is absolutely gorgeous. The only affects of the storm are the amazing waves and kicked up ocean we can see from our back deck:






This photo was taken with my husbands cell phone so the quality is not so great - you can't really see how blue the sky is - it's not really as overcast as it looks in the photo.

This blog post was created to explain our Plan Bs to brides. Click on the link - hopefully the result will be calmed nerves! Please avoid looking at online weather sites for extended day forecasts - they are so inaccurate! Locals will get a confused look on their face if you ask them "have you looked at the weather report?" - we just don't even pay attention to it because it's so wrong all the time. I had a bride once email me and say that the week they would be on island said 30% chance of rain all week and what were we going to do?! I laughed to myself because EVERY DAY says 30% chance of rain.

My best advice:

- don't look at online weather reports
- don't waste a minute worrying about the weather. It is not something we can control, but we can control the way we react to it. You have hired a wedding planner for a reason. We will take care of Plan B. You take care of making sure there are no worry lines on your face for your photos. Everything will work out.

Besides, the only thing that matters is that by the end of the day, you are married to your best friend, right? Who cares if that is done under an umbrella or not?! =)

New Englanders: good luck!! We are thinking about you!!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Last Addition to the Giveaway!!






I know I've talked about my love for Isola Bella before. She is a local artist here on St. Thomas and her designs are so tropical & soothing. I've had a lot of brides use her work for their weddings - from welcome tote bags to canvas prints that they have used instead of the more traditional photo matte signatures. For my last addition to the giveaway, the lucky winner will receive the wooden seahorse art print (can also be used as a post card which I think would make a cool "save the date"), four Isola Bella coasters and this awesome gift bag with wooden gift tag:





So to recap the prize:

I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag book by Jennifer Gilbert (awesome read!)
St. John bookmark - specially made by donkey's (heehee)
Airline luggage tag favor
Beautiful handmade Haitian necklace that benefits artist living in Haiti
Isola Bella tote bag, wooden art print, wooden gift tag & drink coasters

And if you're lucky, I'll throw in some of my kids left over Halloween candy! =) Don't count on any chocolate, I tend to steal that for myself.

To Enter:

Post a picture of you and your groom (or now husband) on our Facebook page along with your wedding date.

Enjoy another chance to win by posting our website or Facebook page in your Facebook status.

Don't use Facebook? Just post a comment in any of our contest blog postings.

Contest ends at midnight on Halloween - the winner will be selected by random and announced the first week of December.

I'm a bit behind on my "favorite elements" challenge. I'll continue to post pictures of my favorite wedding elements this month but they may trickle into November. My apologies to any couples that are not highlighted! If you were married in October and I wasn't at your ceremony (I'm not at each wedding - some packages do not have an on-site coordinator or I have my assistant attend if we have two weddings that day) - please feel free to send me a picture of YOUR favorite element and I'll get it posted!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Congrats to Greg & Denise!

This couple was just the cutest! They chose Lindquist Beach for their ceremony and the were very relaxed and easy going about an impending storm. The rain held off until about 5 minutes before it was time to leave - perfect!

My favorite element of this wedding? Greg's seersucker suit! I love seersucker - he looked awesome!

St. Thomas weddings

Lindquist Beach

His suit may have been my favorite element - but this was my favorite moment! This rarely happens but is fun when it does!

St. Thomas weddings


Congrats Greg  Denise - we hope you loved your time in the islands!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Yet another addition to the giveaway!!

We have two more items to add to the October giveaway - come back later this week for the 2nd one!

Today I'm introducing this gorgeous, handmade necklace. I have a deep love for Haiti & it's people and have been selling these necklaces this year - 100% of the profit goes directly to the artist that made it, to help them support their family & improve their lives. Each piece is handmade by rolled scraps of newspaper, cereal boxes, etc.


Each piece comes with a card that tells you about the artisan that made it.


I'm excited to share this with the lucky winner!

How to enter the contest?!

Leave a picture of you and your fiance (or husband!) on our Facebook wall with your wedding date. You can enter a 2nd time by linking our website or blog in your Facebook status.

If you don't have a Facebook account - leave a comment on this blog post and that will count as your entry.

The winner will be selected randomly and announced the first week of November.

Congratulations to Amanda & Tyler!

Amanda and Tyler were married on October 15th on Lindquist Beach, St. Thomas. Photos are provided by Megan Biggs Photography. Isn't Amanda's ring GORGEOUS?!


My favorite element of this wedding though? Amanda's garter - this is a 3rd generation heirloom! How special is that?!


I definitely recommend fake lashes for your wedding day (Amanda, forgive me if these are real, and if they are real...I hate you.) Seriously though, how pretty are her eyes here?


Our famous rose petal toss photo:






Congrats Amanda & Tyler!!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Congratulations Kristin & Vic!

Kristin & Vic were my early birds on 10/11/12. Kristin asked me if we had any availability on 10/11/12 and I told her we were pretty full but completely open on the 10th and the 13th. She picked the 10th and then found out that the 10/11/12 date was pretty important to Vic. We were able to squeeze them in for an early morning ceremony on Lindqusit Beach, St. Thomas.







My favorite element? This photo of Vic's grandparents. The photographer, Megan Biggs, shared the story with me:




It was really important to Vic to have a picture that showed his wedding ring while holding his grandparents' picture. They were married for 52 years and their relationship was one that he admired and strives for.  His love for them and desire to include them in the wedding was very sweet!



Congratulations Kristin - it looks like you have a truly wonderful husband!! 


Katrina - if you're reading this - your photos are coming soon...I thought the photos Megan sent me said "Katrina" but they really said "Kristin"!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Congrats to Jason & Rachelle!

Yes, another 10/11/12 couple! Rachelle just sent me these photos from her photographer, a member of the Simple Island Photography team. Thanks so much for sharing Rachelle!


Favorite element? This gorgeous freshwater pearl bracelet!



Saturday, October 20, 2012

Congrats Lauren & Adrian!

Married on Lindquist Beach, St. Thomas and beautifully captured by Kelly O Photography!







Thank you Lauren for sharing these photos with me! I felt terrible that I missed Lauren's wedding. This was last month right after I returned from vacation and was hit with a horrible head cold. My voice alternated between a whisper and a goose mating call. Thankfully my wonderful assistant Kimberly was able to step in and cover for me and by looking at the photos, it looks like everything was a success!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Succulent Bouquets

Did I forget to blog this?? I just had a bride email and ask about a succulent bouquet and I thought "oh, where is that blog post I did on succulent bouquets? I'll send her the link..." and well, I couldn't find it! Maybe I forgot to blog it?! So here goes...my florist will have to forgive me as it's 10:30 at night after a long day so I just did a quick search through my library of photos to find some succulent bouquets we have had. If I find better pictures (after a good nights sleep), I'll be sure to post more.

Soft blues...


Vibrant colors...



The photos above were all from our florist. The photos below were recently shared by brides:






You know what the most awesome thing about using succulents in your bouquet? Pinch them off, throw them in water and they will continue to grow! They are hardy little buggers! You can even smuggle them back home on the plane and then when you get home, you'll have a living piece of your bouquet to keep forever (hopefully...unless you're like me and have killed every single plant you've ever owned). 



Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Gibney Beach Weddings

My husband did a wedding last week on Gibney Beach, St. John and immediately came home and said, "you have to do a blog post on Gibney, we need to do more weddings there, it is GORGEOUS". The photogarpher, Blue Glass Photography, was kind enough to send me some photos:






We don't really do too many weddings here because the site fee is pretty high at $500. But they have a wonderful beach for catering as well and it's only $500 more for the reception site fee (a total of $1000). A great feature of the beach is the villas - you can rent villas right on the beach for you & guests to stay in and enjoy. Check out Gibney Beach Villas by click on the link.

Congrats to Diana & James!

Yet another 10/11/12 wedding! Diana & James were married early on Hawksnest Beach, St. John. We chose an early time to capture the best lighting and to avoid the crowds. Hawksnest was crazy busy with weddings last year on 11/11/11 and I feared that could be true again on 10/11/12. Surprisingly, we were the only wedding there all morning!! Such a relief.

My favorite element to this wedding? The beautiful day lilies used to decorate the aisle - they fit in so well with a morning wedding:


Of course, I was also a big fan of this fun cake created by Island Sweet Stuff - loved the colors!


Monday, October 15, 2012

Congrats to Kerrie & Nick!

Another 10/11/12 couple, Kerrie & Nick actually live on St. Thomas - but spent a nice five day weekend "wedding-mooning" in St. John. We picked them up from the Westin and headed to Trunk Bay for the ceremony. 10/11/12 was a beautiful day, but in the late afternoon, darker clouds started to roll in. I think we were all a little nervous with the drive to the beach, especially when a sprinkle or two would hit the windshield.

So you know what my favorite element of their wedding day was? The AMAZING light that came out right after their ceremony. Looks at these gorgeous photos - thank you to Megan Biggs Photography for these images, I love them!




My favorite!!