Missing us?!

We did move! Check out the new blog here: www.islandblissweddings.com/blog

We're Back!

We're back from a very fun trip to Ireland - it was great taking some time off but we're now back to work!

Have you checked out our new website at www.islandblissweddings.com? We're going to start using the blog over there now. I'm sad to say goodbye to the Blogspot blog - it's been fun and easy to use. But definitely come check out us here!

We are on VACATION!!

If you are trying to reach us by phone from October 4th to the 20th...it's not going to happen. :) We are officially on vacation but don't fret, we will still be checking emails daily, as long as we have internet connection. Phone messages will be returned October 22nd. If you need to reach us sooner, please email. It may be a day or two or three before we can get back to you, but we definitely will.

Off we go!

Something NEW!

Have you noticed the new website?!?!?! EEEKKKK!!! So excited that it launched last night!!

Click here to see it!

(If you still see the old site, you may need to refresh your page as the old site may be cached on your computer.)

What else is new? The packages!! If you are already booked with Island Bliss Weddings, you do not need to choose a new package. You do have your choice of keeping your package or switching to a new one.

The site still needs to be tweaked a bit - I'm going to add more albums to our gallery page for example (our Shutterfly page will remain active for now). It may take some time for our gallery page to be complete, as there is a lot to add! I'll also be adding additional information added on the new items such as the Island Bliss Wedding gift bag and rum cakes. I also haven't figured out yet how to updated the blog in the website so that it matches the content here. Learning new tricks...I've never been good at it. It's why I still have the iPhone4. :)

I'd love some feedback on the new site! What do you think of the new designs?!

And just because I hate posts without photos...

September Re-Cap!

It's that time again - recaps!! I love doing the monthly re-cap and sharing some of my favorite photos from the past months weddings. Please keep in mind that I do not have photos from each wedding so if you were married in September and do not see a photo from your event, its just because I don't have any to share! Feel free to email me your favorites and I'd love to do a blog post on you!

The water at Lindquist Beach (above and below) has been soooooo blue lately.

It only took about 30 times to get them all jumping at the same time! :) 

Gorgeous morning light at Hawksnest Beach, St. John

 One of my favorite parts of my job is checking out all the rings! I love jewelry.

Everyone loves our palm trees. These at Lindquist Beach are tall & majestic!

This bride made her own boutonnieres and you know I love it when my brides incorporate my seahorses!

 Don't you LOVE our new sign?! I posted a photo of it on Facebook and 114 Likes!!

I like to give a little love to our florist - they always do such a great job for us! Some of the great bouquets from September.

 

And a cute little vegan cake by VI Desserts!

 

I snapped this before a gorgeous sunset wedding on Trunk Bay for a couple visiting all the way from Greece (well, both are from Greece, he lives in Atlanta and she recently moved there to be with him!)

 

But this couple?! This is my favorite couple of the month! Why? Because she is an awesome freind of mine from college! Erin just visited this past week her with fiance and will return next May to be married at Sand Dollar Estate, St. Thomas. I can't wait!!

 

Not so simple centerpiece

 

If you are on Pinterest I have no doubt you have seen this photo - it's everywhere!! And I must have brides send this to me at least 3 or 4 times a month. I recently sent it to my florist to get an update on the cost and I mentioned to her how this is the centerpiece that just won't stop and she said this was the 4th request she had for it this week alone!! 

But I think this simple centerpiece is not as simple as it appears - it's deceiving, that centerpiece is lying to you!! First, the price tag. With the fresh sand (you can't use beach sand for this), the vase rental and the flowers (a peony is most likely going to be used here instead of the garden rose), delivery and set up, you're looking at $30 per vase. $30 for a centerpiece isn't bad, I agree. But that's where the photo is deceiving. This vase is really not all that large is size and would look very small on a table by itself. It should be used as an accent piece to a larger centerpiece. If you look closely at the photo, you can see there are two more of these vases in the background. You'll need to use a lot of them to make an impact on the table. Then the simple centerpiece idea starts to add up in price. 

 This centerpiece is a similar in it's soft romantic tones but has more impact and at less cost:

Changes in Payment Options

We have been doing a huge cleanup around here - our spring is way too busy so we like to call this "fall cleaning". We have a very exciting announcement to make by the end of this week but a "eh" announcement to make right now - not very exciting, but important.

During our fall cleaning, we evaluated our payment options that we have for clients. We found that we either need to raise our rates or we need to eliminate our transaction fees paid to credit card companies.We decided its not fair to raise rates on everyone when not everyone is paying with a credit card.

Since the change will take place for all weddings starting November 1st, we emailed all of our November and December couples directly to inform them of the changes so they could prepare. We also wanted to make an announcement here as well. Here is a copy of the email our November & December couples received, explaining the new Payment Options.
 
If you wish to pay by PayPal: We will only be able to accept PayPal transfers. We will not be able to accept payments via credit card with PayPal. Debit cards are ok, as well as eChecks.

If you wish to pay by Credit Card: For all credit card payments, you will be charged a 3% transaction fee.

Other payment methods:

Payments by checks must be received at least 14 days prior to your wedding date.

Cash, money orders and cashier's checks will be accepted at any time leading up to your wedding day. Everything must be paid in full by the start of the ceremony.

Boutonnieres for the men in your life...

We have a bridal bouquet post, a maids bouquet post and a centerpiece post but it's finally the boys turn: a boutonniere post!

I've been wanting to do one for awhile now but recently our florist has asked for a change in the pricing for a boutonniere and I realized, now is the time! For years, our florist has included the grooms boutonniere in with the cost of the brides bouquet and each additional boutonniere was $10 each. But over the time, boutonnieres have received more attention and become more stylized.

Before I go any further on this post, I'm going to say that our florist will always match the boutonniere to the bouquet UNLESS request not to. A lot of brides will email me and ask if the boutonniere will match and I always wonder, "why wouldn't it?!". A florist isn't going to add a bright red boutonniere when a bride has asked for soft peach and sage bouquet.

Back to our posting. :)

From now on we'll have "simple" boutonnieres for $10 each or "premium" boutonnieres for $20 each. All bouquets included in the package will include a simple boutonniere but can be upgraded for $10. Simple boutonnieres will have 1 flower and a simple stem (no ribbon) such as this:

Sometimes they may add a 2nd bloom, but it will be up to the florist discretion.

The premium bouquets will have a ribbon or burlap wrap on them like this:

So I've gone through some of the boutonniere pictures I've collect and figured I would post them here and state whether they were "simple" or "premium" to give you an idea of what to expect.

These are examples of premium boutonnieres:

I know this boutonniere is small but it is considered premium due to the intricate twine wrap.

These are examples of "simple" boutonnieres:

Yes, this has a ribbon but the flower very small so its still considered simple

So I hope this helps when considering a boutonniere. Overall, you'll need to make two decisions: which color you prefer and if you'd like to upgrade. And if you don't have a preference on either, that's OK too!

Unplugged Wedding: A brilliant idea!!

I found this article online yesterday and re-posted it to our Facebook page. I thought it was BRILLIANT! One of my brides responded with "wow, I never thought about all that" and I realized, yes, I guess it's true, its not something couples probably think about...but as someone who coordinates hundreds of weddings per year, its something I see at every single wedding that involves guests. It has vendors looking at each other, slightly shaking their heads with "why are they doing that?!". And honestly, I know the reason WHY but what guests don't realize is, their reason why is well...wrong.

Guests that attend your wedding are the most special people in your lives, its the reason you invited them in the first place! Friends from childhood, your beloved family, etc come out to support you on one of the happiest days of your life. These people love you and want the best for you. And often times, they are looking for ways to make sure your day is perfect. The most obvious way to "help" is often in the palm of their hand...their camera. Many guests will snap away all day, in hopes of presenting you with wonderful memories that may otherwise be lost. This idea, in general, is very sweet & loving. It's a very kind act. But it's completely unnecessary and way too often, results in the opposite of helpful.

When our couples are getting married and look out into the crowd of their guests, they are most often greeted with this:

Guests more focused on getting a great shot - noses pointed into their phones or cameras, not fully enjoying the moment of watching two people they care about joining together in marriage.

And what's even more challenging is getting these guests out of the way for the professional photographer that has been hired to be there. Way too often I see guests leaning out into the aisle to get a center shot of the bride and groom, or even jumping up and standing at the end of the aisle to get the bride & groom walking like this guy here in the blue shirt:

 

Thankfully he was quick with his photo and moved to the side but this was after the officiate had asked guests to clear to the side. And what if he wasn't quick? There would have been nothing the photographer could have done while he stood in the middle of the aisle taking photos (short of yelling GET OUT OF THE WAY but that's probably not the behavior or disruption you're looking for in this special moment). 

You are paying a lot of money for a professional photographer to capture these moment for you. Many guests assume that you are purchasing the images from the photographer although every single photographer we work with gives you all the edited images. Aunt Betty is not going to save you any money by snapping photos behind the photographers back so that you don't have to buy the same image (nor is Aunt Betty's disposable camera going to produce the same image as a professional photographer). I think its especially important during group photos to tell guests to put their cameras down. Too many cameras creates too much confusion for the subjects to know who they are supposed to look at - and it also wastes a lot of your photographers time as we have to wait for the photographer to get everyone's attention and then the photographer has to wait while four other cameras try to get the same photo. Or you end up with some guests looking one way and the others looking the other. 

The article I linked above suggested having the officiate invite guests to unplug and enjoy the ceremony with this wording:

“Welcome, friends and family! Good evening, everyone. Please be seated. Dan and Jennifer invite you to be truly present at this special time. Please, turn off your cell phones and put down your cameras. The photographer will capture how this moment looks -- I encourage you all to capture how it feels with your hearts, without the distraction of technology. If Dan can do it, then so can you.”

I thought this was great. And if you have a program for guests, I think adding a short little paragraph asking guests to let their cameras rest and enjoy the ceremony is a great idea as well. Many of our weddings only have 1 hour of photography and too many "guests photographers" really put a cramp on this timeline. Let guests know that the professional photographer is only there for a short time and there will be plenty of opportunities for them to take their own pictures once the photographer has left. I know how hard it can be for someone to put down their camera. I am so guilty of this with my kids...not fully enjoying a recital or theme park because I want to capture memories of their childhood for them in film. But honestly, the best memories are the ones you create by fully being in the moment. Let the professional photographer worry about capturing your day and make it easier on them by asking guests to let their cameras rest! 

An oldie but goodie....

Shot by the amazing Elisha Orin back in .... February! I've had these photos on my laptop for quite awhile! Samantha and her guests arrived on the Carnival Glory, were married on Lindquist Beach and enjoyed a fun reception at Iggies at Bolongo Bay. Love these images!

Congrats to Anne & Jonathon!

Anne has such a great sense of style. I loved all the elements she put together. This gorgeous wedding was shot by Clary Pfeiffer at the Sand Dollar Estate. The adorable wedding cake was by Island Sweet Stuff. Adorable Pomeranian ring bearer? Brought from home. :)