Tuesday, August 27, 2013

A great local island favor!


I was in one of the higher end grocery stores on St. Thomas last week and saw a little display with these adorable mason jars filled with local rum cake. I immediately thought these would make awesome wedding favors! Locally made local products are always the most sought after favors for island weddings and this one is too cute. Check them out at Virgin Island Rum Cakes!

PS Another great thing about these favors? They're local so you don't have to worry about shipping them here or bringing them with you!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Face-ka-bobs!

You may remember I attended my brothers wedding back in April. April is a very busy wedding season for us and it just wasn't possible for my husband to join me for the wedding, as he needed to stay behind for weddings here in the islands. I was pretty bummed that he couldn't come...the way our business works, it's really hard for both of us to be off island at the same time and he often misses out on events. I knew I would be bummed that he wouldn't be in any family photos and then an idea came to me....Face-ka-bobs!

Face Ka Bobs allows you to upload a headshot and then they will turn it into a "head on a stick" (I Google's "head on a stick" in order to find a company that could make this for me...I don't recommend Googling "head on a stick" - stay away from the images section).

I had to trick my husband into looking into the camera for me and smiling. I told him I was testing something on my camera and he obliged. I then sent them the image and they sent me this awesomeness in the mail:



I didn't tell him I had done this so I texted him the above photos from the wedding...his response was "that's really creepy and awesome".

I hope my sister-in-law didn't mind him photo bombing a couple family portraits...



How creepy and awesome are Face-ka-bobs?! I know how many of my couples have friends and family back home that aren't able to join them for their destination weddings...wouldn't this be a fun surprise for them?! Show them a picture of "them" on the beach with you on your wedding day?!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Oriental Trading Co...who knew?!

I'm not new to Oriental Trading Co by any means. I've always used them for fun kids craft projects, inexpensive holiday decor and of course, birthday parties. The selection is vast and the prices are wonderful.

My oldest daughter is turning 7 at the end of this month and we're giving her a nautical theme celebration. I headed to Oriental Tradings website and typed in "Nautical" to get some ideas on decor and favors. What I found in this section for weddings was what surprised me. I went ahead and ordered some items to get an idea of their quality and if they would work for a wedding.

I ordered a set of these starfish which I thought would look great dispersed through a long table/centerpiece. They are a little pricey at $24 for the set though. They look pretty cute in my office next to our coral pieces.


Another centerpiece idea I saw was this $20 terrarium. I filled it with shells and a starfish - a piece of fan coral would look great in here too but I didn't have a piece small enough. The top does not have a glass piece so this would work well with a candle inside.


If you're having a cruise ship wedding, you can get A LOT of great stuff. I ordered these bags for my daughters party favors.

 

They must have been a big hit because I can't find them on their site anymore. I did find this replacement though which I think would actually work better. The tote above is very thin and being white, you can see through it with stuff inside of it. This tote is all navy so you wouldn't have that issue.

For my daughters party, I bought these to put inside but they could be fun for a wedding too.


But there's a lot of other great nautical themed gifts you could put inside such as this, this and this.

There was a whole slew of nautical themed wedding ideas. A popular idea these days are the wishing tree and I was surprised to see one for only $5! I ordered it just to see what the quality was like and I have to say, for $5 - it was a good deal!



Guests add their well wishes to the bride and groom on the little tag and hang it on the tree.

 
The tags are not very big though, so there probably isn't much that they could really say before running out of room. But it's a cute idea and only $5. One of the best deals I saw was this: wedding cake bunting. These are really popular lately and sell for a much MUCH higher amount of Etsy. These are only $3 on Oriental Trading! For something that will most likely get thrown away at the end of the night, $3 is a good deal.

You can see the entire Nautical Wedding Theme Collection they have here. But don't stop there...shop around and see what else you find (and if it's really cool - let me know about it!). I'm there today shopping for some back to school goodies for my girls to take on their first day and I can never resist checking out the fun stuff they have for Halloween!

(This is not a sponsored post. Oriental Trading has not asked me to write about them nor are they paying for this post. I just really like them!)

Monday, August 12, 2013

Congrats Alison & Grant - all the way from the UK!

I know I've said it many times before but I love hearing from past brides. Alison sent me this note and a few of her photos from her wedding (thanks Megan Biggs!).



Apologies that this has taken some time to send but Grant and I would like to say a HUGE Thank You to you and Stuart for helping us tie the knot last November.

When communicating purely via email sometimes it can be a little bit testing but from the reviews on your website I felt assured that we had chosen the correct way to tie the knot.

I didn't expect to be sea sick on my 1st cruise especially as people told me I wouldn't feel the ship move but on the day of the wedding I amazingly felt great .. Well that was until we were told that the ship couldn't dock as it normally did but instead it would be berthed and we would be transported to the shore via lifeboat vessels ... Oh my word my heart went into full blown overdrive .....

However, on reaching the exit with my parents to see my handsome lad standing there waiting for me I knew that I could overcome this .. And I did :-)

Due to the delay it was a bit rushed but your husband Scott talked us through the whole process. Gave us a history lesson on route to Lindquist Beach and then it was like "whoa - this place is stunning"

Then the nerves started again when I was left in the car on my own for a short time until you arrived to welcome me and chat ...... I almost burst into tears at the sight of my bouquet it was stunning, and will be permanently ingrained in my memory.

It's funny to hear someone else who really doesn't know us to talk about our history together like we were best of friends as that's how it felt when Scott was conducting the ceremony .. But I knew that this was just PERFECT :-) and exactly what we wanted, just the two of us and my parents.  Yes it would have been nice to have other family there but it wouldn't have been the same and it wouldn't have been us as we are a private couple and like to do things our way.

Lindquist Beach is just stunning, there are no other words that can describe it and the ceremony was exactly us .. And we cannot recommend you, Scott, Megan (photographer) and St Thomas or Lindquist Beach enough ........ Truly AMAZING :-)






Thursday, August 8, 2013

Congrats to Charlie & Caitlin!

They were featured on Jet Fete! I love to see our weddings featured on destination wedding blogs! Click on the photo below to be taken to the post.

July Re-Cap!

I have to say, I'm kind of impressed that my July Re-Cap is getting done by August 8th! Last month was busier than expected and then my trip away got extended a few extra days (I thought I would be back on the 29th but didn't fly in until the 31st). I had such a great time in Vegas with my friends and it was the first time in a long time that I got to participate in the bachelorette party instead of plan one!


I only saw one wedding while I was in Vegas - the photographer and the couple were taking pictures in front of the fountains at the Mirage. A few years ago it seemed I saw at least a couple of weddings  day in Vegas...maybe everyone is realizing the Caribbean is best?! :)

So here we go! July re-cap! Again, if your July wedding is not featured its probably because I don't have any photos of your day - please send them to me and I'll be happy to do a blog post on your wedding! I love sharing photos with our clients but I don't always have them available.

This is one of my favorite types of weddings - more for the adventurous couple that just wants to have fun! It's perfect for just the two of you or up to 2 other couples. You just rent a boat for the day, get married on a secluded little beach and spend the rest of the day island hopping, snorkeling and having fun!


I need to do a full blog post on this wedding - this reception was so lovely. This was at Bolongo Bay under the tent. Dancing in the sand, waves lapping up near your reception, what could be better right? This is just a teaser, I promise to do a post on just this wedding soon.


And my monthly bouquet dump...I like to post them here before putting them up on our photo album site. 










And I still want to do a blog post just dedicated to boutonnieres.



How cool are these guys? The bride & groom were actually crew members of the Disney Ship. You'd be surprised at how many crew member weddings we coordinate each month!


The following photos and the one above are from Brewer's Bay. Brewer's Bay gets mixed reviews but at the same time, I think its a great spot for photos.



I especially love the ruins there for photography.


I love this couple below...and no, they didn't get married with these shirts on, but they wanted a photo with them so they could submit it to The Chive. I hope they get selected!


And adorable little cake with a good lesson - make sure the cake topper isn't too heavy for the cake. This cute little couple took a header right into the icing. Thankfully it didn't break and the only damage was a bit of frosting in the "grooms" hair.


I love creative toasts shots! The photographers usually end up sandy but it's worth it.


This couple was sooooo sweet! They met in South Florida at a tango class. After the ceremony, they tango'd to three different songs the groom had chosen for them.


Lovely photos from a sunset wedding on Hawksnest Beach - she had on a short dress but you can't tell in the first photo!



And a morning wedding on Hawksnest. This group arrived via Calypso Charters to Hawksnest for their ceremony - that's a fun entrance!


Possibly one of my favorite images from July - American Beach Gothic


This couple had all the guests wearing the Hawaiian print shirts and all the ladies had on matching ankle leis - this was on Lindquist Beach, St. Thomas:


And some gorgeous centerpieces from a Sand Dollar wedding. This color scheme is becoming very popular with the mercury glass and silver tones.


The couple had little silver picture frames with photos of themselves dispersed throughout the tables, I thought this was a great little touch.


Another bride opted instead of rose petals or rice, they had a gold pirate coin toss exit! How cute is that! The coins were actually very light plastic so no danger of anyone getting hurt!


A birds eye view of Sand Dollar Beach.


July was definitely "Donkey Season" in St. John. They came out in droves to cheer our couples on (and eat any bouquets they could get their mouths on)!




This couple below sent me some great images captured by Blue Glass Photography - I plan to do a blog post on them soon.


Our white lanterns have become very popular for centerpieces as well as aisle decor. 


I attended the first US Virgin Islands Bridal Symposium - they pushed me into opening a Twitter account. Follow me! (click the Twitter link - but I don't post often - it still confuses me)


How beautiful is this boat?! Hoping to do a blog post on it very soon.


And that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed our July Re-Cap post!