St. John USVI Weddings: A must for you and your guests!

Are you planning a destination wedding on St. John? Then this is a MUST for your trip! If it's just the two of you eloping, definitely make plans to stop by Mongoose Junction in Cruz Bay to check out The Tap Room. If you're bringing friends and family down to celebration with you? Consider The Tap Room as a fun spot for a welcome party or event.

The Tap Room is an adorable little tree house type pub that offers locally brewed island beers, including a delicious Tropical Mango - but to be honest, the Liquid Sunshine Ale is my choice (how can you beat the name?!). They have great food for a welcome party or day after get together and fun little souvenirs that you can give to guests or add to their welcome bags (I picked pink for myself!). Their online store has some really great finds...does your groom have a his own man cave with a tap? An awesome wedding gift would be their custom beer taps!

Definitely check out their website and to learn more about their awesome story, check this out (believe me, it's worth watching if you've ever dreamt about moving to the islands!).



If you're interested in having an event at The Tap Room, let me know and I'll be happy to set it up for you!

Ocean Palm Villa, St. John

This was my first event at Ocean Palm Villa on St. John, way past Coral Bay. It's in a remote little location but you never even need to leave - it has it's own beach, pool and five star accommodations! This place is ah-mazing.

Jessica put a lot of work into DIY projects and we were there to make sure it all came together. One of my favorites was the photo booth.

I took this photo of the bride walking down the stairs to meet her brother would be escorting her down the aisle. I love happy accident shots like this.

The ceremony - the 2nd picture was taken from inside the house so the color is a little muted but I wanted to show the amazing view.

This was a fun group - the bridal party Gangham Styled down the aisle and during the reception, we staged the Harlem Shake! They went ALL OUT with the costumes, loved it!!

My youngest daughter is a huge fan of penguins - she loved the photo above! I may need to get one of these costumes for her birthday party this summer - I think my husband would look cute in it!

We're home!

We made it back to the islands earlier this week and are glad to be back. Although, after viewing the images of this wedding we had in June on St. John, at the lovely A La Mer Villa, I wish THIS were home!!

Check out this back yard!!





And the front yard isn't too shabby either!



I'm not sure I could rent this place for a week's vacation - they would have to have security remove me. Great job to Eric Johnson of Paradise Pictures - lovely!

Pyros of the Caribbean!

We've used this group before and they always amaze me! I think its one of the best fire shows in the Caribbean. Pyros performed for us last week at our Rhumblines reception in St. John - if you're friends with Island Bliss Weddings on Facebook, you may have seen my iPhone pictures of the performance. EJ of Paradise Pictures sent these over though - much better than iPhone pics!

Excitement in the air...

I've already experienced an influx of emails from potential 2010 brides...a result of Christmas Eve & Christmas Day engagements. The days leading up the NYE though, you can just feel the electricity in the air as girlfriends everyone are wondering if the New Year will elevate them to fiance and then to wife status! My own husband popped the question on New Year's Eve 2003 - seems like eons ago that we celebrated afterwards by walking the freezing cold streets of Boston after dinner at our favorite little Northend eatery. It really is the best part of my job, being involved with one of the most exciting days a couple can share together. It's so fun to get a email from a new bride, her excitement radiating from her words.

We'll be closing out 2009 where else, but at a wedding! This will be my first NYE wedding and I'm really looking forward to making it special. And I know at some point during the night, I'm going to take a minute to reflect back on that cold Boston night where I became engaged and also feel a little jolt of excitement for all the soon-to-be brides around the world that will have their hearts skip a beat on NYE when someone ask them a simple little question...let me be the first to offer a very warm congratulations!

Hitting the High Seas

I love boat weddings, they are so unique and so much fun for your guests. I think it takes a certain type of couple to want one of these weddings though. They are not your traditional, walk down the aisle type affairs. They usually end with the bride & groom jumping off the boat in their wedding clothes! I always get such positive feedback from guests though, how much fun they had, how they will always remember this wedding, etc. They really end up being a great value too - the boat provides breakfast, lunch, snacks, FULL open bar (no skimping on the bar with any boat company!) and snorkel equipment. Yes, I said snorkel equipment. You don't get that included too many times with traditional weddings, whether they are destination weddings or not! You can chose to do a full day event, 1/2 day event, sunset cruise, etc. Lots of different options - with the ceremony on the beach and the reception on the boat following or both on board.

I grabbed a few shots to share with you from a wedding this past weekend. Here are the guests, getting used to the boat, nice background, huh?



The bride and her father, walking down the "aisle"...



Not a bad ceremony site!



And their off to the reception - Honeymoon Beach on St. John for snorkeling and swimming!



If you want to stay a little more traditional with the wedding, don't overlook this option for a very fun welcome party or post-wedding brunch.

Real Life Experience...

So I brought my Flip Video Camera with me to my beach wedding Saturday morning. This wedding took place at Hawksnest Beach, St. John. It was a 10:30 ceremony with reception following at the Waterfront Bistro in Cruz Bay afterwards. Everything was set up and ready to go, I was just waiting around for everyone to show up when I decided to make a little video.



Now, I really should have narrated it as I went, because the script going on in my head was pretty funny. You'll see I had the bouquet in front of me, pretending to be the bride, walking down to the beach, seeing the empty chairs, the steel pan man's set up, and boom, it dawns on me that I'm getting married! And you see I hightail it back to the car...I think I'm funny, I don't know, do you? =) Next time I'll add the screams that were in my head.

Don't you love the little pathway down to the beach though? Such a perfect aisle.

This wedding was really a gorgeous one - I really wish I had pictures of her bridesmaids and their colors, it...was beautiful, I just don't know how else to describe it. I mean, check out the flowers below and imagine them with beautiful girls in short black dresses with a bright green ribbon around their waist. It was unbelievable. If the photographer shares some photos with me, I'll definitely post them here.



And probably my favorite element of the wedding? This sign made by the GROOM for his bride as a surprise! I put groom in all caps, because this is just not the creativity you see from my grooms. I love these types of personal touches!

Not a bad commute, eh?

I snapped this photo on my way home from a sunset wedding on St. John last week. All the cars are lined up waiting to get on the ferry and the sun had just about set...

The next big wedding song...

My husband came home the other day and immediately went to his computer to download this song. He had heard it on the radio and said, "this is the next big first dance song, just wait and see..."



It is a gorgeous song, and I agree, it would make a great first dance song! I didn't spend too much time looking into it, but apparently, you can customize the video and add a photo of you and your beloved. It would be a pretty darn cool way to pop the question, don't you think?

I'm not Dilly Dally!

I've been screaming this in my head all day - I've been meaning to get a photo of the prize up on the blog all week but we are knee deep in wedding season right now. It has been so busy. There is a voice in the back of my head that keeps reminding me to do this but I just haven't found time...whenever my daughter (who turns 3 in August yet I'm not comfortable calling her a three year old yet!) is taking her sweet time doing something, we always tell her not to dilly dally - she gets so frustrated when she hears this and says, "I'm NOT Dilly Dally! I'm MARLEY!" Cracks us up everytime. So yes, while that voice in my head keeps reminding me to hurry up and get this posted, there is another voice in my head screaming back, "I'm not Dilly Dally!"

That was a lot to explain why this wasn't up sooner, huh? =)

Bill, I hope you and your fiance enjoy a box of locally made Caribbean Rum Balls. These make great additions to welcome bags or favors to be set at everyone's seat. I've also thrown in a USVI bumper sticker and will include some local brochures on St. Thomas and St. John.



And for my runner up Amber, that is a surprise her. Amber is expecting a very special baby this summer, Megan Grace, and there is a little something in the package for you and your mommy. And sorry Amber, it is not two tickets to come back down to St. Thomas. Business is good, but not that good!

Let's do a Give Away!

Yippee!

I read tons of blogs and a lot of them are doing give-aways. Who doesn't like to win something?? Now, I know how many hits this blog gets a day and I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in my lack of comments. So, in order to win, you have to leave a comment with your first name & email address and also how you are "related" to this blog...are you a past bride, current bride, friend of mine, a local vendor or just a fan of destination weddings? The prize will depend on who you are, so I will announce the winner & prize on Monday. So do it now - leave me a comment!!

Home Sweet Home

One of the first questions I hear when picking up a bride & groom is always a variation of "How long have you lived here?" - "Did you grow up here?" - "Where are you from, originally?" - and the answer always starts with Indiana. It's where my family is, where I grew up, went to college...and escaped from as soon as I graduated! Actually, I have a deep love of Indiana and strong sense of Indiana Pride, but it's no joke that I was in a hurry to escape from it's long, cold winters.

I'm actually here this week visiting family and attending my friends wedding (so nice to just attend and not plan!). I won't be back on island until May 4th, so I want to apologize in advance for any delays in email. I always try to respond within 24 hours but being away, it is closer to 48 and embarrassingly, in some cases longer. Please bear with me as I try to catch up!

The importance of photography...

can be explained just by looking at the photo. Greer Rivera took these amazing shots of my wedding in St. John last month. The couple were married on Trunk Bay with their ceremony at Villa Rhapsody (I shared a few photos of the reception awhile back). I am so pleased with the results from Greer - she captured just some amazing memories for this couple. Anytime they want a little get-away, they can just open up their wedding album...

In honor of Good Friday...

I had these images put aside to blog about at a later date - just a little entry to talk about personalizing your bouquet. But I realize it has been since Tuesday since my last entry and thought, hmm...anything special I could do for Good Friday? And of course, these images popped into my head!

I'm celebrating Easter early with my family tomorrow and boating all day on Sunday with friends so I want to wish all my couples, past, present & future, a Happy Easter Weekend!

Dreamy

Remember that dreamy dress I blogged about last week? Blue Glass Photography shot that wedding and Alain sent over this photo for me yesterday. Dreamy dress, dreamy sunset, just dreamy...

Toughest part of my job...

Looking at all the beautiful desserts and not being able to eat them....could you imagine how huge I would be if I had a piece of cake from every wedding I attended?!

The bride sent us this table cloth for the table and VI Desserts whipped up these beautiful cupcakes with sugar flowers on top. A little sprinkling of starfish and voila! A beautiful dessert table...

I want a redo!

And I want to redo it in this dress! I just love the style of this dress my bride wore last week at her wedding on Trunk Bay, St. John. The mermaid style, the detail around the chest...just gorgeous and totally my style. She looked amazing! Her make-up and hair was done by Sugar & Spice, I love what a great job they did.

Here is the bride with her sister - having two daughters myself, this just warms my heart and I love how one is brunette and one is blonde. I currently have two little blondies and it makes me excited to see how they will grow and change into women - how they will look so similar and yet different at the same time. Ah...sisters...they are the best!


And look how amazing Trunk Bay was for her photos. I can't wait to see the professional photos taken by Alain at Blue Glass Photography. He showed me a few on his camera and they were just gorgeous. You can see him & Mike at High Definition Video busy a work.


Sunset...


Absolutely beautiful wedding - Trunk Bay is just magical!

Save The Dates!

I'm so glad etsy.com wasn't around when I was planning my wedding in 2005. I'm so addicted to buying things there for my two young daughters, I can't even imagine how much stuff I would have bought for my wedding! Out of curiosity today, I jumped over to the wedding section and typed in BEACH. Found these Save the Dates and fell in love!






They are by beyonddesign. She also has these awesome invitations (you'll have to go to her site to see the larger version!).

Trunk Bay, St. John

Trunk Bay on St. John is a wonderful location for a ceremony. I can not wait to get the professional photos to share with everyone. This bride added a lot of personal touches. I love the fabric used on the arch - so colorful!



And her reception was just outstanding. Held on the deck of their privately rented villa (Villa Rhapsody), the view was just stunning!



I'll post professional photos as soon as I can.

Every once in awhile...

I have a groom that tries to escape. Don't worry ladies. Part of my coordination fee goes towards dragging their butts back to shore...