Congratulations Kenny & Jackie!

Kenny & Jackie were married yesterday on Lindquist Beach. They were our one of two guests bloggers that we had back in October! I had SO MUCH fun at their wedding yesterday, I felt like one of the guests. They are a super cool couple (and avid blog readers) all the way from Scotland. Kenny looked so handsome in his kilt!



If you click on the hyperlink above, you can read about Jackie's idea of incorporating the Scottish thisle into her bouquet. She brought the flowers with her. They came out gorgeous!



And you know what the coolest thing about Kenny & Jackie is? Other than their adorable accent? How nice they are! They brought me an awesome gift all the way from Scotland. This is a Scottish Friendship Cup, also known as a Quaich. Next time they come to St. Thomas, they are going to drink whiskey out of it with me! =)



And can you find my favorite part?



The thistle!!

Lindquist, Orange, and Paradise Pictures....

Mix it all together and you can't really ask for more! Check out these pictures that EJ from Paradise Pictures shared with me from one of our weddings:

Check out that unbelievable water!



I love shots like this, where the rings and champagne are in focus but the bride and groom are slightly blurred...



A bit out of order but hey, it's been a long day and I'm too tired to rearrange it. =)



And that bright orange POP that is so pretty with the blue water! By the way, this bride & groom visited St. Thomas via Oasis of the Seas (the new BIG ship from Royal Caribbean). She brought her bouquet with her, getting the fresh flowers from the ship. They looked great!




And um....before I forget...I did it! 17 posts in the month of March!! It may be 8:15pm on the 31st, but darn it, I did it! I think that is the record for me with blog posts in one month. And I admit, I did cheat by doing a post with just a picture and did a couple of days with two posts per day. But I did it regardless of my cheating tactics. =)

I (usually) know what I'm talking about....

I never try to hide the fact that I've only lived on island since Fall of 2004 and have really only been a "real wedding planner" since Spring of 2005. Seeing as I have only lived on island for less than 6 years, I know a lot about the islands but I definitely never pretend to know everything. But when people ask me a question that I'm confident I know, I usually answer with, well...confidence. This confidence made me look like a real winner a few months ago!

I had a couple in town for their big wedding day and I met with them a few days prior to the wedding to check out the beach & reception location. The wedding was on St. John and they picked me up from the ferry in their rental car. As we were driving to the beach, they were asking me about the tides. They had been to the beach the day before and mentioned that the tide was very high and did I know if the tide would be lower at the time they were to be married? As I understood it, because of how close we are to the equator, we really don't have high and low tide here. Because of this, there isn't a very measurable change in the depth of the beach at anytime during the day. I told them that the water level they saw the day before would probably be the same at anytime tomorrow.

Then we got to the beach. And there was NO beach. The water was so high, there was absolutely NO WHERE we could have had the ceremony. The Virgin Islands may be famous for their beaches, but we are not like Florida - where there is miles and miles of coastline beaches that are a quarter mile in depth (from the water to the road/non-beach area).

When I got home, I gave my husband a scolding for making me look like an idiot - "I thought there were no tides here?! What is going on with that beach??" - it's not tides he told me, but the storm surge. We had had a lot of crazy weather that week and it caused a storm surge with the water levels, making them higher up on the beach. The waves, which usually are nice and gentle, were quite large that week. Here is an example:

Plenty of space on Hawksnest Beach:



Until a wave comes in...where'd the beach go???



We had to set up the ceremony at the far end of this beach in a space higher up on the sand, to avoid people's feet from getting wet. The waves would come in pretty high though and at one point before the ceremony began, came in high enough to reach the decorated conch shells. Two conch shells were almost reclaimed by the sea! As any of my past brides will tell you, I have a pretty calm & even demeanor. I really had to bite my lip not to be the crazy wedding planner running out to the ocean to grab back her conch shells!! I sadly watched them go...until two little boys in the wedding ran in and grabbed them for me! I was so thankful for those little boys at that moment. They felt like heroes (and they were!) and I didn't have to embarrass myself in front of my clients guests!

This storm surge seems to be more of a problem in the winter months but can really happen any time of year. Lindquist Beach has become a very popular spot on St. Thomas for weddings...but to be honest, I never recommend it for larger groups. The beach has a prominent slop, making it hard to set up an arch & chairs and the water is very often higher up on the beach in this location. These pictures show how perfect it is for a smaller group.






But yet we were lucky enough a few weeks ago to have 40 chairs and an arch on Lindquist Beach - something that is not easily done!