Caribbean Tourism Organization

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take part in a mini-trade show that the US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism was sponsoring for the Caribbean Tourism Organization. I actually took a part of it with the St. Thomas & St. John Wedding Association. It was really a fun way to meet travel agents in the Caribbean market. I, along with Eric Johnson of Paradise Pictures and Ashley Armitage of Ashley Photography, represented our group (which includes Passion Fruit Chefs, VI Desserts, Chris Robbert music, Sugar & Spice Artistry, East End Flower Shop, DJ Snow and HiDef Video - check out the website at www.viweddingassociation.org!).

Our little booth:



We didn't have any give-aways at our booth, but Biras Creek of Virgin Gorda had killer canvas tote bags they were giving away! I chatted up the rep from their resort in hopes she would hand me one, but no such luck. I love give-aways! Next year, I'll have to pretend I'm a travel agent instead. =)

The highlight of the show for me was the Caribbean Ritual Dancers. They put on an AMAZING show and even had a traditional moko jumbie perform and entertain the crowd. We've hired them before to entertain at weddings and they are always a huge hit.





Thank you to the Wyndham Sugar Bay for hosting the event and to the tourism department for sponsoring it!

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...

Name Cards...love this!

I can not take credit for this idea or this wedding, I believe all the credit goes to the bride and Havana Blue, but I just had to share this. I am definitely looking forward to a bride that wants to do this at her own reception. I think it is so beautiful!

Of course, not every wedding really needs name cards or a seating chart. But I have found that when you have a larger crowd and multiple tables, people actually do like to be told where to sit. I've been to too many weddings in the states where the bride decided to let people chose where to sit and what happens is, guests arrive at the reception and throw their purse or coat on a seat and walk away. So as you walk around and try to find a place to sit, you have no idea how many seats are taken up at a table, who you are sitting with, if there is enough room for the other couple you want to sit with, etc...Ok, I'm going off course. This really isn't a problem at destination weddings, but I wanted to vent my frustration to those stateside brides - use a seating chart! People expect and appreciate it!

So, back to the subject...place cards. I've seen them done a million different ways and my favorite is when they double as a favor (more to come on this subject later). But the other day, I stumbled upon a wedding and I was just delighted with the bride's decision to make the place cards work double duty as table decor. Check these out!



Overall, these may be a little pricier than your everyday card holder but on the other hand, you don't have to spend as much for table decor. The rose head is going to cost about $3 per rose, but you can get the glass votive fairly cheaply at places like save-on-crafts.com and orientaltrading.com. For me, the challenge would be to make the actual card, but that's because we don't have a craft store on the island. A bride could easily make the cards at home, ship them to me and we could make a gorgeous display of these at the entrance of the reception. Guest could pick up their name card/favor/table decor and head to their seat. These really looked wonderful on all the tables.

The best part? How well they coordinated with the amazing wedding cake from VI Desserts:

Have your cake...

and eat it too! I just love this cake from our wedding last night at Havana Blue on St. Thomas. The blue matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly. More pictures to come soon!

Yummy Alternative

Mmmmm...our bride & groom on Saturday chose to have delicious chocolate covered strawberries from VI Desserts at their ceremony instead of a traditional wedding cake. Since their wedding was on Magen's Bay, it was really nice to have a sweet treat that guests could pick up and eat like an appetizer instead of balancing a slice of wedding cake on their plate. And what's better than champagne & strawberries??


I'm not one to discourage anyone from cake though (it's my favorite!). This particular bride had us deliver two cakes to her ship so that everyone could enjoy cake at dinner that night on the ship. You definitely want to make sure this is ok with your cruiseline though.

Cake Toppers

When a bride plans a destination wedding, many don't think of their cake toppers as top priority. Well, I guess when any bride plans her wedding, a cake topper isn't a top priority! Many destination brides are looking for ways to keep their luggage light and hauling a cake topper with them just doesn't make the most sense. Most destination brides opt for beautiful flowers on their cake to keep things simple but elegant, like the cake above. And while this is a beautiful option, I have to say, I love it when brides add a touch of personality to their cakes. I admit, it's my favorite, because it's what I did for my own wedding!



I had so much fun researching personalized cake toppers and finding the company to do this for us. I actually had mine made from a company I found on eBay. They even went to far as to put a little Corona bottle in my groom's hand and scuba fins on our feet - how perfect! I don't believe they are in business anymore (it's been almost 4 years since I ordered it!) but there looks to be some artists on eBay still making similar ones. Search for personalized clay cake toppers.

One thing to look for when you purchase a personalized cake topper like this is one that is made with poly-clay - this clay is waterproof & will not mold. Unfortunately, I did not know this when I had my own topper made and we recently had to depart with the mold ridden creation (our tropical environment was not friendly to it, but I'm sure it would have been ok in a cooler climate). If you google these types of cake toppers, a lot of companies out there make them as well. I think if I was to order one again, I would go with www.claymyfigure.com. www.clayfigurines.com and www.designsbydorian.com also looked like fun sites.

There are other great ways to personalize your cake as well - don't feel you have to drop over $100 on one of these babies. It could be as easy as dropping $10 at your local toy store, like this couple did!