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!

Photography: Is One Hour Enough?

I get this question quite a bit from couples who are arranging a ceremony for their destination wedding. They often times do not have a lot of guests with them, or are coming in for a few hours on a cruise ship and are not planning a big reception on island. Obviously if you have 50 guests and are having a reception, one hour isn't enough. But for those that don't fall in that category, the answer can be tricky.

If it is just the two of you, one hour is usually plenty of time. Photography starts right before the ceremony, captures the ceremony and then you usually have 30 to 45 minutes after the ceremony with just the photographer focusing on the two of you. If you desire photos from other locations, such as our gorgeous Charlotte Amalie historical district or high on top of the mountain with breathtaking down island views, then you would definitely want to add a 2nd or even 3rd hour. Another reason this answer can be tricky is because a lot of it weights heavily on YOUR opinion of the photography. I have a lot of couples that don't even want a photographer and ask us to just take a few simple photos with their own camera. And I have a few brides who put a lot of emphasis on capturing the day and will choose a very high end photographer for multiple hours, even when its just the two of you (because even when it's just the two of you, your day is no less special than the bride that has 300 guests).

Now if you have guests, that's a slightly different story. I remember one wedding where the photographer was frustrated because he had very little time to capture any photos of just the bride and groom because they were constantly asking for photos with Aunt Betty, cousin John, etc. He spent much of that 30 to 45 minutes organizing group shots. When you have a bridal party and a lot of friends & family joining you, you must really consider what you want the photographer to capture. Do you want a lot of images capturing everyone that is joining you? Do you want to get some great romantic photos of the two of you on the beach? If the answer is yes to both, then I highly suggest a 2nd hour. Let the first hour focus on the ceremony and your loved ones (group shots, bridal party shots, some brides even request a separate photo of each couple, individual or family there so they can include that image with a thank you note, etc). Then let that 2nd hour focus on the two of you.

Most of the time, the photographer meets you at the ceremony location but it's not uncommon for brides to want some traditional getting ready photos as well. In this case, it's definitely important to add an extra hour. 

I asked Alain Brin of Blue Glass Photography to weigh in on the issue. This was his response:

I recommend at least two hours of photography for any event that has over 15 guests.   I also recommend a 2^nd hour of photography for couples that want artsy publication style images.  These images require more time to capture because the expensive and super sharp prime lenses required to create the pleasing Bokeh (buttery blurred background & foreground effect) demand maximum concentration for precise focusing.  If the focusing is off by a mere millimeter, the images become blurred and unusable.  Using off camera strobes is also a must for interesting artsy style images.  Unfortunately, these strobes require radio transmitters & receivers to communicate with each other.   This technology is amazing but sometimes (usually most of the time) very fussy and require precision & concentration to secure desired results.  I have attached a photo that I captured today of “Alex”, a new member of our photography team.  

Notice the blurred, buttery background and rim light on her hair, shoulders & right arm from the off camera strobe.   This style of photography is simply lovely & pleasing to the eye, but simply requires a little extra time to create. 

I hope this helps when deciding how many hours you would like to book! And of course, your wedding planner or photographer will be happy to discuss with you what would be perfect for you based on your number of guests and images you would like to capture.

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?!

Congrats Sammi & Andy!

Sammi & Andy arrived on a Royal Caribbean Cruise and hosted their ceremony and reception at Secret Harbor Beach Resort with a reception following at Cruzan Beach Club just a few steps away. Today is their one month anniversary - Happy Anniversary Sammi & Andy! I absolutely love your pictures from Megan Biggs Photography:

June Re-Cap!

I started going through the photos I took in June and thought...uh oh...I really don't have all that many to share! But then I started looking through the photos from Simple Island Photography and in fact, I did! Simple Island is a team of photographers and I usually get to keep a copy of all the photos (as I'm the photographer myself about 50% of the time) so it was fun pulling out some of my favorite images from each wedding.

I started doing the monthly recaps a few months ago - it's a great way to share a lot of photos that may otherwise not get shared and just sit in my data storage. It is not meant to showcase each wedding we did that month. I really wish I could but I don't always have access to the photos from each wedding nor am I at each of our events. I've felt really bad the last couple of months as I always get at least one or two emails from a bride that was disappointed her wedding didn't make make the re-cap. I think I do add at least one photo from each wedding that I have photos of...so if you don't see your wedding but would like to be on the blog, please send me some photos! I'd love to do a blog post for you.

As always, a very random assortment of photos

I think I'm going to do a blog post soon on just boutonnieres. They don't get as much attention as they should.

This couple chose to do a boat wedding where we rented a boat and a captain for the day - they got married on a little deserted island off the shores of St. John and then island hopped all day!

Not a bad way to spend your wedding day, huh?!

This couple below was married at the GORGEOUS Coco de Mer villa in the exclusive Peter Bay neighborhood of St. John. We actually just did our wedding last night there as well!

One of our brides last month sent down this "monkey knots" for her table number holders. They had arrived off a cruise ship and I thought this little knot idea was pretty clever. The owner of Villa Botanica, where she had her ceremony & reception got a little laugh when I had asked her if she had ever seen monkey knots before and she says "monkey nuts?".

I really love the combo of green and white tropical bouquets.

Blue has been a popular color this year as well.

A bird of paradise in the bouquet is always a fun and tropical touch.

One of my favorites this past month was this coral and yellow though. The gloriosa lilies were the perfect shade.

And more centerpieces from this past month.

These name cards were etched onto pieces of driftwood. Very cool!

A morning wedding on Hawksnest Beach..

Ha! And another party we coordinated this month? My daughter Maya's 5th birthday party! She loves penguins so we did an entire penguin theme.

You may want something more simple for your own cake though. :)

One of my favorite favors (although I think I'm cheating here - this wedding was actually in July) were these koozies!

I wanted to get koozies for my daughter's birthday party but my husband convinced me they were not appropriate for a childs birthday party! If only they made juice box koozies...

This was a pretty wedding at Lime Tree Beach, St. Thomas. They were crew members on the Disney ship!

A ceremony all set up and ready to go at Lindquist Beach, St. Thomas.

A bride sent me this fun picture of her bridesmaids at Sapphire Beach Resort - great colors!

And unfortunately, we did have some rain issues in June, but that didn't stop this couple from enjoying the beach.

I really loved this rose petal patterned aisle.

More centerpieces! I told you, this program just throws up the photos randomly!

The elegant ombre ruffle cake!

How adorable!!!

This was a bride after my own heart with all her seahorse details. Each chair had a vintage hankie and a fan with a white seahorse stenciled on.

This bride here? Very last minute! I got a phone call almost asking if they could get married TOMORROW. Sure! Our officiate just took a few photos for them with a small point and click camera...which still turned out lovely! Just proves you don't need all that much time to plan! =)

Probably our most popular live music request...steel pan!

Its always a good idea to have a vase or two handy to put your bouquet in - make it work double duty and add some additional decor to the reception.

I took this while the photographer set the group up for a group shot...I loved the tropical jungle feel.

And a Trunk Bay sunset...nothing is better.

Another...this group was a hoot!

Trunk Bay once again...

And that's all for now! Please send in your photos if you'd like to be featured on the blog!!