Bridesmaid Gifts

For my own wedding I had beach bags personalized with my maids initials and filled with with all kinds of goodies like lip balm, suntan lotion, a bottle of local rum, flip flops, a magazine for the beach, snacks, etc, etc. While I still think it was a fabulous gift, here's another idea that I just love (and is probably easier for them to lug home from a destination wedding).



Everyone is going to have a bikini or bathing suit at a destination wedding and no one wants to bring home a wet swimsuit that can stink up their luggage. And these can be personalized with each girls name or initials! I just love personalized gifts.

How cute would this be if you filled it with some chap stick or maybe some fun wedding jewelry for your maids to wear? And did you like my idea of a bottle of local rum? You can easily get some airline sized bottles of rum. Cruzan Rum makes awesome flavors as well like coconut, banana, vanilla, mango, etc.

I found these great bags at www.prettypersonalgifts.com (other colors to chose from as well) but a lot of websites have them. www.uncommongoods.com has one of my favorites. And you can always count on eBay!

We're gone...but now we're back!

I realize I should have posted that we would be going off island for the last two weeks instead of just leaving this blog hanging. Well - now you know, we were gone...but now we are back! Between unpacking two young children, myself & husband, cleaning, laundry, etc. it may be a day or two before I can post here again. Oh, that and catching up with a million emails! Will be back just as soon as I can....

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!

Blissfully Yours

Welcome to the brand new Island Bliss Weddings blog! With this blog I hope to share some of the highlights of my recent weddings as well as share with you amazing Destination Wedding ideas that I find online and on island. I absolutely love the entire wedding planning process, so much so that it's hard to be the wedding planner and not the bride at times. Do you know how many times I see a bride in her amazing wedding dress, having a wonderful time at her reception and think to myself, "Ok, if I could do my own wedding over again, I would definitely have had THAT dress and this band!". It has been hard to convince my husband that we need to have a destination vow renewal for all our friends & family every two years. How fun would that be??

Over the life of this blog I hope to share with you tips I think are important for planning a destination wedding and ways to cope with "island time" (just in case you are planning a destination wedding somewhere other than St. Thomas or St. John - because you never get "island time" service with Island Bliss Weddings!). I also plan to share with you amazing wedding products I find online (because every bride loves to shop!) and of course, share some photos of our recent weddings - check out the photo above! Thank you to Elisha at Orinfoto.com for taking such an amazing image of our beautiful couple.

Thank you for stopping by and check back often!