Congrats to Isola Bella!

As you know, I love me some Isola Bella. I just found out they are being featured in the Spring/Summer issues of WELL WED magazines in the Hamptons, New York, Cape Cod + Nantucket + Martha's Vineyard and Vermont Vows!

Congrats from Island Bliss Weddings!

Happy Anniversary My Love...

Happy anniversary to my husband. Seven years ago today I married my best friend on the tiny island of St. Thomas...we had only been living on island for 9 months and were building up our own wedding business. Our lives have "snowballed" (really wrong terminology for an island, huh?) into some really amazing things. A booming business that allows us to be with people on their happiest day, two beautiful & healthy children, a new home that we recently moved in to...our cups are running over with joy! I could not be happier than I am right now. Much of that is thanks to the amazing clients. Thank you.

Special touches..

I love when a bride adds her own special touches to the wedding. Whenever I can, I try to grab photos of these items to share on the blog. I realize I've been collecting them for awhile now and figured I'd better get to posting!

This wedding was from way back in April (seems like ages ago!). The groom is in a band and the bride made a special boutonniere for him.

She also did these very pretty chair reservations.

Another trend I'm seeing is TOMS wedding shoes - so love these! The bride bought this beautiful garter from Etsy.com.

Another bride had a special touch just for her guests - flip flops for the beach ceremony! You can purchase these fairly inexpensively at places like Old Navy and of course, get them to match your wedding colors!

I really enjoy seeing cultural influences as well. This bride & groom brought their cake topper with them, a shout out to their heritage.

This bride also had a fun way for guests to find their seat.

I was a big fan of this too - a large wooden tray with moss & beautifully labeled envelopes.

Be sure to check back often for more fun ideas!

Deep love of coral...

Remember that new aisle decor I told you about? Well I don't have pictures of it in use as aisle decor quite yet. A bride of mine had sent down some elements for her centerpieces to be used at her Sand Dollar Estate wedding in St. Thomas. We were discussing back and forth flowers, no flowers, adding driftwood to the tables, etc...and I mentioned that I had just ordered some resin coral pieces and if they came in I'd be happy to let her borrow them. Mainly I was curious to see how they would work on tables and you know what? They looked awesome!

 

Look for a blog post soon on these little babies used as aisle decor.  And one last picture to show you her idea on the chair ties:

If only I had 1/2 a bottle of wine...

I was scrolling through Facebook today as I was awaiting a group to arrive from the Freedom of the Seas for their Lindquist Beach wedding...and I stumbled upon this photo from Isola Bella:

My eyes may have popped out of my head a little bit. I love, love, love this. I mean, how cute can it be? I have a slight obsession with wine bottle stoppers (and salt & pepper shakers but no need to go there today). Unfortunately, there never seems to be a bottle of wine sitting around my house that needs to be corked - those puppies are usually finished shortly after they are opened! =) I think these would make fabulous bridal party gifts though.

I also received an email from Isola Bella yesterday introducing their newest St. John based design. If you have ever been to St. John, then you are already familiar with the infamous petroglyph symbol (when I first saw it, I thought it looked a lot like an outline of a dog nostril - which still made sense to me because St John is so dog friendly!). These would make a fabulous favor for your guests, just take a peak at the second photo for an idea on how to present them to guests.

And guess what?! This weekend they are having a sale! You can take 10% off your online purchases by entering the code SUNNYDAYS. It is this weekend only - Friday through Sunday. Shop away! OH!! And best of all...if you want to order anything specifically for your wedding, let Gina know that you are an Island Bliss Bride. I can pick up the order for you and hold it until your wedding day - no shipping fees!

(Disclaimer: Isola Bella does not pay me or even ask for me to promote their items - I just really love their stuff and think the items make great island favors for your guests!)

Congratulation Yuliya & Ander!

Congrats to Yuliya & Ander who were married on 5/3/12 on Lindquist Beach! Alain Brin of Blue Glass Photography sent me these photos - I love the last one, she looks like she's floating!

A very meaningful bouquet...

As promised, I wanted to share with you the bride's bouquet from Saturday night. The brooch bouquet is not a new concept to me, but how she came about her bouquet is definitely different than what I've seen before. For her bridal shower back home, the hostess had asked all the guests to bring a brooch to give to the bride. It could be new, borrowed, old, blue, etc. The collection of brooches she received was really amazing. Some belonged to her grandmother, some to a deceased cousin...they all had a very special meaning.

A little something blue....

A little Irish shamrock for luck...

When I saw the bouquet I thought perhaps she didn't want our little seahorse on there, so I gave it directly to her instead of pinning it on the bouquet. But I was wrong, in fact, they even had a special place reserved for it!

Really, just beautiful....