August Re-Cap!

Almost two weeks in to September and I'm finally getting to the August re-cap! I always look forward to the fall thinking we'll slow down and have more free time but I find when I'm not at a wedding, I'm busy catching up on other things. We have some exciting stuff happening this fall which will be blogged about soon. In the meantime, checkout some photos from our fabulous August events!

Check out the new "beach lounge" at Bolongo Bay Beach Resort! This little area is right near where they set up the tent for wedding receptions and makes a beautiful cocktail hour area.

PHOTO BOMB at Lindquist Beach!

How cute is this couple?!

This couple chose to have a 2nd hour of photos back at their hotel after the ceremony. These two photos were taken at Frenchman's Reef. I love the splash of color inside her dress.

A lovely morning wedding at Hawksnest!

Sometimes morning weddings are just tiresome though. Poor little guy fell asleep as mommy and daddy were saying I Do!

But you get some really great morning lighting likes these Lindquist Beach weddings:

I thought this was a fun picture - completely by accident - I took a photo with my camera to check the setting and accidentally  caught this moment on Magen's Bay right before the bride walked down the aisle.

Magen's Bay palm trees...

If you have your wedding at Oceana, you'll have the honor and distinct privilege to meet Morris the Cat.

Pretty Klip Point at Sapphire Beach...a gorgeous spot for sunset weddings (and sunrise!)

Look at the sunset!

I love the rose petal toss photo - and its possible to do even if its just the two of you - the officiate stood off to the side and tossed these! I love how they have a 3D effect in the first photo.

This bride had a few photos taken in her room before the ceremony - and a cool room it was at Sapphire Beach and Marina. Some of the rooms are really nicely updated.

One of our Sand Dollar Villa events last month. I love decorating the tables here.

And a few of the yummy wedding cakes we had last month.

I love this photo - the bride made this the morning of the wedding - just glued some starfish together and slide the rings on - awesome ring "pillow"!

I thought this was a fun ring shot too - two sea urchins found on the beach added the right beachy touch

The next two photos were taken by Megan Biggs Photography. This couples was just so sweet - they had their sunset wedding on Trunk Bay followed by a reception at Ocean Grille in St. John.

And of course my daughters want to know why he is wearing a "skirt".

I'm often asked what my favorite beach is and honestly, I absolutely love Trunk Bay weddings at sunset. Just look at that beautiful light.

And that's it for August my friends! Hopefully the September re-cap will be up around October 1st instead of mid-October!

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.

Congrats to Jason & Katie!!

I absolutely loved this couple. I met with them a few days before their wedding and told my husband he was going to love them too. Then we bumped into them the next day at Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke and they bought us a round of Painkillers and definitely loved them more! Jason & Katie...you guys rock! Congrats on a just gorgeous wedding!

Wedding Day photos taken by Sage Crown Parker. 

Ceremony at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef Gazebo:

Followed by an incredibly fun reception at Oceana.

A great local island favor!

I was in one of the higher end grocery stores on St. Thomas last week and saw a little display with these adorable mason jars filled with local rum cake. I immediately thought these would make awesome wedding favors! Locally made local products are always the most sought after favors for island weddings and this one is too cute. Check them out at Virgin Island Rum Cakes!

PS Another great thing about these favors? They're local so you don't have to worry about shipping them here or bringing them with you!

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?!

Oriental Trading Co...who knew?!

I'm not new to Oriental Trading Co by any means. I've always used them for fun kids craft projects, inexpensive holiday decor and of course, birthday parties. The selection is vast and the prices are wonderful.

My oldest daughter is turning 7 at the end of this month and we're giving her a nautical theme celebration. I headed to Oriental Tradings website and typed in "Nautical" to get some ideas on decor and favors. What I found in this section for weddings was what surprised me. I went ahead and ordered some items to get an idea of their quality and if they would work for a wedding.

I ordered a set of these starfish which I thought would look great dispersed through a long table/centerpiece. They are a little pricey at $24 for the set though. They look pretty cute in my office next to our coral pieces.

 

Another centerpiece idea I saw was this $20 terrarium. I filled it with shells and a starfish - a piece of fan coral would look great in here too but I didn't have a piece small enough. The top does not have a glass piece so this would work well with a candle inside.

If you're having a cruise ship wedding, you can get A LOT of great stuff. I ordered these bags for my daughters party favors.

 

They must have been a big hit because I can't find them on their site anymore. I did find this replacement though which I think would actually work better. The tote above is very thin and being white, you can see through it with stuff inside of it. This tote is all navy so you wouldn't have that issue.

For my daughters party, I bought these to put inside but they could be fun for a wedding too.

But there's a lot of other great nautical themed gifts you could put inside such as this, this and this.

There was a whole slew of nautical themed wedding ideas. A popular idea these days are the wishing tree and I was surprised to see one for only $5! I ordered it just to see what the quality was like and I have to say, for $5 - it was a good deal!

 

Guests add their well wishes to the bride and groom on the little tag and hang it on the tree.

 

The tags are not very big though, so there probably isn't much that they could really say before running out of room. But it's a cute idea and only $5. One of the best deals I saw was this: wedding cake bunting. These are really popular lately and sell for a much MUCH higher amount of Etsy. These are only $3 on Oriental Trading! For something that will most likely get thrown away at the end of the night, $3 is a good deal.

You can see the entire Nautical Wedding Theme Collection they have here. But don't stop there...shop around and see what else you find (and if it's really cool - let me know about it!). I'm there today shopping for some back to school goodies for my girls to take on their first day and I can never resist checking out the fun stuff they have for Halloween!

(This is not a sponsored post. Oriental Trading has not asked me to write about them nor are they paying for this post. I just really like them!)