July Re-Cap!

I have to say, I'm kind of impressed that my July Re-Cap is getting done by August 8th! Last month was busier than expected and then my trip away got extended a few extra days (I thought I would be back on the 29th but didn't fly in until the 31st). I had such a great time in Vegas with my friends and it was the first time in a long time that I got to participate in the bachelorette party instead of plan one!

I only saw one wedding while I was in Vegas - the photographer and the couple were taking pictures in front of the fountains at the Mirage. A few years ago it seemed I saw at least a couple of weddings  day in Vegas...maybe everyone is realizing the Caribbean is best?! :)

So here we go! July re-cap! Again, if your July wedding is not featured its probably because I don't have any photos of your day - please send them to me and I'll be happy to do a blog post on your wedding! I love sharing photos with our clients but I don't always have them available.

This is one of my favorite types of weddings - more for the adventurous couple that just wants to have fun! It's perfect for just the two of you or up to 2 other couples. You just rent a boat for the day, get married on a secluded little beach and spend the rest of the day island hopping, snorkeling and having fun!

I need to do a full blog post on this wedding - this reception was so lovely. This was at Bolongo Bay under the tent. Dancing in the sand, waves lapping up near your reception, what could be better right? This is just a teaser, I promise to do a post on just this wedding soon.

And my monthly bouquet dump...I like to post them here before putting them up on our photo album site. 

And I still want to do a blog post just dedicated to boutonnieres.

How cool are these guys? The bride & groom were actually crew members of the Disney Ship. You'd be surprised at how many crew member weddings we coordinate each month!

The following photos and the one above are from Brewer's Bay. Brewer's Bay gets mixed reviews but at the same time, I think its a great spot for photos.

I especially love the ruins there for photography.

I love this couple below...and no, they didn't get married with these shirts on, but they wanted a photo with them so they could submit it to The Chive. I hope they get selected!

And adorable little cake with a good lesson - make sure the cake topper isn't too heavy for the cake. This cute little couple took a header right into the icing. Thankfully it didn't break and the only damage was a bit of frosting in the "grooms" hair.

I love creative toasts shots! The photographers usually end up sandy but it's worth it.

This couple was sooooo sweet! They met in South Florida at a tango class. After the ceremony, they tango'd to three different songs the groom had chosen for them.

Lovely photos from a sunset wedding on Hawksnest Beach - she had on a short dress but you can't tell in the first photo!

And a morning wedding on Hawksnest. This group arrived via Calypso Charters to Hawksnest for their ceremony - that's a fun entrance!

Possibly one of my favorite images from July - American Beach Gothic

This couple had all the guests wearing the Hawaiian print shirts and all the ladies had on matching ankle leis - this was on Lindquist Beach, St. Thomas:

And some gorgeous centerpieces from a Sand Dollar wedding. This color scheme is becoming very popular with the mercury glass and silver tones.

The couple had little silver picture frames with photos of themselves dispersed throughout the tables, I thought this was a great little touch.

Another bride opted instead of rose petals or rice, they had a gold pirate coin toss exit! How cute is that! The coins were actually very light plastic so no danger of anyone getting hurt!

A birds eye view of Sand Dollar Beach.

July was definitely "Donkey Season" in St. John. They came out in droves to cheer our couples on (and eat any bouquets they could get their mouths on)!

This couple below sent me some great images captured by Blue Glass Photography - I plan to do a blog post on them soon.

Our white lanterns have become very popular for centerpieces as well as aisle decor. 

I attended the first US Virgin Islands Bridal Symposium - they pushed me into opening a Twitter account. Follow me! (click the Twitter link - but I don't post often - it still confuses me)

How beautiful is this boat?! Hoping to do a blog post on it very soon.

And that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed our July Re-Cap post!

Hawksnest...with no deer! =)

Thank you to Awolfey Productions for sharing this video clip with us. I absolutely loved this brides dress, isn't she gorgeous?! It had just the right amount of sparkle.

Congrats Joanna & Gene!

Joanna and Gene had some touch and go moments with their wedding. First thing to go wrong was the airline sending their luggage to Bogota! The bag had tons of essential wedding day items like the grooms clothing, brides shoes, etc.

They started the day with a traditional tea ceremony at the villa. The weather was awful! The photographer described it as "snowing" - it was a very misty and wet morning and if you didn't know any better, it looked like winter in the Midwest! Both the officiate and the photographer wanted to move the ceremony to the villa instead of Hawksnest Beach as originally planned. But we had a lot of guests spread out throughout the island and little ways of getting a hold of them to tell them of the location change. I was pretty confident that the sun would come out so we proceeded as planned.

And the bag was delivered the night before, and the sun did come out! Island Bliss brides have the best karma...

A funny side story - Joanna wasn't the only one with touch & go moments on her wedding day. We brought our truck to set up the ceremony since we had chairs and a large, heavy bamboo aisle. We had to drive through a lot of rain to get to the ceremony site and once we turned the truck off, it wouldn't start again! By time the ceremony was over though, it had dried out and started up for us again. Phew! A Sunday morning on St. John with a broken down vehicle was not going to be a fun day! Joanna & Gene...I wish you the best of luck on your marriage - you jumped through enough obstacles on your wedding day! =)

St. John Beach Weddings

I just came back from a very important meeting from the Virgin Islands National Parks. They had called a special meeting to meet with the wedding planners who hold permits that allow us to have weddings on their beaches. It is very important to know that only 8 wedding planners have this permit (this is the limit they allow at the National Parks). If you hire a wedding planner that does NOT have a special permit, your wedding is at risk! I have noticed a few local wedding planning services that advertise for weddings on St. John and they do not have a permit. This make me nervous for the bride & grooms that hire them. Last thing you want at your wedding is a park ranger yelling that you are not allowed to be there!

The meeting was to go over certain rules & regulations that are strictly enforced. I am listing out the rules here to make it easier to refer to them as needed - we will add these rules to our FAQ Guide and will send a link to all our St. John brides.

Rules for wedding on the beaches of St. John's National Parks:

• Weddings held on the beach prior to 4:45pm can only have a maximum of 25 guests in attendance. 
• Weddings held on the beach after 4:45pm can only have a maximum of 60 guests in attendance. 
• Peace Hill will only allow a maximum of 30 guests. 
• No more than 25 chairs can be set up on the beach.
• Absolutely no fake/silk rose petals to be used anywhere in the National Park. All real rose petals must be picked up, one by one, if used on the beach. We can face penalties if the rose petals are not picked up and therefore do not allow them (for our sunset weddings, it is often dusk by time the last guests leave and we can't risk trying to pick up rose petals in the dark! Petals also get lost under the sand and can become "unearthed" later. Not worth getting in trouble with and possibly losing our permit over). 
• No amplified music on the beach - no iPods with amps, no amplifiers for guitarist, violinist, etc.
• You must pay the $4 entry fee to Trunk Bay if your wedding takes place between the hours of 8:30am and 4pm. 
• No signs can be tied, affixed with ropes or straps, to any trees within the National Park boundry
• No tables can be brought in, only picnic tables can be used
• No glass on the beach - this means no sand ceremonies that involve glass vases (check here for an alternative)

Certain rules pertaining to Cinnamon Bay Beach weddings:

• Between Thanksgiving Weekend and May 1st, no weddings are permitted on Cinnamon Bay Beach unless the bride & groom are guests of the Cinnamon Bay Campground
• From May 2nd to the start of Thanskgiving weekend, weddings will only be allowed with the approval of Cinnamon Bay Campground Management
• No food or beverages may be served at Cinnamon Bay Beach unless provided by Cinnamon Bay
• All chairs for weddings must be rented from Cinnamon Bay, you cannot order these from an outside vendor (ex. your wedding planner or rental company)
• During the months of October to June, no weddings will be held after 5:45pm
• During the months of July to September, no weddings will be held after 6:30pm
• The maximum amount of guest at any time will be 25
• All Cinnamon Bay weddings must be arranged at least one month in advance

Things other wedding planners may have told you that are not true:

• You do not need a special permit to have an archway for your ceremony
• You can arrange for a rental company to bring chairs for your wedding, your wedding planer is not your only option for chair rental

Photographers: this is tricky! I actually need to call and verify this information and will update it at soon as I have it correct, but from my understanding now:

• If you hire a local photographer on your own, they must have their own permit with the beach
• If you hire a photographer through Island Bliss Weddings, our permit covers their liability
• Bringing a photographer with you: this is what I need to verify with the parks department and whether or  not this photographer will need to obtain their own park permit 

Phew! That was a lot of rules! It is very, very important that we follow them though.

PS Thank you Blue Glass Photography for the above images!

Congrats to Diana & James!

Yet another 10/11/12 wedding! Diana & James were married early on Hawksnest Beach, St. John. We chose an early time to capture the best lighting and to avoid the crowds. Hawksnest was crazy busy with weddings last year on 11/11/11 and I feared that could be true again on 10/11/12. Surprisingly, we were the only wedding there all morning!! Such a relief.

My favorite element to this wedding? The beautiful day lilies used to decorate the aisle - they fit in so well with a morning wedding:

Of course, I was also a big fan of this fun cake created by Island Sweet Stuff - loved the colors!

Have a drink with me!

Don't you just love our new drink dispenser? I've been meaning to buy one for awhile. When we've had punch at beach side weddings in the past, I'm trying to coordinate but also run around and fill up guests' drink glasses. Now I can just set out the punch and let guests help themselves.

I put my husband in charge of finding and buying the perfect drink dispenser. He surprised me by having my logo etched on the front of it! When the dispenser is completely filled to the top, the logo disappears, it isn't visible at all. But I was able to get a picture of it once a few drinks had been poured. I just love it, I think it adds a really beautiful touch to the beach side receptions!