A late thank you is always the best!

Matt & Katie were married last year but I just got this note from her:

Matt and I had the most FABULOUS wedding and we couldn't have been any happier with the way everything turned out. The transformation of the Sand dollar from beach house to wedding/reception site was great. We were worried that staying in the house for a week before our wedding was going to make it not feel like a wedding come our big day, but there was no reason to worry. The ceremony and dinner table turned out great and the flowers were just absolutely beautiful. We really wanted to keep things simple because the beauty of Magen's Bay was the true decor. We really could not have pulled our day off without all your help and advice. I'm sure it must get difficult organizing multiple weddings at once, but you always made me feel that you were giving your undivided attention to our wedding details in all the emails leading up.

Matt admitted after the fact, that he was so nervous to see how the day was going to turn out without having met you, Stu, or any of the vendors prior. Everything really went off without a hitch and we'd like you all to know how grateful we are. Getting married was such an important part of our lives and such an intimate affair and the wedding day really brought all our family and friends together. Please tell Stu that we loved our ceremony! Although it was the hottest 20 minutes of our entire vacation, we really felt that Stew captured the essence of who Matt and I are as people. It was so touching that I was fighting back the tears! So kuddos to Stu!

We just wanted to send a very late THANK YOU to Island Bliss Weddings for delivering our idea of the perfect wedding day!! All our family and friends still talk about how amazing our wedding was and tell everyone they know that destination weddings is where its at!  I've attached a few photos so you can see how our day turned out.

Thank you so much Katie! I love getting emails - even if almost 10 months later...that means you still think we're great! And thank you to Quiana Adams of Q Studio for these images - they are so lovely!

Congrats Henry & Barbara!

A lovely ceremony on Lindquist Beach for a lovely bride & groom!

Something new...

I'm always looking for new ideas on how to do anything better for a wedding - I love change and evolvment, I don't want to offer the same thing everyone else does, or even just offer the same thing over and over again. A few months ago, a bride came up with this idea and I just loved it. I'm very excited now to be able to offer these lush orchid aisles...

Viva Las Vegas!

Island Bliss Weddings is in fabulous Las Vegas this week to attend the wedding MBA. It's been very informative, not to mention fun. Being in Vegas reminded me of a thank you card my husband received from a bride & groom last year and I just had to post it and show you. The Virgin Islands Montessori School puts on a Las Vegas Night fundraiser every year and one of the staff wanted to actually get married at Las Vegas night and have an Elvis impersonator as the officiate. Who better than my husband, Stuart Scott, of USVI Services?? Didn't he make a great Elvis?



Better than these bozo's that I met on the street yesterday.

There's one at every wedding...

So there are a few weddings that are in queue to be blogged about, but I had to rush this one to the front of the line. Nate & Angie were married this morning on lovely Lindquist Beach. Their cruiseship, the Norwegian Pearl arrived in St. Thomas today with about 20 of their closest friends and family aboard to watch them say I Do on our lovely sandy shores.

Like my office??



Angie has chosen the Simply Blissful Package from our website and then we modified it to accommodate the extra guests...added some chairs, an arch and a few extra bottles of champagne. As I was setting up and waiting for everyone to arrive, I tried to find my favorite element...was it her bouquet?



The very funky boutonniere?



Nothing was really grabbing me as my "favorite" - there wasn't anything out of the ordinary from our typical Simply Blissful packages. Angie & Nate arrived first, having been chauffeured to the beach in our Lincoln Navigator after stopping at the courthouse to pick up their marriage license. Guests followed a few minutes later and I hear Angie say to her groom, "oh my...check out Uncle Phil...." and as I look over to see the guests disembark from the safari bus, my eyes go straight to Uncle Phil and BAM! There is my favorite element of the day!!



Phil had his old tux modified for a beach wedding! I don't think you can see it in the photos, but his cummerbund had an underwater theme! We all had a big laugh at Uncle Phil's choice of attire and Stuart, the officiant, assured the happy couple that we always have at least one goof ball at every wedding!

I put my camera away after capturing Uncle Phil for the blog but just before everyone left for lunch at Wikked in Yacht Haven Grande (great spot - close to the cruiseship!), I heard the groom ask everyone if they had their t-shirts. My camera had to come out once again to capture this:





The bride had very fun t-shirt favors made for all the guests - I love the touristy cliche phrase on the backs. Uncle Phil is still my favorite though!

Simply Photography

Not simple photography...don't get me wrong there. But my first wedding of October was on the 5th for Stacey & George and there are two words that describe their wedding: Simple & Photography. As part of my promise to blog something about every wedding I have this month, it didn't take long to review this wedding and figure out my favorite aspect...the photography. First, Stacey and George had a very simple wedding set up on Hawksnest Beach, St. John. It was them, his parents, her parents and their love...that sounded cheesy, right? Sorry. =) We had some conch shells and palm leaves to add some color to the beautiful white sand and with nothing but the beautiful sound of waves lapping at their feet, they said I Do. It was really just lovely.

But here's the best part. Yes, it was simple, yes it only took about 20 minutes...but Stacey LOVES good photography and knew that the images of her wedding day will last forever and she wanted them to be GOOD and varied. Not just beach pictures, not just the traditional parents with their newly inherited son or daughter-in-law...but fun stuff. She hired Paradise Pictures for THREE HOURS! This is not very common for such small and simple ceremonies but I LOVE IT and think it's a great idea!

They got great shots of the ceremony...



But then headed to Annaberg Ruins for some really fun stuff,



stuff that shows their personalities...



and then headed back to the beach to cool off!




If it can work in your budget, I highly suggest having the photographer for multiple hours and working in multiple locations. Your wedding album will be AMAZING.

Now don't forgot to go read the guests blog posts and leave a comment - contest ends tomorrow at midnight!