A Photographer's Wedding

My dear friend, EJ of Paradise Pictures, was married last Saturday at the St. Thomas Reformed Church. I was very honored to have EJ ask me to handle the day of coordination for him and his beautiful bride Ashlee. It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony in a gorgeous church setting.

The St. Thomas Reformed Church is located in the heart of Charlotte Amalie. After the ceremony, I took a few pictures of the surrounding architecture. I absolutely love these backdrops. Don't you think it could make for some excellent wedding photography?






And speaking of wedding photography, let me just say, there are a ton of cameras at a photographers wedding. I joked around that they wasted money on the videographer - with all the photos being taken, they could surely put a flip book together and it would play out just like a video!


Last photo courtesy of Sean McCoy & Bridget Gallaher

Congratulations Ashlee and Eric!

In honor of Good Friday...

I had these images put aside to blog about at a later date - just a little entry to talk about personalizing your bouquet. But I realize it has been since Tuesday since my last entry and thought, hmm...anything special I could do for Good Friday? And of course, these images popped into my head!

I'm celebrating Easter early with my family tomorrow and boating all day on Sunday with friends so I want to wish all my couples, past, present & future, a Happy Easter Weekend!

Trunk Bay, St. John

Trunk Bay on St. John is a wonderful location for a ceremony. I can not wait to get the professional photos to share with everyone. This bride added a lot of personal touches. I love the fabric used on the arch - so colorful!



And her reception was just outstanding. Held on the deck of their privately rented villa (Villa Rhapsody), the view was just stunning!



I'll post professional photos as soon as I can.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Emerald

"aisle"!

Sorry Disposable Camera Industry

I know you're not going to appreciate this post. But these days, I just don't see your relevance anymore. Everyone owns a digital camera and almost everyone knows how to upload their images to the internet. I just feel that the days of leaving a disposable camera on the reception tables are long gone. But how, do you ask, do you get everyone to share with you their digital photos? Ah...I have the solution for you! Most photo sharing & printing websites (like shutterfly, snapfish, etc)allow you to create websites easily (and for free) to allows friends & family to upload their photos to. I have a website like this for Island Bliss Weddings (www.islandblissweddings.shutterfly.com) and even have a site for my daughters so that the Grandma's can see & order photos of their grandkids (www.marleyandmaya.shutterfly.com). Personally, I love Shutterfly but mainly because it is what I'm familiar with. I'm sure the others are just as easy and great (although if you have any experience with any of them, please feel free to leave a message in the comment section to share with others).

The best way to inform guests of these sites are to leave a little card on the reception tables (a little note such as, "We'd love to see the photos you've taken of our wedding day! Please share with us at www.ourwedding.shutterfly.com) or to put a note in your welcome letter, programs, etc.

Now, before the disposable camera industry issues a hit out on me, I do want to recommend this little treasure for the welcome bags. Wouldn't everyone love a cheap little disposable UNDERWATER camera for their Virgin Islands vacation?? I found this cute little thing at www.weddingcameras.com

Adorable favor idea...

I am a favor nerd, I will totally admit it. Cake and favors are the two things I totally look forward to when I attend a wedding. Which is probably not what a lot of brides want to hear since the big trends lately have drifted to dessert tables instead of cakes and charity donations instead of trinkets. But I'm a traditionalist - I love the little tulle bags of Jordan Almonds and the big slice of cake with thick sugary butter cream frosting! And if I can, I always steal a second piece...at weddings I'm attending mind you, not the ones I'm coordinating. =)

A post or two ago I posted about my friend Maddie's wedding here. As I was taking her and her groom (ooops! I mean, husband now!) back to the airport, I subtlety asked if they would be doing favors at their reception back in Indiana and had a plethora of ideas to share. Maddie actually already had in mind what she would like to do for favors, since she had attended a wedding last summer and loved their favor idea. This isn't exactly what she described, but the best I could find online...



A coworker had silver drink stirrers, or swizzle sticks as favors. These pictured above are acrylic and can be personalized with your name & wedding dates were found at www.hqweddingfavors.com. Maddie says she uses hers all the time - which is exactly what you are looking for in a favor - something that won't be tossed out at the end of the night or forgotten on the table! I like the silver idea best but couldn't find any online in the short search that I did. I suggested adding a little something to make it more "Virgin Island-y" since this is where they were married. Why not attach the swizzler to a miniature bottle of local Cruzan Rum?



How cute could that be? A little bottle of rum and a silver swizzler at each place setting? Definitely appropriate for a drinking crowd, which I'm sure Maddie's reception will fall into! And if you really feel confident about your crowd's drinking abilities, just skip the swizzler and put a little shot glass at each setting with the bottle of rum inside!

Love my sea horses...

Just in case anyone had a hard time visualizing them on a bouquet, here is a photo from last week's wedding. Doesn't he look so cute?? Lauren and any past brides - if you want one, just let me know! I'll be happy to send one to you - just email me your address and I'll get one in the mail. We appreciate all our past brides too. =)

Best of 2008!!!

Local Wedding Vendors

Thank you to all my couples in 2008 that helped me become a Best of 2008 OneWed.com preferred wedding planner! I can't wait to put this little award up on my website!

So, so, so, so, so excited!!!

I wanted to wait until the New Year to announce a special little treat for my 2009 brides! I've been brainstorming ways to show appreciation to my couples...some wedding planners throw in free champagne flutes with their logo on it for couples to toast with and bring back home...I always thought that was kinda cheesy, sorry. You're most likely not going to display champagne flutes with Island Bliss Weddings logo on it in your dining room. And as I brainstormed, I realized, most grooms aren't going to care too much about sentimental keepsakes. But I know my brides will! And I think I found the PERFECT token of my appreciation to give to brides on their wedding day...


What is it you may ask? LOL...well, it's a seahorse pendant. As you know, the seahorse is integrated into my logo and I just love them. They mate for life, you know. And well, that is the whole point of marriage, isn't it?

So here's my plan - for every bridal bouquet, I will attach a little silver seahorse with ribbon to the bouquet - a cute little keepsake - something new to add to your old, borrowed and blue list! After the wedding, the seahorse can be taken off the bouquet and added to a silver chain and worn as a necklace, attached to a your first married Christmas ornament, added as a charm to your cell phone...whatever you wish to do with it! Maybe you'll even put it in your baby's keepsake box and she'll carry it on her own wedding day.


I can't wait for our next wedding - I'll be sure to take a picture of the seahorse on the bouquet.


2009 is going to be so exciting!

Sunset at Magen's Bay...

Congratulations Anita & Adrian on such a beautiful sunset wedding on Magen's Bay, St. Thomas! Blue Glass Photography did an amazing job - thanks so much for sending these to me!

Aw, shucks...

My brides are too sweet! I'm so flattered by all the nice reviews I've received on onewed.com since my post last week. They're so embarrassingly nice, I'm afraid people are going to think I made them up myself!!



I've sort of had the last week off - my parents were in town with another couple that they have been friends with for over 40 years. In fact, both couples were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary (married just two weeks apart). We had a little surprise vow renewal for Ruth & Larry Timm - luckily, after 40 years, neither have of them had any qualms about taking the plunge again! Congratulations to Ruth & Larry on their vow renewal and congratulations to both couples for putting up with each other for the last 40 years! =) In all honesty, I'd like to credit my parents for showing me what having a strong marriage is all about. I think that is why I love my job so much...seeing couples join together and starting off on a journey of wedded bliss...and nothing is more touching than witnessing a vow renewal when two people have been together for so long and are still so very much in love.

Unexpected bonus...

So I was going to post this picture and talk about how it reminded me of all those holiday diamond commercials you see on TV around the holidays (anyone else have "A kiss begins with Kay!" song in their head?). But looking closely at the diamond (and green with envy over how gorgeous it is!) I noticed that the left side of the engagement ring is reflecting the beach that the bride & groom were married on! How cool is that? Look closely and you can see the beautiful blue water and bright white sand.

Love these colors!

Remember that beautiful cake from my last post...see the groom's tie and the bride's fan? How perfect! These pictures were taken my our very talented photographer, EJ of Paradise Pictures. This little lookout spot is known as Drake's Seat. The views of Magen's Bay and the British Virgin Islans are unbeatable!


And I just had to share this photo of the bride and groom on Magen's Bay. I love how her dress is swirling behind her. The lighting is just outstanding.

Have your cake...

and eat it too! I just love this cake from our wedding last night at Havana Blue on St. Thomas. The blue matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly. More pictures to come soon!

Election Day Celebration!

If you are already married, I encourage you to get out your wedding day toasting flutes and fill them with the finest champagne tonight - if your guy wins that is. If not, fill it with cheap beer!

If you are not yet married, let me use today's blog entry to showcase a few fun destination wedding flutes! A good friend of mine on St. Thomas owns the Hand painted Shoppe. She and her staff make beautiful gifts including holiday ornaments, dream catchers, t-shirts and a plethora of dishes, plates, etc. Of course, my favorite are her hand painted champagne flutes which I offer to brides & grooms. She can paint them with a variety of orchids, birds of paradise, bougainvillea, etc. She also does a playful underwater scene with bright tropical fish and a beautiful meadow scene with dragonflies. For fun, of one my brides had her paint two iguanas (which run rampant on the island). Here are a few examples below. She even adds the couples names, date and location of ceremony.




You can order these directly at 340-715-4024 or you can order them through me. We need at least three weeks notice to get them in time for your wedding.

Now...don't forget to go out and vote!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Island Bliss Weddings! Having two small children of my own, this week has been full of dressing up and getting ready for the big day tomorrow. I couldn't help but think of a Halloween wedding I saw on the TLC Network a few years ago. The bride's father was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera (appropriate, as he was able to wear a tux!) and the groom was dressed like Dracula and the bride...well, she was a princess of course! All the guests were asked to come in costume...it looked like it was such a blast! I doubt I'll ever have the chance to help plan a Halloween wedding, being that we're pretty pigeon-holed as a Destination Wedding spot! But if I ever have a bride who chooses to have her ceremony on Halloween (which is all together possible if a ship comes in to port on Halloween Day), I'm going to have to strongly encourage her to celebrate the holiday in some small way or the other. What do you think about this amazing cake I found on pinkcakebox.com? I just love it!

All about the color...

In the previous post you saw the color that nature provided for this bride's ceremony. Now check out the gorgeous colors she provided on her own!




I just love it when everything matches but doesn't...know what I mean? It all compliments and it all works so well!

Plan B

A note to all our clients: Email may be slow over the next few days as we are currently preparing for our first real hurricane threat in years. We're optomistic that we will only have rain & wind but you just never really know until it is upon you. Electricity is very unstable on the island and there is a good chance that our power may be out for a few days and even if we do have power, we are not guaranteed internet connection. I will be trying to respond to as many emails as I can in the next 24 hours while also trying to stock supplies and get prepared.

If you would like to track the progress of Tropical Storm Omar, www.nhc.noaa.com and www.wunderground.com are both excellent sites. We do have a wedding scheduled for Saturday - and yes, we are working on Plan B just in case!

New ways to preserve....

Occasionally I have a bride that asks me about preserving their bouquet. We do actually have a vendor on St. Thomas now that can help with this process. It does involve boxing the bouquet on dry ice and shipping it off island - overall, it's an expensive process. And in the end, you just end up with the world's best dust collector. Ever tried to clean dried flowers? Not easy.



Of course, you will always have photos of your bouquet to remember it by. The above picture is from my own wedding. I purchased the silver starfish on eBay and had the florist attach it to my bouquet. I still have that starfish tucked away in my jewelry box - it will be used again one day. For what, I don't know...but I hope it involves my daughters somehow. But the photo itself isn't something I would really frame and stare lovingly at, you know? The day after my wedding as I was sitting in our hotel suite, looking at my gorgeous bouquet, I wondered, what can I do to preserve its memory? I hated to just throw it away. Pluck a flower and press it between the pages of a book? That seems so high school prom to me. So I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures...wondering, what am I going to do with these pictures other than file them away somewhere?

Then inspiration hit me. I started shaking the crap out of my bouquet, snapping photos of it as I went. The result? Some pretty cool abstract photos! I loved the way the photos came out and have always planned to order them in an 8x10 photo, frame them an hang them in a collection of three. The almost look like artwork, don't they?





Have I actually gotten around to doing this? Well, after almost 3.5 years of marriage...no. I haven't done it yet. I'm too busy framing photos of my babies! But, one day I think I definitely will. In fact, I may go ahead and place the order. They're more apt to get framed if I actually print them! Don't you think they would look cool with a white matte and black frame?

And yes, the look of my new husbands face was priceless as he watched his bride shake her bouquet like a mad dog with a rabbit in its mouth! I'm surprised he didn't run screaming from the room!

Magen's Bay

Rated as one of the Top Ten Most Beautiful Beaches in the World, Magen's Bay is a wedding location favorite for many. Here are a few photos of a recent wedding we did there.



One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is, "What do we do in the event of rain?" (this question deserves it's own post and I will address it soon). Rain was threatening this couples ceremony all day and eventually, you have to roll with it. I think the rain clouds made for some pretty beautiful pictures.



And I had to post this picture of her bouquet. I love the orange calla lilies and white roses together. I think it looks seasonal in a way too - like the perfect "Caribbean Fall" bouquet...