tropicalhopeful

Congratulations! Welcome to the forum! I love STJ too. In fact, I leave in a few hours for my wedding there! We'll be married at Big Maho Beach on Saturday. YAY!

Welcome to a great forum! I actually leave in a few hours for my wedding in St. John. We'll be on St. Thomas for several days also. We both lived there before and I can tell you are going to have a wonderful and fun wedding on STT!

Here are my shoes... crazy (but comfortable) golden glitter, I love them! They are coloriffics gala.

It may have already been listed but I have to recommend The Time Traveler's Wife....my goodness!

My fiance ordered the khaki linen pants and the ivory linen oasis shirt. We were a bit...underwhelmed...in that the shirt was see-through in a bad way and the linen pants were rough and shrunk a bit even with cold gentle washing as specified by the tag. I would suggest buying something in person, that you can try on and be sure of. We could have returned the items, of course, but we kept them for him to wear for everyday use. They just weren't nice enough for our wedding day, even though we weren't looking for fancy.

Okay so this might sound yuck but oh man, it's so good. It's called a nuts n berries and it is chambord (blackberry liquor), frangelico (hazelnut liquor) and either milk all frothed up in a drink or with Baileys for the shot form. Delish dessert drink.

Hi All, It's good to know I am not alone! It is 0630 here and I am seriously not tired. I am a night shift nurse and I can't remember the last time I fell asleep before 4 am. Sometimes I get sleepy around 10 pm and naively think I'll be able to stay asleep all night but noooope, I wake up at 1 am and then I am up even longer into the morning. I both love it and hate it. I certainly don't want to have to go to work at 7 am eek! Plus it does give a lot of time for wedding research and crafts (right now I am finishing the last of my homemade hibiscus guest information packets). Plus I like being the life of the party when we go out with friends as they've been up and at work all day but I just woke up! Plus night shift diff. : ) Great post...we're not crazy just....a little different.

Mine are gold, fushcia and tan!

Sorry, the symphony is at the Majestic Theater - a beautiful theater. Check it out at majesticempire.com

There's a lot you can walk to. There is the Rivercenter Mall which has about everything including Imax. There's several wax museums and Ripley's believe it or not across from the Alamo. There are tons of bars along the Riverwalk. You should hit up Shilo's deli for lunch sometime - it's pretty famous and makes delish rootbeer. There's a classical symphony concert this friday and saturday night - tix start at 11.50. There's La Villita, I bet there is something exciting going on there this weekend - it seems like there always is. Also, if you found something elsewhere in San Antonio you really wanted to get to there is a decent bus system that you could catch in town. The weather should be beautiful-it's been sunny and 80's here all week. Have fun!

It is so fun to see all the planning and all the pics! Congratulations on all your hard work and the payoff!

Hard choice - you look great in all of them. I vote for #36 - I love the corset back on you and the sidesweptness is so flattering.

Truly beautiful and inspirational pictures! Congratulations.

Hi Shakeima! Welcome to the forum. I am getting married in St. John in May and lived on St. Thomas so let me know if you have specific questions. You're going to love it1

Hello, I am using St. John salon and spa. They are $5-$10 cheaper than Grapevine but I have no recommendations on either. I'll ask my cousin who lives there and get back to you. Go to stjohnsalonandspa.com When I called they got back to me in about 48 hours and made my appointment for May. Hope this helps! My fiance is in the USVI on spring break and doing wedding research. What he tells me is making me even more excited for our wedding trip!

We are also way above our long-ago original budget but I am happy with it! We are also expecting 60 instead of the original 30. So here goes: My St. John shoulder season wedding for 60 people: Rings: $2500 Invites/STD's/Info packets: $250 My attire/jewelry: $1200 His attire: $300 Plane tickets us and one BM: $1600 Hotel: $750 Car rental: $500 Ceremony (site fee, license, rentals, drinks): $1000 Flowers: $300 Hair & makeup: $200 DJ 4 hours: $900 Photographer (1 hr with ownership, prints): $900 Fire dancers/Pirate troupe 1 hr: $550 Food/Alcohol Reception (apps, entrees, open bar 3 hrs) incl. grat/tax: $5000 Cake: $400 Favors: $50 Taxi to/from: $600 Misc. (luggage fee, tips): $250 Spending money $1000 $18,250!!! Maybe it is just because I have had time to resolve myself to the expenses or that fact that this will go down in family history as the most special time ever, but I am not stressing about it. I am the oldest child, oldest grandchild, in a small family as is he and we haven't had a wedding in the family for a long time. Nor are we big family reunioners or have the money to do lots of traveling. WE DESERVE THIS! I will have worked 50-60 hours a week for 15 straight months to pay for this (he's still a full-time student but you better believe every penny from his pt job came in too) and I think it is worth it and I haven't even had the wedding yet! Just the planning has been a lot of fun. The only things I would have done differently would have lessened the ring and dress expenses. The rings were purchased early before we knew how much we'd need the money for other things and the dress expenses were inflated by getting a dress that wasn't going to work with no return policy and taking a loss in reselling it. We saved with: no officiant - his dad is performing the ceremony no OOT bags- it would be nice but not worth stress, no one expecting them videography by friend TTD by photographer friend No decorations- natural beach beauty and a reception restaurant that is already well decorated Hope this post helps people like the previous budget posts helped me!

Congratulations and welcome!

We dated 3 years and then the engagement and moving in together happened near simultaneously. When we're married in May it will be 4 years and 3 months. It somehow seems like it has both been a very short amount and very long amount of time!

Did anyone have any trouble with their Maggie dress? I bought the SD3008 from the destination collection from a bridal shop and when it came I was disappointed in the quality. The bodice was actually sewn so that it had very noticeable ripples in it! The Maggie dresses are made in China anyway! I am kind of sad about this. My seamstress made it better but the problem is still there. I am going to try another fitting/alteration before I give up. I actually had a replica of this same dress made for my TTD for $400 less and it is better quality! I still love Maggie but was wondering if anyone had any advice/similar experiences?

It's wonderful! I actually got tears in my eyes watching. it is an inspiration for all of own weddings!

I found mine a few months ago at Hobby lobby!

Hi Rosewolf, I am useless when it comes to villas since we are all staying at a campground for our May St. John wedding but I have researched everything else extensively. I'd say Greg Kinslow is your go to guy for music The music of greg kinslow -a professional musician, bandleader and music coordinator based in st. john - us, virgin islands, providing musical, dj services and entertainment for weddings and special events.. He can do everything from classical quartet to live 5 piece band to steel pan to DJ. For flowers, there are two florists on St. John: Passion flowers(stjohn.com) and Todays Flowers (3406938015). I have yet to order my flowers but I was thinking about going with Passion based on the more modern look of their site. For cakes there is Chef Seamus Mulcare who is the husband of one of the more popular wedding planners. I am using him (stjohncakes.com) because he delivers for free to the restaurant at which I am having my reception. However, Katilady does cakes in addition to full wedding planning. (katilady.com). I am renting equipment for the ceremony from Katilady (chairs, table, coolers, glasses). We are using Gary Felton as our photographer (I think he was $900 for one hour with rights); my photographer fiance picked him out. As for reception I highly recommend Rhumblines restaurant in Cruz Bay. Checkout Rhumblinesstjohn.com and click on their special events list. It is actually very affordable for St. John even though it starts at $45 per person. Their 2009 prices are actually a little higher than listed. However, Hilary has been awesome to work with so far and I have read some rave reviews of receptions held there. She does decorating and ambiance for you too. We're doing our ceremony on Big Maho beach which will be nice because it is less crowded and has roadside parking. I have a lot more info if you have specific questions. One other idea I'll mention is that we are using Pyros of the Caribbean troupe for an hour long fire/pirate show during dinner. Should be interesting....pyrosofthecaribbean.com I think. Heather

I purchased a custom made replica dress on Ebay from an australian seller with 98% positive feedback. I did it because I fell in love with the dress in the picture but couldn't find the real designer and plus I was on a major budget. So the dress came, in the time stated, and I think I paid around $100. But right before it arrived I found the actual dress on the Maggie Sottero website! It was a Maggie! So I tried the replica on and I liked it. I felt it was well made. It varied slightly from the picture but not in any way that detracted. However, the chiffon empire waist was just a little puffy and I really felt that the Maggie version wouldn't have that problem. So long story short. I bought the Maggie (SD300 at a bridal shop for $500 and it just came in this past week. Funny thing is, I felt that the replica was almost better made than the Maggie in some ways but I was very happy because the real thing didn't have that puffiness but was slimming just like I wanted. So my plan now is to use the replica as for my TTD and either save or resell the real Maggie after using it for the actual wedding. I would say, based on my experience, that if you really can only pay $100-$200 and you want a certain design you'll probably be happy with a replica dress. Especially if you have some sewing skills or are willing to do some slight alterations after it comes. If you can spend more though and are kind of...precise in what you want, just go ahead and splurge on the real thing!

Welcome! St. Thomas can be a lot of fun. November should mean missing hurricane season...I am getting married in St. John, not far! Are you planning on doing any research trips?

Hi all, I'm getting married on St. John in May. Silly me, I thought I would save money by having a DW! Not on St. John : ) I lived on St. Thomas the past three years so had a good idea of what I was getting myself into otherwise... We're staying at the eco-campground Maho. I've been clear with all of our guests that there are bathhouses, lizards, and stairs. Everyone has been cool with it so far and I think it will be an adventure. My family and his love camping so I am not worried. Plus the tent-cottages run $60-$150 so a lot better than the westin/caneel. We're having our reception at Rhumblines because I love it and they do a lot of weddings and have a good plan. It is outdoors with palm trees, lights, ponds. For just dinner and appetizers it starts at $47 a person plus 20% gratuity but that is very typical for the island. You can't find much cheaper unless you are having onion rings at the beach bar. We're expecting to pay about $100 a person (so no uninvited 'guests'!) including dinner, appetizers, outdoor chef-manned grill, cruzan rum tasting table, choice of five entrees, cake, all service, and open well bar for three hours. Not so terrible. The owner rocks and she helps with decorations and everything. We're having a pirate theme firedancing troupe for entertainment ($550 for one hour) and a DJ - greg kinslow ($900 for four hours). Yes, St. John is expensive. We're forgoing flowers. Using Chef Mulcare (Stacey wedding planner's husband) for a cake (about $220). The really annoying expense is a taxi to bring our guests from Maho Beach where the ceremony is to Rhumblines and back. Seriously could be $1000! That's my story. Now that I have everything planned I am ready to go!