Click here for the FULL wedding!

From the Bride… We’ve been back from our wedding in the West Indies for about 6 weeks and I am so besotted with the island we chose, the eco-estate we got married on and stayed on, and just the general dreaminess of the whole thing that I can’t resist sharing this secret plantation location. We got married on April 30th on the island of St Lucia in the Caribbean. It is a tiny island and was the most un-resorty and un-commercialized we could find. We had a limited budget so when we decided to keep it small by doing a destination, we researched the obvious options. I am so happy  we chose St Lucia. We had a group of 30 friends and family and we stumbled on this eco-cocoa plantation that sits up in the rainforest called Fonddoux Estate. There are 10 tiny but beautiful french colonial cottages nestled in the mountainside, amazing food and lush lush lush island life. I can’t say enough about the people at this estate – the owners and all the staff were tremendous. It’s one of those things where I feel such happy appreciation for the entire island, all the friendly people and the beauty of it that I just want to help them get a few other cool kindred spirits there!

Fonddoux was a tremendous help and coordinated all of the details. We chose a Caribbean menu, wine and local beer in advance – all of the food was local and delicious. Fonddoux also helped us arrange 2 bands – one was a Shak Shak band, a local steel drum music for our ceremony and cocktail hour and the second was a rollicking local reggae band for our post-dinner party. Fonddoux is rustic and beautiful and untouched by resorty, overly-manicured splendor – it was perfect. The grounds are lush and picturesque, the main restaurant had a beautiful bamboo ceiling and glowing amber lanterns – we didn’t need to do much to the space for our dinner, the vibe speaks for itself. Each cottage was perfect and historic and our guests fell in love. Fonddoux helped us coordinate the entire week we stayed -  whale watching, boat tours, zip-lining, hiking, etc.

There were a number of spots on the acres of land to have the ceremony – we ended up choosing a plot of land behind the owner’s home. We had rain off and on the days preceding our wedding and as the ceremony ended a huge rainbow the width of the horizon appeared! We wrote our vows and had our guests form a circle around us. The officiant was a local woman and she worked with us the day prior to iron out details. We had our wedding bands passed around the circle to be blessed by everyone in attendance. The flowers for our garlands and adorning every corner of our wedding were plucked from the grounds that morning by the staff and hummingbirds flew around us every minute. We had the amazing Nyra Lang as our wedding photographer, whom I can’t say enough about. She and her husband Keith shot the wedding and wedding eve and were wonderful additions to the family. We designed and printed our own invites, welcome packets and paper goods and designed and built our pre and post wedding website. All in all our wedding was just under $10k which was our budget and it was the most happy, rich and heavenly day of my life.

Wedding Photography: Nyra Lang Photography / Wedding Location + Flowers + Catering: Fond Doux Holiday Plantation / Wedding Invitations: Brooke Ellis (The Bride)

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Post tags: Brooke Ellis, Budget Wedding, Caribbean, Destination Wedding, Fond Doux Holiday Plantation, Nyra Lang Photography, Soufriere, St. Lucia
Post categories: Destination, Destination Weddings

photo courtesy of table 4 photography

Kim & Adam are an amazing couple. In November we flew out to St. John to film their wedding aboard the Sea Dream yacht, it was an unbelievable experience! Imagine celebrating your wedding aboard a private yacht with 100 of your closest friends and family with the Virgin Islands as your background. Kim looked stunning in here Vera Wang gown and the rain turned into sunshine to set the stage for a beautiful Caribbean wedding!

Oh wow! What a fun wedding!! From the yacht, to the beaches to the bikinis. Awesome work, Joe! Congrats on being named to Event DV’s Top 25!!

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Post tags: Caribbean, Joe Simon Wedding Films, Sea Dream Yacht, Table 4 Photography, Vera Wang
Post categories: Little Black Book Blog, Wedding Cinematography

images courtesy of CLICK photo company Inc.

First ~ a little of the behind the scenes story from Eliza …

The Proposal: Because Jeff works so much, we didn’t get to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the actual day and had to wait until Saturday night. He surprised me with a packed a suitcase and a beautiful hotel room in New York City so we could just relax and spend time together. As we opened the door to our room, I found a path of rose petals leading up to the bed which had a message written in the petals: “Will you marry me?” I was in shock and incredibly happy, but sad that our families would not be there to celebrate with us that night, something he knew was important to me. I called my parents in Boston to tell them the good news, knowing they were at an important benefit for my dad’s hospital in Boston that they had been telling me about for months. They congratulated us and told me they would celebrate with me soon. Jeff and I went to Bar Americain to celebrate, and as we walked in, I saw both of our families sitting at a table! I was SO happy! Even now ~ today ~ I can’t stop smiling just thinking about it.

The Venue: My family and I have been going to the island of Anguilla for the past 14 years. I brought Jeff along with me twice and the third time we went it was our engagement celebration! We had about 10 weddings to attend that year and most were at New York City hotels, so we knew we wanted to do something different! My one concern was the logistics ~ planning a wedding from New York that would be taking place in Anguilla … being that I am very hands-on, I interviewed a few wedding planners and was extremely happy when I found JoAnn from Elegant Occasions. I was immediately drawn to her as she has planned many weddings on the island and I knew right from the beginning that I could trust her.

And from JoAnn …

This amazing wedding was held at the serene resort of Cap Juluca. Our vision and inspiration came from the natural elements surrounding us and the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. Our color palette included pale blues and whites and set the tone for the entire celebration. We set long banquet tables in the venue of Blue (aptly named). Frosted cubes were taped over to create a patchwork effect. Blue and white hydrangeas plus custom blue linen runners brought from NYC highlighted the centerpieces while white chivari chairs completed the look. Escort cards were attached to starfish and placed in a wooden box filled with sand from the beaches of Anguilla. The ceremony was held on the wedding bluff overlooking the island of St. Maarten.

from Eliza ~ My bouquet was wrapped in a lace handkerchief that was my great grandmother’s. On the day that I was born she wrote a note to my mother that said “please make sure Eliza uses this on her wedding day.” I also pinned my grandfather’s mezuzah that he always wore as a necklace to the inside of my dress.  My mother made my garter belt out of what was left of my grandmothers wedding dress. Although only one of my grandparents was able to make it to the wedding, I felt like I had a part of the others with me the whole day.

Our favors were from Navy & Lavender ~ fans with custom tags for our guests to use (and they did!) during the ceremony! Our beach welcome totes printed with a sandy colored starfish from Navy & Lavender also doubled as wedding keepsakes. It was so incredible to see everyone on the beach wearing them – all our guests knew each other from seeing that starfish! I still use my tote, and it is a great reminder of our magical weekend.

The dress code was island chic, and my bridesmaids all wore dresses of their choice in various shades of blue. Vera Wang makes so many different style dresses in pretty shades colors of blue that most of my bridesmaids happened to pick Vera dresses!

When asked if there were any wedding vendors that she & Jeffrey would like to recognize, Eliza replied…

Navy and Lavender did an incredible job creating our welcome totes and working with our wedding planner to get them down to Anguilla. They created a custom map and itinerary for guests to go in the tote along with sun block, water, and lots of island-themed goodies. Ceci New York made our beautiful invitations that incorporated the sandy starfish from our welcome totes and the blues of the ocean. It was important to me to convey to my guests the feel of the wedding from the very start and she helped me do that!

Also, I could not have pulled this weekend off without the endless help of my wedding planner JoAnn from Elegant Occasions. We were in constant communication everyday for a year and now that it is all over I miss it! JoAnn and her team were so helpful right from the beginning. I would tell her my image of the wedding and she was extremely helpful in giving me suggestions, yet not being controlling. I was so confident in her that once I got down to Anguilla for my wedding, I was able to relax and knew that she would pull the whole together. I was able to literally “show up” to each event and it was set up exactly how I had pictured it.

Click Photography (Che Thomas and Jessy Pagliaroli) certainly gave me photos and video that will last a lifetime. Since they flew down just for us, we have pictures from the whole weekend! Our videographer from Images Weddings shot part of our night with a special 8mm camera that invokes the nostalgic days of my parents’ wedding. He captured the mood of the wedding perfectly.

Our thank and a hug congratulations to Eliza & Jeffrey, JoAnn at Elegant Occasions and CLICK photo company, Inc. for the awesome images from this destination wedding weekend! There are lots of additional photos of the welcome totes and invitations over on Navy & Lavener’s blog.

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Post tags: Anguilla, Beach, Caribbean, Ceci New York, Che Thomas, Click Photo Company Inc, Elegant Occasions, Jewish, N&L Notes, Navy and Lavender, Starfish
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Destination, Little Black Book Blog, Wedding Planners & Designers

images courtesy of CLICK photo company Inc.

Have a great ~ rest of the week … wish me good luck in the sun!

For a sneak peek, here’s their SMP photo gallery. Details to follow.

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Post tags: Anguilla, Caribbean, Ceci New York, Click Photography, Elegant Occasions, Navy & Lavender
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Little Black Book Blog

Eeeek! Where do I begin?

How we met?  Ryan and I met the during my first few weeks of law school, down in Tucson. He was the upper-classman, and he used to flirt with me by offering study aids and tips. Everyone was on to him when they saw us whispering in the library during Finals. I have to admit, it was pretty cute.

Why Vieques?  I am Puerto Rican, and it has always been a huge part of who I am. I am so proud of my cultural heritage, and the fact that Ryan appreciates that part of me is so amazing. About 4 months before he proposed to me, we took our first trip to the Puerto Rico together. I go back every year, but we had never taken a trip out there together. He wanted to meet my whole family, and see the beautiful island that had a hold of my heart even all the way out in Arizona. We went during the holiday season, and there was nothing cuter (or funnier) than watching a room full of my crazy, loud Puerto Rican family dancing and singing and trying to talk to Ryan. He speaks very, very little Spanish.

While we were there, I decided to take him to a special little island- the island of Vieques, a few miles off the coast of Puerto Rico. I had visited a few times as a child, but due to the Navy occupation of Vieques- it wasn’t that fun of a place to vacation. But, in 2003 the island was freed of Navy occupation, and now there was the whole undiscovered, and unspoiled tropical island for us to enjoy!

Well, Ryan and I fell in love with it. It is truly Paradise Lost. One afternoon, while sitting on the beach (which we had all to ourselves), we decided that we wanted to share the happiness and beauty that we felt with our family and friends. We knew we would get married on Vieques. It was the perfect combination- a place that we discovered together, and yet still a place connected to Puerto Rico.

Shortly after we visited, the island was written up in Travel and Leisure, NY Times, and several other publications for it’s stunning beauty- and hailed as one of the last untouched islands that was within reach.

Planning a wedding on a 20 mile by 7 mile small island was not without its challenges. There was one hair dresser on the island. There are no real grocery stores, and there are only 2 gas stations. When rental cars sell out- your guests are out of luck. And speaking of transportation, all of our guests would have to first fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then either take a 2 hour long ferry boat ride, or a small 8-person prop jet to the island. But, we were so lucky…50 guests made the journey out to celebrate our marriage with us. We celebrated by hosting a whole week of wedding festivities with everyone.

We were lucky ~ yes, I had all of these beautiful images and visions in my head about what kind of wedding I wanted, but really, how could we go wrong with the stunning backdrops the island had to offer? We had help planning with a woman living on the island, and so despite the major limitations and few resources on the island, we were able to bring all of my SMP inspirations to Vieques! You should have seen my luggage- I swear half of what was in there were prints and pictures of inspiration! I hadn’t met any of these “vendors” before, and had to wait until I got there to show them what I had in mind. But, I have to say that I was so impressed- my cake especially turned out so beautifully!

One of my husband’s major requirements for our wedding was that he be allowed to wear sandals! So, a beach wedding was in order. The day before our wedding, my husband and I took some time by ourselves, and drove out to the beach. We kept walking along the sand, until we found a spot that felt right. It was so special to select that little spot of sand that we were going to stand at and become husband and wife. It was one of my favorite memories.

We rented out an absolutely amazing private villa overlooking the ocean for our wedding reception. We have never even been close to anything of this magnitude before. The backyard lent itself well to a tented, outdoor reception, complete with our DIY lanterns and lots and lots of twinkling white lights. We had tiki torches light the pathway for our guests, as there was no real other lighting as the sun set. It was so amazing to dance with my new husband and my father surrounded by all of the people I love one one side, and the Atlantic ocean on another.

I was so determined to have a tent filled with white paper lanterns at my wedding. Little did we know what a project that was going to be! I spent the morning and day of our wedding getting pampered, and getting ready. My poor husband, and his poor groomsmen spent the WHOLE day under the sweltering June Caribbean sun hanging a million paper lanterns with fishing wire to our tent! My new husband was up against the clock and he told me later that he only had about 20 minutes to get ready for the wedding! Had I known it would be that miserable, I wouldn’t have let them do it! But, it was so beautiful, and made me really happy to see.

Our wedding was so amazing, and of course we will remember and treasure it forever. But, I think we most enjoyed being able to share “our” island with everyone, and creating those lasting memories with each person there. I think our wedding in Puerto Rico really made Ryan feel so a part of my culture. And that makes my heart truly happy.

Oh wow!! Congratulations Nicole and Ryan on a spectacular celebration!  And thank you, thank you, thank you to Michelle & Harrison Hurwitz for capturing ~ and sharing ~ the beauty!

click here for the entire wedding gallery

June 20th, 2009 wedding in Vieques Island, Puerto Rico from Hurwitz Photography. Reception & Rehearsal Dinner – Punta Marineau Villa on the new W Resort residential grounds.  Wedding Ceremony – Sun Bay.  Event Planner – Sandy Malone of Weddings in Vieques

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Post tags: Beach, Caribbean, Hurwitz Photography, Puerto Rico, Vieques, Weddings In Vieques
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Cultural Beauty, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Little Black Book Blog, Wedding Photography

And ever since I laid eyes on that wedding, I’ve had this thing for fancy, formal affairs on the beach. A tuxedo. A beautiful gown. A city style affair next to such an organically beautiful backdrop. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Thank you so much to Grazier Photography for spending the day with us and for sharing such stunning photographs. The last one, in the series above, is the reason that I love my job. And, to the beautiful couple…your wedding was absolutely lovely.

More coming up!

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Post tags: Anguilla, Caribbean, Grazier
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Traditional Elegance

Perfect right? And the best part…the couple was thoughtful, gracious and totally in love. So it was beautiful inside and out! Here are a few more words from Enna…

Ashley travelled from St. Martin to Anguilla via ferry a week before the wedding with 30 pieces of luggage… (what I wouldn’t give to have been able to photograph that!) she and her family put together the most thoughtful personalized gift bags and delivered them to each place of lodging before any of the guests arrived.  For the day after brunch, Ashley arranged to reserve the cafe for her guests… AND she arranged for the rental car companies to allow car dropoff there and then shuttle the guests to the airport and ferry.  Seriously, every detail was thought of!

The wedding planner behind the event was the fabulous Alexis at Weddings by Alexis.  More to come in just a bit!

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Post tags: Anguilla, Caribbean, Elysium, Grazier
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Traditional Elegance

The wedding actually took place on Sunday after a weekend filled with fun activities. Which is kind of cool…the guests really built a vacation out of the visit and the gorgeous bride and groom did everything to make it perfect. They had a pool party to welcome guests on Thursday night, croquet for kids and tennis for adults on Friday, a BBQ on Friday night, a sail for the boys on Saturday while the girls hung out on the beach. Seriously a wedding weekend!

INSANELY beautiful. It’s the only thing that I can say about all of this. Ridiculously, insanely beautiful. And we have so much more to come!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anguilla, Caribbean, Grazier
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Traditional Elegance