Just back from a much needed mini-vacation to Florida ~ what better way to start the week than with the rest of the story from JoAnn at Elegant Occasions ~ Eliza & Jeffrey’s destination wedding on the fabulous Caribbean island of Anguilla …
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.