visit to St. John

[Tybee]

Because a super great airline ticket price coinsided with my school''s February vacation, FI and I will be
flying to St. John USVI. Our excuse is "wedding planning," but really we''re just going for vacation.

I guess we''re going to try to locate a rehearsal dinner location, and maybe do some cake tastings, after that
I''m confused. Part of the beauty of a destination wedding is that someone else plans everything out for you.
What other things do you all think I should do while we''re down there?

 

[selflove]

I''m kinda getting into all that planning so let me see if any of my stuff will apply to you...

1) menu tasting/choosing
2) meet the officiant
3) meet with florist down there??
4) details for putting welcome baskets/bags in guests rooms (if you''re doing that)
5) reception site decorations...linens, chair covers, etc.

Hope that helps or at least gives you some hints!

 

[sunkist]

Date: 1/18/2006 8:59:09 AM
Author:Tybee

What other things do you all think I should do while we''re down there?

Are you kidding!??!?! I guess you''re referring to what other wedding planning you should do down there, but here''s a few things you have to do when all the wedding planning activities are over:

go snorkeling
drink pina coladas
eat tuna steaks
and relax!

Have fun!

 

[Tybee]

LOL Sunkist,

Definitely on the list. I was actually trying to get away with as little wedding planning
as possible. How lazy am I? I keep thinking things like, "sure we could go to a cake tasting,
but wouldn''t we rather be scuba diving?"

Speaking of cake tastings, how do they work? Our wedding planner has told us that our
tastings would be 50.00 a cake! I don''t know why, but that seemed pretty expensive to me,
especially since we''re just TASTING it!

Selflove, thanks for the list. My future brother-in-law is our officiant, so that''s covered.
I guess I''m feeling guilty that I''m not doing more to plan this thing! Especially after
reading MelissaSue''s efficient list!!

We''ll meet with the florist, and eat at our reception venue.

I''m excited. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share!

 

[selflove]

Date: 1/18/2006 6:02:51 PM
Author: Tybee
LOL Sunkist,


Speaking of cake tastings, how do they work? Our wedding planner has told us that our
tastings would be 50.00 a cake! I don''t know why, but that seemed pretty expensive to me,
especially since we''re just TASTING it!

WHAT?!!? You can do a wine tasting for less than that! Is there some currency conversion I''m missing?? I didn''t think you had to pay anything for the cake tasting. Well, that''s a bridge I haven''t crossed yet...

$50.00??!!!

 

[Tybee]

Selflove,

That''s what I was thinking. It sounds expensive, doesn''t it? There''s no currency conversion, the Virgin Islands are in the US.

 

[AndyRosse]

Date: 1/18/2006 7:17:08 PM
Author: Tybee
Selflove,

That''s what I was thinking. It sounds expensive, doesn''t it? There''s no currency conversion, the Virgin Islands are in the US.

Every cake tasting I have gone to has been free

 

[Tybee]

Date: 1/18/2006 11:07:40 PM
Author: Rascal49

Date: 1/18/2006 7:17:08 PM

Author: Tybee

Selflove,


That''s what I was thinking. It sounds expensive, doesn''t it? There''s no currency conversion, the Virgin Islands are in the US.

Every cake tasting I have gone to has been free

That''s what I was worried about!

 

[Mara]

OK $50 for cake tasting and each cake or just total? I mean I guess I could see charging if they want to but not $50 per cake to taste?

Then again...our Kauai gal did not do the typical small slice of cake tasting like you get done locally.

She actually made small mini ~4inch cakes for us ...2 of them so we could see what her decorating skills looked like and also the tastes. I don''t remember if we paid for them, but if we did it was something like $20 MAYBE but I think they were free, it was awesome because we got them and then had them in our fridge at the plantation for a few days so we had insta-dessert anytime we wanted! And they were SO GOOD, both of them.

So maybe it''s something like this and they are charging for each small cake? I would check into that.

Anyway I heartily agree with Sunkist''s suggestions, but also SelfLove has some great ones as well. You will probably find that you want to make alot of notes when you are down there for small details you would like to have done or do yourself, and seeing the place and the rooms where people will stay gives you ideas for in-room gifts and things like that.

When we went I made appts with caterers, cake maker, florist, hairstylist and makeup gal and who else..hmmm oh the plantation people. When we came back I had all that taken care of and deposit''s down on everything, but I also had names for nail salons nearby and where to take the bridal party for breakfast, what to do for rehearsal dinner (menu and food and everything) etc. And if I was not able to meet with someone I had email and phone contact information (aka DJ and officiant was all done remotely).

But seriously, all the ''wedding stuff'' only took about 1.5 full days and I scheduled it accordingly. We were out there for 5 days I think and only part of that time was busy with wedding, the rest of the time was just ours to do what we wanted with!!

You''ll find too when you get back unless you are doing the invites and stuff like that, that there is not that much to do til you get closer to the wedding. I also found that the people on Kauai were so laid back that I had to really kind of wait to give them details til it got closer to the event because if I called to confirm something like an email or a vm they were so laid back about the message or the details that I figured just easier to either do it myself OR remind them of it when we arrived etc.

But either way it all works out in the end and even if some small details fall by the wayside, the whole thing is so pretty and unique it doesn''t matter anyway! Have a BLAST girl!!! What a great idea, we loved our scouting trip!!

 

[Tybee]

Thanks for the thoughts girls.
Mara,
I''m so glad to hear that you only spent a fraction of your time in Hawaii wedding planning.
I guess if I break it down, the most important thing I need to do is find a hair stylist.
I''m really so excited that we get to go hurray!

 

[Mara]

YES don''t feel guilty about not doing enough wedding stuff, it actually takes care of itself seemingly, that''s part of the fun of the destination wedding, much less stress! Just enjoy yourselves!! And take lots of PICTURES!

 

[InLuvWithMrH]

Well, you gotta visit Trunk Bay...my fav..........