LilyRose

Thanks MEve for you review! I am sure it will help other brides planning a wedding in St.Lucia. Your pics are great, you are a gorgeous bride! I am sure you miss the island as much as I do! My husband and I are talking about going back to Jade Mountain when our baby boy will be older. Can't wait! LilyRose

Hi Speidelk, First of all, congrats for your upcoming wedding and for choosing Soufrière! This is a real paradise and you won't regret getting married in that exotic part of St.Lucia. Ladera is located not far away form the resort I got married (Jade Mountain.) It looks like a nice place. I just want to let you know that it is not normal to experience so much contradictions. I find that my communications for my wedding was very clear and professional. I do not know about all the details of your experience, but since a wedding is not something I would play with, I would not risk getting married in a place that is desorganized or in transition of any kind. This is just my opinion. Believe me, you will have so much more things to worry about, you need to have a resort that won't change their mind every minute. There is few similar options around Ladera, you may want to look at them. Hope this help and that you are not too sad about it. The good news is that if you can avoid trouble before hand, you are a winner already! Keep us updated please! Sincerely, LilyRose

Hi r614! Congrats! I encourage you to read one of my previous post on this thread, you find find much info about styling according to the weather. Your dress will be fine (I had a big silk and tulle dress) and was fine in the hot days of July! A mermaid style (with the legs very tight) would be more difficult to wear in this kind of weather. No worries for the mosquitoes...i did not have any when I was there, except one night at the beach LATE at night. Also, like I said in my previous post, it is windy so I choose a long veil and I am really glad my hair were up, they stayed perfect all day. The wind and the humidity would not have worked well for my hair. Makeup was fine too, I brought touch up make up for the reception but did not even use it. Happy planning! LilyRose

Hi Jocelin, No question is silly! I used them on the envelope of the invite and on the RSVP postcard as well! Hope it helps!

Hi everyone! It has been a while since my last post but I just wanted to offer my help if any of you are getting married in St. Lucia. We got married there 11 months ago and I still dream about Jade Mountain and St. Lucia! We will celebrate our first anniversary at home this year with a baby boy due on the same day than our anniversary! Please do not hesitate if you have any question regarding the island, weather, ect.. Happy planning! LilyRose

Thanks to a special bride on the BDW forum, this gorgeous dress will have a second life in a very, very exotic place!

Thanks Melly81! Congrats and all the best for your wedding in March! LilyRose

Hi Stlucia bound, Congrats and welcome on the St.Lucia's page! I am so glad about Mikael! I received my pictures today, they were sent out form St.Lucia yesterday! Awesome! I do have 3 full CD of high resolution pictures! 1225 pictures total for my 5 hours package! The service Mikael and Julie (his wife) are giving is amazing. I always had an answer-email within few hours, even on weekends. Mikael did photograph before the ceremony (getting ready), the ceremony and the after ceremony-cocktail hour. We did not went with a trash the dress (we don't have that in our french culture) but I know he is doing that a lot! You can go on his website to see all his previous work. A lot of brides getting married at Sandals do not choose the photographer provided because is it too expensive. If you ask Mikael, I am pretty sure he will bring you somewhere outside the resort so you do not have to worry about extra fees for Sandals. Write to him and Julie will tell you what is the best option. Good luck with the planning! Keep us updated on your decision! LilyRose

Congrats Wilsonj2! Thanks for sharing your pics with us! I am happy you had the wedding of your dreams! Can't wait to see more pics! Mine have been shipped from St.Lucia TODAY so hopefully I will have them on a disc soon! LilyRose

I LOOVVEE my wedding gown but I would love to have another bride to wear it again! It is just too sad to see it in the closet! I have ordered this gown in 2011 so it is quite new and in style! I found this dress in a couture boutique in Montreal and I was looking for it everywhere in BC! I finally had to order it from a nice boutique in North Vancouver, BC. This dress is unique, gorgeous and perfect for the brides who want something "more" for their destination wedding without having the big full ball gown. This is the chic compromise! I had so much compliments on it! This gown seems so much more expensive than the actual price. It is really a couture design! The flowers-emboided bodice is stunning! The bottom is layers of tulle and the bodice is silk (very breathable in the Islands!) The dress has been only wore once and has been professionnally cleaned. Included: Jasmine Couture T388 dress (paid 1550$ + taxes) without the alterations. Matching Veil with rhinestones, floor length (250 + taxes) Pretty pink Transport Bag Wateresistant plastic cover (30$ +taxes) This bag is perfect to make sure your dress is not getting wet or damage or smelly! Dry cleaned I will include shipping as well for Canadian brides or charge a difference for US bride. 800$ Alterations I am 5'7" and wore the dress with 3" inches heels. The hem has not been shorten at all. Only the bodice has been altered. My measurements: Bra size: 34C Waist: size 6-8 or 27-28 My regular clothes are size 6 but this dress can also be altered to fit your body. Review and pictures from a bridal store: http://thebridalhouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/week-of-new-arrivals-day-2-jasmine.html Jasmine T388 This dress from Jasmine Bridal is from their Fall 2010 Couture Collection. Clearly this gown will have everyone talking. The design is a full ball gown with a beautiful strapless sweetheart neckline. Made with silk taffeta and tulle this dress screams “the dress of your dreams!†The fitted bodice slims down your torso and gives you that hourglass shape. The belt just accentuates the waist perfectly. The designers did not forget the details in the back with this beautiful large taffeta bow. Throughout the entire bodice are flowers and little faux diamonds that twinkle and sparkle. A bride who wants this dress would probably be one who is very fashion forward and wants to be the center of attention. At The Bridal House we call this dress the “show stopper†because it clearly makes a bold statement. When everyone walks in our store they see this dress and can often be discouraged until they find out that all of our dresses are $1800 and under. Since this Jasmine Bridal Couture dress is displayed on our mannequin in the front window everyone has to stop and look at it. Since this dress is displayed in the Fall 2010 issue of The Knot, it will be a hot commodity. On average I would say this gown would be for a more formal wedding but, it could easily act at a destination dress too. As a rule, my suggestion to brides who want the ‘WOW’ factor is to at least try this beauty on.

Hello everyone! I am back form our wedding in St.Lucia! Wow! I am still day dreaming about it! We were in St.Lucia from July 9 to July 16th. What a week! I will do a more elaborate review when I will find some time but meanwhile, do you hesitate to ask me any question you may have about the south part of St. Lucia. We were in Soufriere and stayed at Jade Mountain. Our 19 guests stayed at Anse Chastanet for the entire week. I strongly recommend Jade Mountain if you can get married there or have your honeymoon there. I am still looking for words to describe it. It is more expensive than other resorts but worths it! We met other couples honeymooning there and they were glad they choose a 5 nights stay there over a 2 weeks stay in a generic resort. You can't go wrong there, even in the summer time! Fiancé (now husband was worry that it would be too hot but it was perfect! Having our own infinity pool in our room was awesome! Here is few generic advices for all of the St.Lucia brides to be: - We choose an outside photographer from St.Lucia. His name is Mikael Lamber and I strongly recommend it. We were able to exchange emails with him BEFORE the wedding and he even planned a Skype meeting with me few weeks before departure. He is really great and kind! Husband and I are not huge photo fans and were exhausted after the wedding! He was so patient and positive! -Gravol: I have not been to the north of the island so I can not comment on the road but the drive from the airport to Soufriere is quite nauseous. I am glad I took a Gravol (anti nauseous med.) in the plane before landing. - Hair: I am SO glad I had my hair in a up-do! It is so humid and very windy! Honestly, think about that ladies when considering your hair style. I had some real hair extensions put in for more volume and they hold the curl very well but this would not have been enough to keep them look good! - Veil: If you are planning having a veil, choose a long one (mine was to the floor) since the wind will blow in it. I have gorgeous pictures because of that! I do not think it would have look so good with a shorter veil since it would be all up in the air! -Customs- Immigration: Very friendly! We had 6 suitcases (if you are travelling business with Air Canada or having a Elite status, take advantage of this!) and they asked us why we had so much. We told them we were getting married and no problem! I did not have to show my receipts for OOT bags or anything. Very convenient and quick customs! - For Canadian Brides: We left Vancouver hoping to purchase some duty-free champagne on our connecting flight in Toronto. We were disappointed to see the selection at Toronto-Pearson. Just Canadian Champagne or Baby Duck! Do not rely on the International Duty free in Toronto, it is very disappointing, specially if you are used to shop at the nice ones in Europe. - I purchased some nice chocolate truffles at the Duty-free to give to the crew onboard. They really appreciated it and recognized us on the way back! - Travelling with the dress with Air Canada: Inconsistent... I was able to put my gown in the business class closet for the first leg (travelling between Vancouver and Toronto) but not on the smaller aircraft (A319) between Toronto and St. Lucia. Their closet is very small and the crew is using it. So I put my dress on the overhead bin. You should not worry, the humidity makes everything look wrinkles free in St.Lucia! I should not have worry so much! -Another tip for Canadian brides: We invited everyone in the Air Canada Lounge in Toronto so we had a free breakfast together before the flight. We were able to introduce everyone and it was such a great start! Some guests (including me and husband) also took a shower before continuing the trip to St.Lucia. - Finally, OOT bags were awesome but I wanted something for the flight as well. I had prepared Flight Comfort Kit to give to each guest when boarding. These kits were a HUGE hit! I should do a post for that in the near future! Well, let me know if I can be useful to any of the future St.Lucia brides! LilyRose P.S. The first two pictures were taken in our room! Really! Comfort Kit for the flight:

Hi ladies, Sorry for being so quiet! I am now leaving for St. Lucia in one week! Busy, busy, busy! I just gave our final numbers to the resort which is great considering the time of the year and the venue. We have 19 guests travelling with us and 17 of them are all-inclusive (Air Canada Vacations) for 8 days at Anse Chastanet. We are staying just next door, in the same resort, at Jade Mountain. Lot of fun we gonna have with our guests! Also, I decided to go with Mikael Lamber as a photographer. I have to pay a surcharge since I am not using the resort photographer. I have been in touch with him by emails and Skype, and I think that I will be very pleased with my pictures. Mikael lives in St.Lucia and do wedding shots all over the island. I will catch up after I come back and let you know about my experience! Talk to you soon! Marie

Dear BeachBum, I was looking for the same thing! The easiest way was to pruchase a kit to the Dollar Store. It cames with 3 luggage laminating sheets and 3 loops. (The loops worth the money by themselves!) You can create your own tags (I used a Vistaprint business card) and cut the remaining plastic around the business card. Let me know if you have other ideas!

Oh, I also forgot to share a idea for the OOT bag with you! After reading many posts on BDW about what was useful or not in the OOT bag, I was looking for things that our guests will probably forget or won't invest in it. So I have purchased mini bottles of liquid soap for swimsuit to remove chlorine, sea salt and suncreen residues. I have found them @ Swimwear Etc. but I am sure that you can find them in any good swimwear store in Canada. This soap could be also use for hand washing delicate items or anything without having to use the resort laundry service. (I had a bad experience once when they did iron my spandex yoga pants! I can still see the iron shape on them!, LOL) Enjoy the planning ladies! :-)

Thanks BeachBum! I love your fuschia bag! What a great find!!!! I may go and check out to my local store. For the pepto, I did not know either. I just asked her if they were selling ind. wrapped one and then she said it was not the safer med to give at large to our guests. She suggested to give popular and safe individual meds to each guest for convenience. So I ordered Advil and Tylenol form minimus.com to give with some Gravol. She suggested then to have a bag with more "specialized" meds to give to one person in charge and let the guests know about it. So I bought a lot of things: eye drops, ear drops (could be useful with water related activities) Benadryl allergy cream, Polysporin, After Bite, Tums, Cold and Flu meds, Midol, allergy meds, ect. We have a pharmacist in our wedding party so I will propably ask him to keep the meds. Otherwise, a bridesmaid could also do it. I think that the pharmacist was afraid I would repackage the pepto bismol myself without printing all the warnings on them. I think her idea was smart!

Hi ladies! The Avon deal is great! I did not purchase my after sun aloe there but I got it free! I went shopping to Shoppers Drug Mart when they have a 20X the points and I used the points last weekend. They had a spending point event so I was able to redeem 80 000 optimum points for 200$. They have Life brand Aloe tube (in a medium size) for 3.99 each but that was "free" for me. I was also able to purchase some meds (Ind. wrapped Gravol for instance) and insect repellant wipes. They also sell mini bottle of Advil and Tylenol (was not able to find them in the store aisles) but they are at the front, near the cash registers. Just to let you know as I was not aware, I explained the destination wedding situation to a pharmacist since I wanted to bring some Pepto Bismol with me. She told me that it was not a great idea since this med is interacting with a lot of other popular meds and guests are propably not aware of it. They have a lot of other meds "safer" for the guests. So If you have many points with your Optimum card you can have a great deal there, specially if you collect your points when they 20X them! LilyRose :-) (Sorry for the grammar, I am one of those Frenchie Canadian! ;-)

Thanks Monica Mai for checking on us! I would love to see your Jade Mountain pics if you have some!!!! The forum has been quiet lately...I guess everyone is too busy with the planning! I was a good week for me, I have found my fiancé's suit and my shoes! Ceremony shoes: : Late evening shoes (wedges):

Hi everyone, I just wanna say that I had a very difficult time finding a light suit in tan-kaki for my fiancé. I talked with a lot of salepersons here in Canada and they told me that tan suits were not very popular here on the Canadian West Coast. After months of research, I finally hit the states. I have never been to the Seattle Outlets (Tulalip) before but there is so much choices at Hugo Boss for my fiancé. We found him a suit in the exact color I wanted. So I just wanted to let you know if you are in the same situation...I prefer to buy in Canada but this time, we did an awesome shopping trip! LilyRose

Thanks Monica Mai for your advices! Did you bring the citronella candles from home or they were provided by Jade ? I know that they provide coils but maybe just in "high mosquitoes season". LOL