*The official St. Lucia Brides CHAT thread*

[RaynDrop]

Hello,

 

I am in the midst of planning my St. Lucia wedding - thought I'd jump in and say hi to anyone still out there : )

[britmitros]

Choose Mikael!!!

Julie and Mikael Lamber are the ideal pair when planning your wedding. I say wedding, as not only was the team successful at orchestrating all elements for photography, they were also a tremendous help with planning my wedding. They truly took the time to understand the bride and groom, and wanted to make our special day a dream come true. J

To be honest, the first thing I booked was the photographer. As soon as I got engaged to my wonderful husband Chris, we sat down and discussed where and when we could get married. We knew we wanted a Caribbean wedding, but had no idea which island to choose. As photography was my main focus for the wedding (yes, not even the dress!!!), I began searching photographers from different islands. I started my long journey looking at reviews, resorts and portfolios of photographers.

I searched through Puerto Rico, Antigua, Bahamas, Jamaica, you name it. Most photographers on the islands seem to use the same person that goes around your dinner table taking pictures. In other words---- not a photographer (More like your grandpa taking a picture of you in front of his old truck)! On top of that, most resorts only allow you to use their in house photographer --- the ‘dinner photographer’.

I started to find some great photographers from each island. Some photographers had some nice pictures along the water—but seemed too cookie cutter for me. When I stumbled upon Mikael’s portfolio I almost fainted. Not only was every photo breathtaking and stunning, but he had photos that belonged in a magazine. As I clicked on his work, I was amazed to find so many sunset, cliff side, trash the dress, and so many more photos that you wouldn’t believe unless you see for yourself. I knew I was going to whichever island Mikael Lamber resided…ST. LUCIA!

I can go on for days about my experience working with Mikael and his wonderful wife Julie. Through constant email interactions and even a skype session, everything was set in place for the wedding. I finally booked my stay at Villa Capri and began setting up my wedding day and wedding festivities. Mikael would email and check constantly to make sure the times and places we decided to take pictures would be ideal.

When I finally arrived in St. Lucia, Mikael and Julie sat down to meet up with myself and my husband to go over the final plan. By the time the wedding day was here, Mikael came extra early (way before our contracted time) and took our rings to photograph before starting our session. He took several pictures of my dress hanging, getting ready shots, and photos of the area. We decided to take first impression pictures at the Villa and drove to Pigeon Island for more pictures before the wedding. Mikael walked us around the entire island taking so many incredible shots between ruins, the beach with waves crashing behind, and so much more. He drove us back to the Villa to freshen up before the ceremony.

For the ceremony,Mikael was jumping all around to get varied images of guests and bride/groom. When the ceremony concluded, we took many photos with family and friends (we had developed a list of pictures prior to arriving). We also took shots along the water as husband and wife with footprints in the sand before heading in the car for sunset photos. At first, it was a little strange going down an empty/bumpy road that didn’t look like it was going anywhere near a beach! Oh how we were wrong, this place was incredible and was perfect for sunset photos. After sunset, we had our reception back at Villa Capri and Mikael stayed much later than our contract agreed upon.

We had a “trash the dress†session the next morning and could not be more excited. Mikael took us down the road to a cove with a beach. He had us follow him over rocks and through water, in between waves crashing. My husband and I kept looking back at one another thinking how this man is crazy and couldn’t believe how high we were on rocks in our wedding attire. I brought some props so it was fun to have a veil blowing in the wind on top of jagged rocks along the waters ledge. It started to drizzle (which I thought would be a damper) but Mikaeltook us over to the other side of the cove where there was a hammock swaying off the side of a cliff overlooking the water. This area was incredible as you also had to time the waves crashing in order to reach the hammock.

Our contract said 2 places. I thought the cove was 1, and our next location at the top of a cliff looking over the ocean and mountains was the 2nd. Oh how I was wrong! After going to the second location (with magnificent views taking crazy pictures), we went to the beach where we did our sunset photos the evening prior. This is where I jumped completely in the water and had a blast floating with my husband. There was even a wild horse on the beach!

I can seriously go on for days about my experience with Mikael and Julie. To this day, we still keep in touch and I would love to go back to St. Lucia for an anniversary and meet up with Mikaeland Julie again. I have a disk with over 700 photos on it that I look at constantly. I am still having a hard time picking my favorite, therefore I have yet to send our photos to family (and my wedding was in November!). I am thinking of making photo books for family as there are too many amazing pictures to choose from. My advice to brides to be—buy photo canvas deals when you see them! I have made so many canvases that surround my house from the wedding (my house looks like an art gallery J)

I can not stress enough at how amazing my photos are. If you want your friends and family to constantly say "Ohhh Ahhhh", then you definitely want Mikael to take your photos. I have to contact Julie and Mikael again, as they said I would be featured in Caribbean bride!!

Wedding: 11/22/12

[pandahugs]

Hi ladies! I am still doing my research but wanted to see if anyone had gotten married at the BodyHoliday? It looks lovely from trip advisor reviews and all that but it doesn't seem to have had many posts on here yet? Hoping someone can give some input on their wedding services and general feels from that resort or any others for a newbie!

[RaynDrop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pandahugs 

Hi ladies! I am still doing my research but wanted to see if anyone had gotten married at the BodyHoliday? It looks lovely from trip advisor reviews and all that but it doesn't seem to have had many posts on here yet? Hoping someone can give some input on their wedding services and general feels from that resort or any others for a newbie!

 

Hey pandahugs!  I'm no help with your question.. but I wanted to say hi...   I have a Travel Agent that might be able to help you out with some info if you'd like I can pass you her info!! 

 

Have you picked a date?

 

[pandahugs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaynDrop 
 

 

Hey pandahugs!  I'm no help with your question.. but I wanted to say hi...   I have a Travel Agent that might be able to help you out with some info if you'd like I can pass you her info!! 

 

Have you picked a date?

 

 

Thanks RaynDrop! I had mentioned in my newbie intro thread, but I am still technically not engaged and would think it jumping the gun a little too much to get full on planning before then (we have the ring, just waiting for him to pop the question!). Thus, we haven't picked a date yet but if we do end up getting engaged before the year's end, I am hoping for maybe May 2014? Is that too soon for planning purposes? Otherwise I am fairly open to sometime through summer 2014 really.

[RaynDrop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pandahugs 
 

 

Thanks RaynDrop! I had mentioned in my newbie intro thread, but I am still technically not engaged and would think it jumping the gun a little too much to get full on planning before then (we have the ring, just waiting for him to pop the question!). Thus, we haven't picked a date yet but if we do end up getting engaged before the year's end, I am hoping for maybe May 2014? Is that too soon for planning purposes? Otherwise I am fairly open to sometime through summer 2014 really.

 

hahah I am doing things just the opposite!  I have the wedding planning going on and no ring!   We had a very casual convo about getting married... We then decided fairly quickly that we wanted to do a destination so we (I) have been planning for almost a year.  We wanted to give everyone more then enough time to plan their trip so we told everyone in April (18 months notice).  This is much more then a lot of girls on here do, so while I am happy I did it I don't think it is a must.    

 

So almost a year into it and I don't have my ring yet... I'm not sure he has bought it yet.. I hope not cause if he has it and hasn't given it to me I'd kill him : )  hahaha

 

I think May is totally doable - start getting everything in order now so when its officially time you are ahead of the game and can start booking and what not you can run with it!!!   I actually had 6 months of planning done before we told anyone what we were up to...  

 

Are you for sure going to St. Lucia?  Have you ever been?  I haven't and I am SO excited!!!!!!

[pandahugs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaynDrop 
 

 

hahah I am doing things just the opposite!  I have the wedding planning going on and no ring!   We had a very casual convo about getting married... We then decided fairly quickly that we wanted to do a destination so we (I) have been planning for almost a year.  We wanted to give everyone more then enough time to plan their trip so we told everyone in April (18 months notice).  This is much more then a lot of girls on here do, so while I am happy I did it I don't think it is a must.    

 

So almost a year into it and I don't have my ring yet... I'm not sure he has bought it yet.. I hope not cause if he has it and hasn't given it to me I'd kill him : )  hahaha

 

I think May is totally doable - start getting everything in order now so when its officially time you are ahead of the game and can start booking and what not you can run with it!!!   I actually had 6 months of planning done before we told anyone what we were up to...  

 

Are you for sure going to St. Lucia?  Have you ever been?  I haven't and I am SO excited!!!!!!

 

Haha how funny! We plan on it being just our immediate family (parents and one sibling each) at the very most, so I don't think we will need a whole lot of advance notice for everyone else. We have had the ring for almost a year now!! But we both just graduated from professional school this past May and we had both talked about waiting until after graduation that it would really happen so I suppose the true "waiting" hasn't been all that long

  Not for sure going to St. Lucia yet but as far as locales so far I am liking how it looks! I haven't been before...the only Caribbean locations I have been to are Ocho Rios in Jamaica and Grand Cayman islands for a stop each on a cruise like 10 years ago haha. But they were beautiful and my favorite color is the color of the oceans there :)

[RaynDrop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pandahugs 
 

 

Haha how funny! We plan on it being just our immediate family (parents and one sibling each) at the very most, so I don't think we will need a whole lot of advance notice for everyone else. We have had the ring for almost a year now!! But we both just graduated from professional school this past May and we had both talked about waiting until after graduation that it would really happen so I suppose the true "waiting" hasn't been all that long

  Not for sure going to St. Lucia yet but as far as locales so far I am liking how it looks! I haven't been before...the only Caribbean locations I have been to are Ocho Rios in Jamaica and Grand Cayman islands for a stop each on a cruise like 10 years ago haha. But they were beautiful and my favorite color is the color of the oceans there :)

 

We are also doing very small... Parents, Siblings, we each picked one friend , and since he wanted to invite his Godmother (who is his aunt) we also invited one of my Aunts.  Each of them has an partner so with everyone it will be 22 people + us.   The only people who I don't know if they are going to make it are my two sisters (who is actually one 'couple')  and his Godmother.  So it will be between at least 18 no more then 22. 

  Tell him to just give you the ring!!!  Don't you wanna wear it?!?!?  hahah I can't wait for mine because I want a big shiny ring on my finger HAHAHA   I'm so excited about St. Lucia - we are staying & getting married at Sandals Halcyon Beach.   I love that there are three Sandals there so you can stay at one and visit the other two as much as you want!   So there are lots of options for food and activities that are all inclusive.     I have only heard amazing things about St. Lucia --- Soooo Exciting      You should definitely start nailing all this stuff down now.. so when you do tell people you can give them enough detail to get them super excited and ready to go!

[pandahugs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaynDrop 
 

 

We are also doing very small... Parents, Siblings, we each picked one friend , and since he wanted to invite his Godmother (who is his aunt) we also invited one of my Aunts.  Each of them has an partner so with everyone it will be 22 people + us.   The only people who I don't know if they are going to make it are my two sisters (who is actually one 'couple')  and his Godmother.  So it will be between at least 18 no more then 22. 

  Tell him to just give you the ring!!!  Don't you wanna wear it?!?!?  hahah I can't wait for mine because I want a big shiny ring on my finger HAHAHA   I'm so excited about St. Lucia - we are staying & getting married at Sandals Halcyon Beach.   I love that there are three Sandals there so you can stay at one and visit the other two as much as you want!   So there are lots of options for food and activities that are all inclusive.     I have only heard amazing things about St. Lucia --- Soooo Exciting      You should definitely start nailing all this stuff down now.. so when you do tell people you can give them enough detail to get them super excited and ready to go!

 

Haha don't I wish!!! I have a sparkle addiction. However, I was so particular about it because I have always had an interest in diamonds/gems and did a lot more research on it, I did pretty much all the work on finding the ring, so I have to let him have his one moment and do the proposal his way  

  I have a friend who is planning a wedding at a Sandals in Jamaica and she told me that she wishes she were able to bring in her own photographer since they don't allow outside vendors at Sandals. Was that a factor in your decision at all? That is nice that there are other locations nearby that you can go to though.

[RaynDrop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pandahugs 
 

 

Haha don't I wish!!! I have a sparkle addiction. However, I was so particular about it because I have always had an interest in diamonds/gems and did a lot more research on it, I did pretty much all the work on finding the ring, so I have to let him have his one moment and do the proposal his way  

  I have a friend who is planning a wedding at a Sandals in Jamaica and she told me that she wishes she were able to bring in her own photographer since they don't allow outside vendors at Sandals. Was that a factor in your decision at all? That is nice that there are other locations nearby that you can go to though.

 

I am still undecided about what to do for photography.   I have talked to a lot of girls that bring a photographer with them as a 'friend' who just happens to take a lot of pictures.   I went to a bridal show the other day and met a photographer that has done this before... she seemed really cool .. she travels all over..  She has a wedding package that is 2500$ she said she only adds 400$ to that for destination weddings and she pays for her own travel and accommodations.  She will even stay at Sandals so there is no issues.  I can get you her contact info if you think your friend might be interested.  Where are you from? Where is you friend from?   I am considering doing a free engagement season with her.  

  Other then that one of my friends that is already going has offered to be my photographer...     so either way I'm not worried.