First of all, Congratulations!! Check out this villa http://www.caribbeanvilla.com/cliffside/cliffside.html. I haven't stayed there, but it looks to fit your needs. If not, this site has many villas in your price range. Good luck!

check out www.coralbayvacations.com my husband and I were married there this past Feb. and we absolutely loved it. Very private, beautiful views, one bedroom but two buildings, 2 full bathrooms, living room, dining room, sitting room, 2 outdoor showers, a pool and hot tub. Sits up on the side of the mountain so you have panoramic views of everything, priced higher in the peak season than what you are looking for but would venture to guess would be cheaper in August. I believe their website lists the pricing for all different times of year. Check it out.! We stayed in Astral Ridge but looked at the cottage and it's just as nice but no pool and I don't believe outdoor shower is an option.

Thanks, everyone! Plan to do a little websearch time tomorrow and make a decision. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Turkey is beginning to smell good here!

Hello and congrats.

I am also getting married in St. thomas in august 2007. If you are looking for a wedding planner you should look into Janelle from www.islandblissweddings.com She is planning my wedding and she is very nice and her prices are great. Good luck and happy planning

Congratulations!

Try websites that have a built-in search function that allows you to set a date range and will show you what is available to match your arrival and departure dates. I know that McLaughlin Anderson has that feature on their site - not sure who else does.

Also, you can try the sites of booking agents like islandhideaways.com where you can sort by price and see a list. Their site doesn't go as far as the McLaughlin Anderson site since you can't search by dates to see what is available on the dates you want (not that I have found)- but it gets you an idea of what will fit your budget.

CaribbeanWay.com also has a search feature with a price specific filter.

To get something special, you'll probably have to get closer to the high end of your budget ($2500 to $2700)

Best Wishes!

Beachluvers:

Great Plan. St. John is the ultimate wedding destination. My husband and I were married there in July '05, both in our forties as well. We were married at sunset in Trunk Bay and had our reception party at Chateau Bordeaux on top of Bordeaux mountain (OMG,what a view)(party of ten).The barefoot minister ,Anne Marie married us right on the beach. No wedding planner, we did it ourselves. Don't waste your money. Anne Marie was great, she made many helpful recommendations. (stjohnweddings.com)

We returned last summer and stayed on the East End of the island. Ultimate seclusion and privacy and we rented directly from the owners of the villa (live in NY)and saved the 8% hotel fees and taxes that all the other villa companies charged. www. eastendseacape.com. Great photos.The villa was incredible. Loved it. Won;t stay anywhere else now.

Hope this is helpful. If you need any other tips let me know.

All the best,

Lisa

Lovely villa on the East End. The website is www.eastendseascape.com. The above post left out an s in seascape.

I have to agree with Lisa's post when it comes to planning the wedding, unless you are planning a LARGE affair there really is no need for a wedding planner. My husband (in his 50's) and I planned our entire wedding on line from home prior to making the trip and we had the most fabulous day. We used Stuart Scott as our minister and he helped in getting photographers, videographers, etc. We saved a ton of money by using his island expertise and put the saved money towards a fantastic villa and our expenses during the trip. Stuart was awesome, he picked us up at the airport, took us to our hotel in St. Thomas, picked us up the next morning, took us to the courthouse for our license, gave us a tour of St. Thomas. Then we packed up and moved over to St. John and on our wedding day Stuart, the photographer, and videographer showed up at the planned time and place, had a beautiful ceremony. 6 days later when we left we had one more night in St. Thomas and when we arrived at the hotel Stuart had dropped of our wedding certificate signed by the court and ready to go back home with us. If you want anymore info on who we used for photographer, videographer or Stuart's info drop me an e-mail and I'll get it to you. Good luck on whatever you do and Congrats! Jill

congratulations !! st. john is a wonderfull, beautiful island to visit and inparticular , it will be memorable to be married there !!! since you are planning to do so in the summer months you will have more luck finding a villa within your budget ,since it's the low season and prices are down. we've been traveling to st. john for the past 10 yrs ( once you go you'll be hooked too/and return ) and have used for the most part the same agency for our rentals. they have a large listing of villas to choose from....for many budgets. don't rule out a villa with more than 1 bedroom , the amount of bedrooms doesn't always reflect in the price... check this site : www.caribbeanvilla.com -great staff, friendly, helpfull ...lots of info for "newbies". 2 villas we've stayed in , when it was just the two of us, were Cliffside Villa and Orchid Knoll Villa.....both were under $2000 for each and both lovely. for a view i have to admit Orchid Knoll has the best ! both have a pool and hot tub. Orchid is the more private. just thought i'd pass it on. best of luck !!!

Not sure what area of St John that you might be interested in. If you are looking for privacy, with water views, and prefer the quiet side of the island (Corel Bay), you might want to look at Sea Spirit and Siempre Azul (both have very good descriptions as well as availablilty at www.vi-villas.com). Both of these are one-bdrm, no pool however. We stayed in Oct at Sea Spirit. Although long past the newly wed status, we enjoyed the privacy and the view. The villa was well equipped, close to an excellent beach, and a few miles from Coral Bay. Best wishes!

Thank you, everyone. We have really benefited from your suggestions! We've selected the villa tonight and will be booking tomorrow morning!!!! Yippie!!!! Next step, securing the officiant. We've had many people recommend Anne Marie. Any comments?

Which villa?

This is exciting. i am happy for you!

Anne Marie did a great job for some friends of mine that we were best man and maid of hounr for Just an idea they found out how much flowers were going to be it was realy costly so we just drove around the Island and pick what we needed the guy's did this while the girls were getting there hair done and made our own and they were alot better. Us guy's had a great time getting them

Congratulations! I guarentee you this is the absolutely best way to get married and you will have a wonderful time no matter what you decided to do!

We just used Anne Marie last week and she did a wonderful job. I would definitely recommend her. I also like waterguy's idea about picking your own flowers. I found that they were extremely expensive for the amount and quality of what we got.

Just thought I'd share with any other couples in the wedding planning mood:

www.theweddingchannel.com

This site links you to setting up your own wedding website to share with your friends and family members, detailing the plans, location, "your story", "how you met", a photo album, and a guest book for your guests to comment, rsvp, etc. I'm just beginning to get my details filled in, and can't wait to share it with family and friends, many who will be unable to attend on St. John.