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Hello,
My fiance and I are trying to plan a wedding in St. John. Neither of us have been there, but it just looks like the perfect spot. We will likely have around 20 guests. We would like to get married on the beach. Does anyone have any tips for a more economical wedding? We were looking at renting a villa on the beach for the ceremony and reception, but that runs around 8K for the week. Ouch. Is there a nice place to be married on the beach and have a decent place to have the reception nearby? I am totally lost and feel like this will cost us more money than we have. We were thinking that we could have the wedding and reception for around 15K, but maybe not. Does anyone have any advice for this lost soul?
Thank you,
Janice
BTW, we are planning to marry in St. John...
Hi Janice,
Can your guests stay in two villas? Are you planning to pay for guests travel/lodging?
>Blu
We are renting Villa Claudia in April. On their website are testimonials and I thought this one might help-
"Our daughter was married at Villa Claudia and my husband and I, our friends and family of over 50 people are still raving about what a truly spectacular time we all had and the wonderful memories to share for ever. Thank you for letting us enjoy your home for this special occasion."
Peter & Linda F., Baltimore, MD
The website is www.villaclaudia.com.
Have a wonderful wedding! What a great way to start your marriage-in Paradise!
Denise
I got married on Cinnamon Bay by Anne Marie Porter & it was great, then did a Caribbean brunch at Caneel Bay where we were staying. Although I could have done without my photographer, my uncle took better pics.
Tip: Get married around 9am or at sunset to avoid the tourist crowd on the beach-we had the whole beach to ourselves w/ family--very intimate!
First of all congrats on your upcoming wedding. My husband and I will be returning this April to celebrate our 2nd anniversary...we were married in St. John in April 2005 and we did it for less than $10,000! This included our villa rental, restaurant tab and boat rental.
We rented a villa for our immediate family (6) to stay in ($4,500). The rest of our relatives stayed at the Westin. The night before the wedding we had everyone over for a BBQ. The next day our ceremony was aboard the Calypso Catamaran which was fabulous, different, romantic and fun! We boarded about 5:00 pm and headed towards Honeymoon Beach where we anchored and Mary Bartolucci performed our ceremony. She is wonderful! After the service, we had a two hour sail with lots of drinks and appetizers. We then took everyone (15 in total) to Stone Terrace for a wonderful wonderful meal.
Neither one of us had been to St. John but it was very easy to coordinate the wedding since there are so many nice people to deal with.
I would not have changed anything. Our guests loved the fact that it wasn't your "typical" wedding...
The boat, drinks and appetizers cost about $700 (we ordered extra food) for two hours.
If you want something casual, very romantic, fun and memorable, this is the place to do it!
Good Luck!
