Danielle & Phillip

The Wedding as told by the Bride!

Venue

Although St. Finbar’s is my parish, we decided we wanted a smaller, more intimate church, so we went with St. Anthony’s Church in Petit Valley for the ceremony. For the reception, we wanted an open-air venue with a seaside view, so we decided on Pier 1 poolside. We did have a little scare, since it rained for three days before the wedding;  but thankfully, the sun stayed out for us on the big day!

Gustavo did an amazing job with the decor. He transformed the venue into a fairy tale with lots of soft lighting – candles on the tables and lanterns hanging from the tent – and crystals sprinkled everywhere.

Memorable Moments

My most memorable moment has to be the “Ants’ Nest Incident”. I felt a sharp sting on my knee as we were taking pictures at the old church in Chaguaramas. I lifted my dress and saw that my entire cancan was full of stinging ants! I ran out to the road and started jumping up and down to get them off. Of course this all happened just as the bus carrying the whole wedding party and our families  pulled up. I could only imagine how funny that must have looked; too bad the videographer wasn’t there to capture it!It’s amazing how the things that go wrong turn out to be the funniest memories…another being the unsuccessful flight of the Chinese lanterns. I don’t know if it was the strong sea breeze at Pier 1 or if it was just bad design, but they simply refused to take off. There were about ten floating in the sea by the end of the night. I guess Poseidon would have to grant any wishes sent with those lanterns!

Personal Style

Our wedding was very much a family affair, which made it very personal. My great uncle was the priest at the ceremony; my cousin, Zach, played the steel pan as the prelude; my aunt did my hair; my grandmother’s cousin came from Florida to make the cake (she also made my parent’s wedding cake so that was extra special).
Certain things I made myself such as my headpiece (which I based on my mother’s, but updated with crystals rather than pearls, to match my dress), our bride and groom champagne glasses and the bridesmaids’ earrings.

Other than that, we tried to add little things that we hadn’t seen before, like the bottle and spoon table (which was a hit when the party got going) keepsake matches, and cake charms for the bridesmaids.We are both traditional people, but are in no way formal and we thought the wedding reflected that beautifully. The ceremony itself was very traditional, even with the “ole time” wedding songs like the Trumpet Vuluntary and Latin hymns.

The reception was very laid back; we had the traditional speeches of course, and the first dance and father/daughter dance, but there was no fancy sit down dinner or anything like that, just plenty hor d’oeuvres, drinks flowing and great music!

Must-Haves

Apart from the dress, which was the first thing to be organized, the most important things for me were: good food, good drinks, great music, and, of course, a great photographer to capture all the memories!

The Dress

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to shop on Miracle Mile in Florida for my dress. It was a big ordeal; my father, mother, grandmother and maid of honor came with me. We finally found the dress at Brides of Florida, about fifteen minutes away from Miracle Mile. The dress was a Sottero-Midgley called Hillary.  I knew I had to have it from the minute I put it on; it was the first dress that I actually didn’t want to take off.

Music

We used very traditional songs. My dad walked me up the aisle to the Trumpet Vuluntary whilst Phil and I walked down to the Wedding March.

My dad actually chose both the first dance song, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, and the father/ daughter song, Am I That Easy To Forget, which is quite perfect when you listen to the words. He called me randomly from his car, cracking up, saying, “I have the perfect songs for you,” whilst all the while I’m hearing his Engelbert Humperdinck CD blasting in the background! Funny enough, I thought they were perfect too!