Vow Renewal

My wife and I want to surprise our family by renewing our vows while on St. Thomas. A couple of quick questions as I know there are lots of people in here with good information.

There will be a total of 11 people in our party.

We are going to be in St Thomas on February 29th, 2012 from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. The vow renewal would not be until around 1:00 pm so we have time to get wherever we decide to do our vow renewal (questions on that later, lol).

I thought it would be nice to take everyone out for dinner afterwards, but it seems like most restaurants don’t open for dinner until 6:00 pm, which would not work since we have to be back on board by 7:00 pm. It also seems that a lot of the restaurants close for lunch at 3:00 pm, so we might be rushed. Not sure what we want to do. Thought about maybe trying one of the restaurants Havensight Cruise Port as it is right there.

Has anyone one recently had their wedding or vow renewal on St Thomas. I did a Google search and have looked at several wedding planners and they seem a little expensive for just a small simple ceremony.

We have, or at least I have, reduced our locations down to 2 places, either Bluebeards Beach or Paradise Point Gazebo. I like the views from paradise Point Gazebo as you would have the harbor and the cruise ships in the background. But then at Bluebeards Beach, we have the ocean, the rocks and palm trees. Both are close to the port so transportation costs would not be that high.

Thanks for your time and considerations in this, and any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

You might want to check with Paradise Point. Feb 29 is a Wednesday and they have always had a big happy hour on Wednesdays. You might be able to do early dinner there, although it is fairly casual. The restaurants at Yacht Haven Grande include Wikked and Fat Turtle, both may serve straight through.

Ok, thanks for the info.

Has anyone one recently had their wedding or vow renewal on St Thomas. I did a Google search and have looked at several wedding planners and they seem a little expensive for just a small simple ceremony.

We have, or at least I have, reduced our locations down to 2 places, either Bluebeards Beach or Paradise Point Gazebo. I like the views from paradise Point Gazebo as you would have the harbor and the cruise ships in the background. But then at Bluebeards Beach, we have the ocean, the rocks and palm trees. Both are close to the port so transportation costs would not be that high.

Thanks for your time and considerations in this, and any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

I am using Island Bliss Weddings for ours in August. They charge $300 for a vow renewal, it includes a flower for the bride and a picture. They also have access to Photogs if you want them. They are wonderful, their website is Islandblissweddings.com

Has anyone one recently had their wedding or vow renewal on St Thomas. I did a Google search and have looked at several wedding planners and they seem a little expensive for just a small simple ceremony.

 

You posted, you asked, so, a personal observation.

:eek:If I was on a cruise, visiting St. Thomas, and friends planned on renewing their vowels, I would find it incredibly presumptious that they would expect me to plan my St. Thomas visit to be with them to watch them renew their vowels.:eek:

I would be on a catamaran for the day doing a snorkel and beach excursion, and I would wish them the best, but, I would not be a part of it.

Thanks Junmatno for the information.

To Johneeo, I should have know someone would have to complain about something. I never fails, that someone will try and start something on every thread that is posted. I debated about posting my response to you, but decided I'm bored so what the heck.

It is very presumptious of you to assume I am making them come to the vow renewal. Maybe you should know all the facts before posting. This is a FAMILY cruise that came about because of the death of my mother 2 years ago. She always wanted to take the whole family on a cruise and was unable to do so becuase of her sickness. We are going to invite those that are joining us on the cruise and if they don't want to come, so be it. Being that it is my father, my inlaws and my two sons and their girlfriends, I'm sure they will want to join us. It will only be an hour or 2 at the most and then we have the rest of the day to do what we all want.

Thanks Junmatno for the information.

 

To Johneeo, I should have know someone would have to complain about something. I never fails, that someone will try and start something on every thread that is posted. I debated about posting my response to you, but decided I'm bored so what the heck.

 

It is very presumptious of you to assume I am making them come to the vow renewal. Maybe you should know all the facts before posting. This is a FAMILY cruise that came about because of the death of my mother 2 years ago. She always wanted to take the whole family on a cruise and was unable to do so becuase of her sickness. We are going to invite those that are joining us on the cruise and if they don't want to come, so be it. Being that it is my father, my inlaws and my two sons and their girlfriends, I'm sure they will want to join us. It will only be an hour or 2 at the most and then we have the rest of the day to do what we all want.

If you are not interested in opinions, this is not the place to post.

Of course you are not "making them come" to your vowel renewal ceremony. But, do you for one moment think that some in your party will opt to do a sailing excursion and not go to your vowel renewal?

Whether it is an hour or two, from my experience of visiting islands on a cruise, an hour or two kind of throws the entire day out of kilter. As for your mother wanting to take the whole family on a cruise, how has that become the need for you center stage to renew your vowels?

As for me and my family, if I were to tell them that I was going to renew my vowels on a cruise on one of the islands (or vice versa, one of them did the same), we would be unmercifully riduculed.

Now, if you were to arrange the ceremony on a sea day on the ship and not disrupt an island day, that would be something that all could support.

This is exactly what I didn't want. I didn't ask your opinion if you thought it was a good idea what I was doing. I was asking for people that have done the vow renewal for information. Someone always has to try and hijack the threads. Guess I'll get my information elsewhere.

MODERATORS, PLEASE CLOSE THIS OUT.

This is exactly what I didn't want. I didn't ask your opinion if you thought it was a good idea what I was doing. I was asking for people that have done the vow renewal for information. Someone always has to try and hijack the threads. Guess I'll get my information elsewhere.

 

MODERATORS, PLEASE CLOSE THIS OUT.

If you do not want opinions, do not post.

You seem to be incredibly self centered. It is all about you. Heck with everyone else.

Yeah, MODERATORS, PLEASE CLOSE THIS OUT.:eek:

Unbelievable.

any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

You asked, and I am sorry that you do not like my thoughts.

The last thing anyone would want to do while on St. Thomas would be to spend the day attending someone's vow renewals.

Do everyone a favor, and do the vow renewals on the ship on a sea day.

In response to your original question :D. Check with your cruise line, most do offer a vow renewal ceremony on board. They are usually simple and fun and then you all can enjoy a nice dinner onboard. I know you were asking about St. Thomas but I wanted to throw out another idea. If you are set on doing something at St. Thomas, Paradise point does have nice views! Have a great cruise with your family! :D

What about the Marriott Frenchman's Reef? Looks like they can do a little set up for you on the beach even according to the site. Then you could have a nice dinner right there afterwards. I've never been there personally but it's a hotel I've always heard mentioned in St. Thomas.

Just a thought! ;)

Good luck with your plans whatever you choose to do.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/event-planning/wedding-planning/sttfr-frenchmans-reef-and-morning-star-marriott-beach-resort/

My wife and I want to surprise our family by renewing our vows while on St. Thomas. A couple of quick questions as I know there are lots of people in here with good information.

 

There will be a total of 11 people in our party.

 

We are going to be in St Thomas on February 29th, 2012 from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. The vow renewal would not be until around 1:00 pm so we have time to get wherever we decide to do our vow renewal (questions on that later, lol).

 

I thought it would be nice to take everyone out for dinner afterwards, but it seems like most restaurants don’t open for dinner until 6:00 pm, which would not work since we have to be back on board by 7:00 pm. It also seems that a lot of the restaurants close for lunch at 3:00 pm, so we might be rushed. Not sure what we want to do. Thought about maybe trying one of the restaurants Havensight Cruise Port as it is right there.

 

Has anyone one recently had their wedding or vow renewal on St Thomas. I did a Google search and have looked at several wedding planners and they seem a little expensive for just a small simple ceremony.

 

We have, or at least I have, reduced our locations down to 2 places, either Bluebeards Beach or Paradise Point Gazebo. I like the views from paradise Point Gazebo as you would have the harbor and the cruise ships in the background. But then at Bluebeards Beach, we have the ocean, the rocks and palm trees. Both are close to the port so transportation costs would not be that high.

 

Thanks for your time and considerations in this, and any help or thoughts would be appreciated.

RCR dale I'm going to ask you to E-mail me My wife and I just renewed our vows on St Thomas....I tried to post my review several times of our experience and it has never made it on the boards I will try again however if it doesn't make it e-mail me at JP6458@comcast.net and I will share our experience with you I'll try to post it in the next reply

Andy

For our 15th Anniversary, we decided to renew our vows in the Caribbean. We usually cruise, so we would schedule our cruise to coincide as closely as we could with our Anniversary. The question was what company to use? Most companies will do weddings, but not many advertise wedding renewals. That’s when I turned to one of my friends for advice. Pammy Schleif is a TA (travel agent) with vast knowledge and contacts in the Caribbean so I would ask her and see what suggestions she would come up with, and meanwhile we would still do our research as to which company we would use. First we would have to decide where we would have the ceremony; of course we could have it on board ship, but we got married on board a ship and the price the ship would charge for an in port vow renewal increased exponentially! We finally decided on St Thomas and Pammy mentioned she had a friend that performed weddings AND renewals there. Pammy put us in touch with her friend, Cheryl Toner (www.viweddings.com). What an excellent recommendation! We had a lot of time to plan for this; just not a lot of money available; but you couldn’t tell by the result. When we arrived at the dock in St Thomas there was a van waiting for us and we were whisked away to Bluebeard’s Castle (she has other sites but we chose this one for the re-nuptuals). It was great! Portions of an old castle turned into a resort, beautiful view, and the courtyard was the icing on the cake (so to speak). The best was yet to come, however; the ceremony was conducted by Cheryl, herself (a registered justice of the peace). The ceremony accurately and beautifully described our lives together up to this point. The blessing for our future reflected the growth, inspiration and love we expect and hope for. The steel pan player just added to our magical moment. After the ceremony it was time for us to take pictures at some of the most picturesque sites we’ve seen in St. Thomas. After the pictures it was off to lunch in transportation, again; arranged by Cheryl. This is where she (Cheryl) had outdone herself once again; although she had given us a choice of where to eat lunch, she had suggested only the locations that she felt would meet our monetary restraints. We chose Robert’s American Grill at Elyssian Resort. It was unbelievable! Unencumbered by tourists, our post-vow lunch was exquisite. The food was absolutely wonderful, the view was exceptional and the rest and relaxation we were afforded was priceless! Cheryl and her team did an outstanding job and in another 15 years perhaps we’ll do this again and you can be assured I will contact Cheryl Toner at www.VIweddings.com

Andy