Nov 24

Nov 24 Behind the Scenes of our Modern Day Micro Caribbean Destination Wedding Shoot

STYLED SHOOT, WEDDING TRENDS, MICRO WEDDING, BEHIND THE SCENES, DESTINATION WEDDING

EPIC Presentation’s Photoshoot at Magen’s Bay, St. Thomas, USVI | Behind the Scenes

I wanted to give everyone a little behind the scenes to the incredible shoot that we put together with our “Friendor” family. For those of you that haven’t heard this phrase yet, we use that to explain our friends that also happen to be vendors. This is common in the Virgin Islands. When you are lucky enough to work in the Caribbean, you are also blessed with some of the most creative and professional vendors. Virgin Islanders in particular have had to create, pivot and readapt often, which leads to this creativity and unique strength. Out of necessity you need to be the best at your craft because many times you have to wear all the hats.

When thinking about what we wanted to create and what we wanted to convey it was a full creative process. So off the bat, we knew which creative friendors we wanted to work with.

After a wonderfully successful and fun shoot with Soleil Creative in St. Barths we all wanted to work together again and it was the precursor to this tropical dream. From us first talking about it, to the shoot itself it took about two months. We thought we would share what inspired us to and some behind the scenes photos.

The Inspiration Behind the Design

For many years I had dreamed about doing a tropical shoot in the arboretum at Magens bay in St. Thomas. The arboretum has incredible history and the most amazing old trees. Like much of the islands, Magens Bay was hit hard by the 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The Magens Bay Authority has worked tirelessly to put this Top 10 beach of the world, back together again. And it is back to it’s beautiful abundant self.

I love the beach and I love the sunshine, but sand in your toes is not for everyone. So, we wanted to capture a new side to the Caribbean wedding dream. There is much to say for the botanical and deep dark lushness of our islands. It is part of what makes our islands so beautiful, fresh and vibrant. The colors of the azure ocean are breathtaking, but so are the vivid reds from our locally grown ginger flowers, the multicolor hibiscus, the deep purple hues of the flamboyant, and the cool green from our palms.

Tapping into nature, social distancing, small, close circles, and getting to our roots was important for this shoot so we wanted to make sure to convey that. This is why we chose Magens Bay and also selected to work with our Friendor East End Flower Shop, as they are truly the best in utilizing the freshest and most stunning arrangements. Our shining star of this shoot would have to be the floral masks and, ahem stunning, headdress, that Ali from East End Flower Shop made for us.

Our models were naturally striking and both grew up and live on St. Thomas. Shanah-Nequai Rieara (who owns the locally made luxurious and organic skin line we used for skin prep, Skin by Nequai) and Gabriel Stephen. They were a dream to work with. Hair was done by the super talented Olga who is the owner of Expressions VI and we work with frequently.

Our Natural Caribbean Setup

We cannot tell this story without talking about the banana chandelier, naturally. It makes the shoot and look so unique. The idea was born during an initial planning call between myself and Soleil Creative. Fianna Fluess and Alison Hastings, co-owners of Soleil Creative, did not let me get the idea out of my head and we were absolutely fixated on it. We did some very rough sketches and ended up going for a super simple, yet magical, look strewing twinkle lights throughout and hanging it over our table setting. It was the perfect compliment to our natural vibe.

If you could have seen the Epic Presentations and Jenn Events team work on this setting, we guarantee that you would have been impressed. We had a beautiful day of sunshine despite a streak of very rainy weather, we joked about praying to the weather gods and it seemed to have worked. The second that the shoot concluded, the clouds broke open and we felt incredibly lucky. We are forever grateful for our crew for all of the hard work they do.

A photo from Fianna’s trip to Dominica that we used for inspiration

The table setting, of course, was to match the scenery: natural, lush, fresh fruits, and letting the natural beauty and offerings of the island do the hard work. Simplicity. We didn’t want to go with cookie cutter anything here. The silverware was Tiffany and Co. and the invitations were also custom made by Soleil Creative.

Everyone banded together to make the day truly magical and it really felt like a perfectly coordinated dream. The drinks were no surprise from another Friendor, Barb Michaud, owner of B.Squeezed who makes the tastiest local juices from all natural and local fruits, paired with Neptunes Nectar (also local), Tanteo Tequila, and locally made, sea salt by Virgin Islands Sea Salt.

The Ceremony

The ceremony was located at the arboretum, with circular seating, and palm fronds as decor. Our good friend Claudette Elliott was the officiant. We feel that this whole setting was a bit ethereal, and as we keep saying, magical. This sort of wedding is absolutely ideal for this day and age where we need to be safe, socially distant, and being out in the fresh air amongst nature assists in keeping things fresh. Micro destination weddings such as this are on the rise. For now, travel to the Virgin Islands and St. Barth’s is still open and a great option for people that are looking to get away for their wedding, doing so safely.

You can view more from the shoot on WeddingChicks.com and we will be sure to post more photos on our blog and of course on our social media accounts. Please give us a follow for more beautiful setups, weddings, and serene island scenes. @epicpresentations on Instagram and our Facebook can be found here.

We are here to guide you through the process of planning your 2021 micro destination wedding. The Caribbean is the perfect place to have your wedding during these times, and we will be here to help you plan every step of the way. Just send us an email to contact@epicpresentations.com or call us at 340-643-6109.

Sunny Regards,

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Jenn Johnson

Jenn Johnson is the owner of a bespoke event production, planning, and design firm in the Virgin Island. She started in her family's Destination Management company, then worked at Caneel Bay a Rosewood resort, and fell in love with doing island weddings. She took a brief reprieve from weddings and worked doing corporate events globally. She settled back into the Virgin Islands in 2012 and launched Luxee, a production and design firm. In 2019 she expanded her island business to the island of St. Barths and acquired Epic Presentations.

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