1. Real Weddings

A Low-Key Beach Wedding

Planning a destination wedding without a planner can be nearly impossible. Fortunately, when Karen and Jason decided to wed at Caneel Bay in St. John,

Planning a destination wedding without a planner can be nearly impossible. Fortunately, when Karen and Jason decided to wed at Caneel Bay in St. John, they had the help of the site’s wedding coordinator. Together, they pulled off a wedding full of personal details -- Karen even learned calligraphy so she could make her own escort cards! The Bride Karen Chesley, 30, lawyer The Groom Jason Carroll, 37, concert lighting designer The Date June 5 The wedding colors all reflected the beach theme. Karen was inspired by one of her favorite pieces of decor at home: a navy and turquoise Jonathan Adler vase. A white starfish logo also centralized the wedding theme, appearing on everything from the save-the-dates to the ceremony chairs.

The couple found a designer online to craft the custom cake topper in Karen and Jason’s likeness. There was even a mini guitar on the groom!
As guests arrived to the ceremony, they found programs, fans, sand dollars, and small tubes of bubbles on their chairs for the exit.
Instead of floral centerpieces, Karen and Jason used hurricane glasses filled with sand and pillar candles surrounded by white starfish and blue marbles. Each table was named after a beach in St. John.
Before they arrived in St. John, Karen sketched out all of her ideas for prewedding portraits. Then she, Jason, and their photographer spent around four hours running around the island getting the shots.
Even though she had planned on buying a more beachy, casual dress, when she found her Caroline Herrera dress at a sample sale, Karen knew it was the one.
Karen found aluminum wedding signs in a store in Philadelphia and wanted to hang them near the ceremony and reception. Unfortunately, she forgot about the project until the day of the wedding! Her father came to the rescue and assembled the signs while the couple took their portraits.
The hand-written escort cards were tucked into glass crab cardholders from Pottery Barn. The crabs were then arranged in a box of sand for a beachy look. Blue frosted Chinese takeout boxes allowed the guests to take their crab holders home.
The main wedding invitation was a classic square shape with blue card stock backing. Though the design originally contained a sailboat, the couple worked with their vendor to get the look they wanted.
To honor the memory of her grandmother, who had passed away three months before the wedding, Karen pinned one of her brooches into her bouquet of white calla lilies. She also tied a pendant of her grandmother’s initial into the wrap.
Karen and Jason both loved these boarding pass save-the-dates the second they saw them. Karen worked with the designer to incorporate a starfish graphic, which became a theme throughout the wedding decor and stationery.
Karen couldn’t decide between wearing her curly hair down or up, so ultimately she did both! In all of her prewedding portraits, her hair is down, but she had her stylist pin it up before the ceremony. The decision turned out to be fortuitous since the heat and humidity spiked that day.
Despite ordering parts of their invitations from five different vendors, Karen and Jason managed to achieve a consistent look by sticking to an all-blue color palette and tying it all together with a raffia wrap.
Even though she planned to go barefoot during the ceremony, Karen wanted a pair of fabulous wedding shoes for the reception. When she saw this pair online, she knew she had a winner.
Karen found the simple ring dish online to use during the ceremony. Now it sits on their coffee table as a reminder of their wedding.