Lori and Tim had a beautiful intimate wedding on Linqvist Beach, and they had the beach all to themselves. The sun was shining on St Thomas, and the wind made it quite pleasant. The ceremony was originally going to be at 4pm, however we pushed it back to 4:30 / 5pm. This way the sun will set a little more, and it won’t be as direct sunlight. Cantorial Soloist Diane Becker Krasnick always gives a really nice ceremony for the bride and grooms.
A lot of bride and grooms, like Lori and Tim, having an intimate ceremony, can handle a lot of the arrangements themselves. Lori was able to find and arrange for her flowers, her officiant, and I steered her in the right direction for a videographer and arranging any fees associated with the location.
In order to assist our clients better, Ashley Photography is forming a welcoming link to assist them as they prepare for their wedding, tidbits when they travel and arrive on the island, preferred charters and restaurants, and preferred* vendors we feel will make your wedding experience the best the Virgin Islands can offer . This link will be constantly updated with new information and the latest places to go to.
I was talking to a chiropractor the other day and we were talking about what our eyes are trained to do. He can look at an x-ray and see what is wrong with someone’s spine and make a professional analyst. I just see bones.
When I look at a photograph, I see every detail, symmetry, composition, lighting, and background imperfections (exterior: random leaves, branches and interior: exit sign, light switches, trash cans)…
When you purchase a professional product through Ashley Photography, such as a professional print, art gallery canvas, floating wrap, album, book, and cards, it includes the time and knowledge to give the image additional detail on top of editing for color correction, white balance, contrast and lighting adjustments which is included in the service rate.
To give you an idea what can be done below are three images.
Image A and B are edited images
The third image is the Final Image.
IMAGE A.
IMAGE B.
FINAL IMAGE
I combined the two images, cropped the image to make the focus on them, cleaned up the spot on his pants, smoothed their complexions, brightened their eyes and made them both look in the same direction.
Samantha and Denny had their ceremony at the Marriott and then came to Limetree Beach for portraits.
Goodmorning Virgin Islands! This is the view that I have when I come down the street from my home. The sunrises in the Virgin Islands are absolutely stunning. I photographed this as I was heading to the airport to photograph aerial images of the Boyscout Marlin Tournament this past Saturday. Can you name all the islands?
This family had it all… they had each other. Mr. S wanted to treat his family to vacation where they can all relax and be together. Originally they were going to rent a boat and vacation but they ran across a beautiful villa on St. John… Villa a La Mer. It’s located in the same bay as the Westin Hotel. It has it’s own private beach, infinite pool, a pool bar, a couple hammocks, ping pong table… and fire pit for the cold nights that reach (or feel like) 78 degrees. (Or use the pit for S’Mores, one of my favorite things to do with my family. ) The house is spacious to sleep a large family or have a mini reunion like Mr. S and his family did with the convenience of having everyone together and your privacy. It’s a great house to entertain as well.
I really enjoyed spending time with Mr. S and his family.
At first there was a drizzle above us, so we took a couple portraits inside the home…
VACATION!!! Is what the “V” stand for!
And the outside…
Talk about small world… Ali below went to school with a college friend of mine, Kevin.
Saturday Nic (boyfriend) and my friend Karen flew over in Nic’s Cessna 172 to Puerto Rico to shop for the day. Yes, Island life is amazing but our shopping is limited. We have Kmart for toiletries and household ware and then a choice between beachwear or evening gowns. No Target. No Walmart. No Department Stores.
We first took a sight seeing tour around St Thomas before we headed to Puerto Rico. Below is a photo of Sapphire Point and Linqvist / Smith Bay two popular locations to have family and wedding portraits. I took these photos with my Canon G10. I call this camera my “play” camera. It’s much smaller and lighter camera than my Mark II and Mark III which I use professionally but it does much more than a point and shoot. The G10 is the best everyday camera for me so I can still shoot in RAW and to control the speed and aperture.
My view as we head to Puerto Rico / San Juan.
The island you see below is Culebra, one of Puerto Rico’s outer islands. I wanted to show you perspective of what our view was like so I framed in part of the window frame and some of the plane’s tail. As you can see in the image, it was a calm day. Yes it was really that flat, and almost looks like a glass lake. Great day for motor boaters.
If you have ever flown into San Juan… this is where you have landed.
Look at me mom! (and Karen)
This is the airport we landed at in San Juan. (Circle) If you look to the right you will see the Fort in the distance.
We spent the day mostly window shopping, saw a movie, and brought back Taco Bell for friends at home in St Thomas. It was a nice “getaway”. Below we are coming back into the St Thomas Airport… Home Sweet Home.
Honeymoons too often take a backseat to the arrangements and plans of the actual wedding, but you owe it to yourself to give honeymoon planning greater and more careful attention. After all, while the wedding is mainly for your family and friends, the once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon that follows is a private getaway for you and your new spouse to celebrate your marriage. Though you may spend a portion of your vacation relaxing and reflecting on this major life change, the honeymoon is most of all an opportunity to enjoy being a newlywed, spending quality time with your new spouse, and experiencing a romantic and exciting getaway.
Honeymoons & Beyond is a full-service travel agency that prides itself on specializing in dream honeymoons and destination weddings. They cater to each client on an individual basis offering custom honeymoon & destination wedding planning services. In addition, they can also assist will all of your guest transportation & accommodation travel needs.
Additional services offered include, complimentary honeymoon registry for the bride & groom and complete travel planning services for vacation travel, group travel and incentive travel.
Any booking to the US Virgin Islands - St Thomas / St. John through Honeymoons & Beyond, Ashley Photography will give a complimentary couple photography session to the newlyweds during their stay from now until November 15th, 2010 (contact Ashley Photography for more details).
Keith and Laura married on July 24th at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Catholic Church in Cruz Bay. (For those who live on island, it has the creative no parking sign outside “Thou Shall Not Park Here”). Their wedding was beautiful. The couple’s family and friends joined them in St. John for an amazing week of fun and festivities regardless of the down poor rain that greeted them when they arrived. Fortunately this was the end of the very abnormal 40 days and 40 nights of rain and the clouds began to part. The coordinator and I met with them to go over last minute details before their wedding Saturday, and it was clear… rain or shine, they were together.
As you see below, on the day of their wedding, the sun shined for them. It is a huge joy of mine to capture the moments of two people in love uniting.
The images above are only a selected amount from the session. All the images may be viewed and can be purchased by going to www.AshleyPhotoVI.com > Recent Events. To obtain the gallery code please contact the studio at info@ashleyphotovi.com.
Ceremony Location: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Cruz Bay St. John Virgin Islands
It’s back and better than ever. The… wait for it… wait for it… Ashley Photography’s Newsletter!!! Okay. We only had one newsletter, but it is better. Join our mailing list today and each month we will update you on upcoming promotions, island news, new products, travel and photo tid bits, villa rentals you should check out and whatever else deserves are shout out.
What a beautiful day in the Virgin Islands! I had a great time photographing Erica and Matthew’s engagement session! Erica and Matthew will be getting married in Atlantic City with a tropical / beach theme. They just happened to have booked a “get away” before their engagement party in the states so they jumped on the opportunity to have their engagement session here in St Thomas! I picked them up at Wyndham Sugar Bay and we drove to the next bay Linqvist Beach which is also known as Smith Bay (Linqvist is even spelled Linquist). This is one of my favorite beaches to photograph on with a small group, family, or specialty sessions. Then we got back in the Explorer and drove to the next beach, Sapphire. This is a great beach for snorkeling, and the rocks and view is amazing.
The images above are only a selected amount from the session. All the images may be viewed and can be purchased by going to www.AshleyPhotoVI.com > Recent Events. To obtain the gallery code please contact the studio at info@ashleyphotovi.com.
