Roxanne and Fernando jetted off to St. Lucia for their Caribbean destination wedding!  They landed on the Windjammer Landing Villa Resort as the location for the big day.  With close family and friends by their side, they dinned, danced (oh they danced!) and celebrated with sweet details at every turn.  Roxanne shared with us how they selected their venue.  “We personally choose the location for the wedding at Windjammer Landing in St. Lucia because of our experience there at our high school friends Hassan and Crystal Brown’s wedding in 2010. Fernando really liked how he was able to have a drink with the groom Hassan and his groomsmen just minutes before the ceremony started. We both liked that it was a vacation at an awesome resort on a beautiful island. We had a really great time and wanted to share that experience with our family and friends for our own wedding.” 

We love the groom’s  fedora – very vintage island hopping hip, we picture this swanky fella landing via sea plane for his big day.

And this big day had special meaning on the calendar.  “I guess our big theme was our 10 year anniversary of dating which was the reason we picked this date. The theme was included in the tin cans used as flower and candle holders, the Roman numeral X on the buttons for the groom and groomsmen and the card numbers. Ultimately, we wanted to celebrate this milestone with an even bigger milestone which is now the day we got married.”

The bride wore a beautiful gown by J. Crew while her maids dressed in pretty peach.  White the groom wore a button with X in lieu of flowers.  “It was a fun idea my friend Jeremiah Hernandez thought of. I wanted to do something different than flowers for the boutonnieres and he came up with the idea of buttons. I wanted to incorporate the wedding theme of a ten year anniversary and we thought about the roman numeral for 10 which is X. Jeremiah playfully dubbed the guys the X-Men.”

But the best part of her big day look might just have been the beach perfect Converse shoes she wore under her wedding dress!  But these weren’t just a regular pair of sneakers, these shoes had her wedding date detailed on them!

The beach wedding ceremonywas marked by a rustic wooden sign before guests entered to find white benches and lots of wedding details awaiting them.  The couple first planned on a church wedding but later opted for a beach ceremony instead.  “Deciding where to have our ceremony was the first unique challenge because we wanted to have a Catholic ceremony but after months of back and forth with the church in St. Lucia, we decided to go back to the idea of having the ceremony on the beach. It turned out to be a beautiful day and we were really happy with the nontraditional readings and songs we were able to play.”

The bride and groom gave out sunglasses to guests as they arrived.  A box marked with the sign, “future’s so bright, gotta wear shades” was a fun way to kick off the day!

As an activity, they created custom mad libs, that they called “guest libs, wedding edition.”  What a great way to create keepsakes for the couple and involve all their loved ones in the festivities.

The ceremony incorporated personal and cultural traditions.  “The cord that was wrapped around our shoulders is part of the Filipino/ Spanish wedding tradition. The cord symbolizes the couples bond and that they are no longer two but one in their life as a new couple. The cord was made of our colored birthstones in the Philippines and the middle was inscribed with our names and the wedding date by my aunt and sent over before the wedding.”

After the big kiss, the big celebration began!

For the reception, the group headed up to an area of the sand tented and lit for the evening’s festivities.  GQ cocktails and cocktail sticks  helped get the party started!

“The table numbers each had a special date that was significant for us both and following each date was a he said vs a she said. So it gave our guest a look into the events throughout our relationship that lead up to our wedding day.”

Every little detail had a personal touch.  Even the cake topper!  “I really loved our cake topper which my older sister Dr. Riabianca Garcia custom made for us. I really wanted a personal cake topper and didn’t find one that I thought really fit us. So, I asked my sister to make one that featured us and our dog Zion who sadly could not join us in St. Lucia. (Zion was a gift from Fernando for my college graduation. He’s more like a son to us than our dog and quite a character.) This was her first cake topper that she made and I think it came out amazing and just what we wanted!”

This is one amazing dance floor!  They certainly had an incredible time!

To see more from this fun-filled day, check out the highlight video produced by 1501 Studios.

 Congratulations to the newlyweds!

Destination Wedding Photographer: Indigo Foto

Wedding Vendors: Location: Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort, St.Lucia, Invitations + Paper Goods + Wedding Planner + Event Design: Jeremiah Hernandez Events + Designs, Wedding Dress: J. Crew, Shoes: Converse, Hair: Tara Ash of Medusa Salon, Groom’s Suit: Banana Republic, Bridesmaids: Ann Taylor, Groomsmen: H&M, Videography: 1501 Studios