From every indication, April 8th, 2009 was going to be a delighful day. Sara and Greg Musson, along with her Mom Rae, best friend and Bestman Kat, Don and Patricia – Greg’s Mom and Dad, bridesmaid Becky and several other family members traveled from Canada to witness and celebrate Sara & Greg’s special day. The showers started about 3:00pm while everyone was getting dressed and continued through the ceremony and reception.
The following day the couple got dressed again and traveled to the botanical gardens in Soufriere to shoot the formal photos. The following photos will gave you an idea how that went.
Reprinted from www.tripadvisor.com
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g652398-d534892-r28952525-Coconut_Bay_Resort_Spa-Vieux_Fort_St_Lucia.html
18 of us traveled to Coconut Bay for our wedding this month.
I read lots and lots of reviews (negative and positive) for all aspects of the trip. From the resort itself to tour companies to wedding venues/photographers.
Sara & Gregg at exchange wedding vows
Our rooms were on the harmony side and I pretty much stayed to that side of the resort. We found it to be very quiet even though the resort was full. The harmony side beach/pool area was nice and relaxing not having any kids running around.
Having fun on the beach after the ceremony
Yes, the beach does have seaweed, so what! Just walk 10minutes down the beach and it was absolutely gorgeous with no seaweed. We frequently swam in the ocean and didn’t find it to be too rough. We just wished Coconut Bay offered water sports. That would be one reason why we would look into staying at another resort.
The food was OK and this is coming from an extremely picky eater. I never went hungry! I loved Bellagios, but wasn’t big on Silks. We often ate at the grill since it offered quite a bit of food that we all liked. The bar service in the main lobby was painfully slow but quick at all the other bars. The girls loved “H” and Junius.
We opted to tour with serenity tours instead of the tour desk at coconut bay. I liked that they personalized the tours and you could do it with just your group, not a bunch of strangers. AND it was CHEAPER than the hotel! John was fast in returning messages and we loved Sherma’s energetic personality.
And now the reason we went there for…The Wedding!
Slipping into the water at Laborie Beach.
Greg lost his footing while posing for the camera at the beach in Laborie
While ideally I would’ve liked to of gone of property for the wedding I took the easy way out and stayed at Coconut Bay. Jeanelle worked very hard to make sure everything was gorgeous and perfect. I just wanted something simple, quick and laid back. I picked the colours and then left everything else to her!
However when it came to the pictures I wasn’t the easy to deal with! After talking to other brides on here and hearing about their experiences I decided I did not want to use Coconut Bay’s photographers. Don’t be fooled into paying them the $US500 they want for you to bring another photographer on property! Its a gimmick to force you to use theirs!
I was hunted down and quizzed about why I wasn’t using them. All that did was make me glad to have not picked them and annoyed they wasted an hour of my time.
After careful consideration we narrowed it down to two photographers, then decided to go with Bill Mortley. When it came down to the final 2 the deal maker was that Bill was willing to take us off property at no additional charge! He said he would take pictures till we quit and he was good to his word. Being beautiful is exhausting work! lol
Not thinking about the sun setting so early I picked a 4:00 wedding time so that didn’t leave time to leave the resort that day. Bill spent the afternoon with us and then came back the next morning to take us to multiple locations. And we made him work! Probably drove him nuts as well. But he never lost patience with any of us and we kept him laughing! Unlike what I read about some other photographers, Bill listened to our suggestions even when I wanted to start 4 hours earlier than he did! I think he was more panicked about my dress than I was after I feel into the ocean.
Bill went above and beyond to ensure we have gorgeous pictures and hundreds of them to choice from.
We love our pictures and enjoyed our time with Bill.
Hopefully we will be using him again for another wedding….he just has to find a man for my bridesmaid!
Feel free to PM me with any questions.
Brides or anyone wanting to get some great pics: www.billmortleyphotography.com
