Posts Tagged ‘wedding’

Honeymoon On St Croix, USVI

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

After your wedding day, your honeymoon is one of the most memorable times of your life and so must certainly count as one of best vacations you will ever take. It is the beginning of a new life with the person you love. As such it is a good reason to visit somewhere you have always wanted to go, somewhere really special.

One of the most popular places for people to go to on a honeymoon is St Croix, The US Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean is the first preference for many newly weds for various reasons: the romance, the people are happy and welcoming, the sand, sea and sunshine, the food and the music. St Croix in the US Virgin Islands is one of the most well-liked destinations in the Caribbean islands.

St Croix has beautiful beaches and that perfect tropical climate that is so fitting for a wonderful honeymoon. The hotels and the island’s inhabitants love to take care of newly weds and go out of their way to make sure that the honeymooners have the time of their lives - a holiday that they will remember affectionately for ever.

Cost is always a factor when one is planning a honeymoon in the Caribbean, but you do not have not be too worried on that front. A honeymoon on St Croix need not be costly and as it is only 1,300 miles from the USA, so travel costs and travel time are low.

You will not have trouble finding somewhere on the island to fit your requirements. However, St Croix is a popular honeymoon destination, especially for Americans, so it is worth booking your honeymoon holiday as early as possible in order to secure the reservation that you want.

There are three main types of places to stay: a hotel, a vacation rental or a holiday home. The difference between a vacation rental and a holiday home is that the former is a condo or villa purpose built for holiday makers, whereas the holiday home is actually somebody’s house who has let it out for a short period.

When scheduling your honeymoon, you should think about when you will go away. It was traditional to leave for the honeymoon after a short reception on the day of the wedding, but many couples delay their departure date nowadays. Over the last few decades, it has become the norm to hold an extensive reception hours after the wedding, often at night. This will often go on until midnight or later, which makes leaving for foreign climes quite difficult. A hangover is not a good travelling companion either.

Therefore, you may want to put your going away date off until two days after the wedding, although I think that flying out on the wedding day is still the best idea. If you decide on a holiday home or a vacation rental on St Croix, you will have to make all your own preparations for getting to the airport, flying to St Croix and getting a taxi from the airport to your place of stay, so I suggest that for this, your first visit to this beautiful island, you take a package holiday, which will take care of you from your local airport to your hotel on St Croix and back again.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

Getting Married On St Croix

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

St Croix, in the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean has been a stylish honeymoon location for newly married couples for decades, because the weather there is bright all year round and you can enjoy any number of wonderful holiday activities together.

Things to do include hiking, exploring, taking tours, horse riding, water sports like diving or sailing or just and lying in the sun. However, in the past few years, it has also become very popular to travel to St Croix for the actual wedding ceremony itself, not just for the honeymoon. However, there are both advantages and disadvantages to getting married abroad.

First, you have to think about who you want to have present at your wedding. St Croix is governed by American law, so you will be obliged to have a certain number of witnesses. You can use local volunteers but you may not be able to envisage your wedding without your family or your best friends being in attendance.

It is worth remembering that every guest you want to be at your wedding will have to be flown to the island and in many cases, the guests will not be able to afford this trip themselves, which means that you will have to pay for all or at least some of the cost of the flight and the stay. If you cannot afford this, it may not be possible for you to have everyone present at your wedding ceremony that you would want. The cost of a Caribbean wedding on St Croix is a distinct disadvantage.

Remember also that you will almost certainly be spending your honeymoon wherever you hold the wedding and although it may be nice to have friends and family around you for the wedding, you might wish they would disappear for the honeymoon.

However, your guests may want to take a vacation while they are in the Virgin Islands, so if you want some time to yourselves, book them into a package holiday deal which will keep them occupied in order to give you some time to yourselves. Try to make a block booking and ask for a big discount.

However, one of the main advantages is that you are already in the location where you will be honeymooning. Travel is stressful and tiring, although St Croix, USVI is less than 1,300 miles from Florida, so being on the spot for your honeymoon will save you all that.

Not only that though, your marriage ceremony will be an even more unforgettable event because an idyllic beach setting with a sunset backdrop is really very moving. Most couples adore the island scenery, so a Caribbean wedding in St Croix may be perfect for you.

When planning your marriage in St Croix, remember that the US Virgin Islands are a legal part of the USA, so US laws and marriage laws relate there. You also do not have to have a passport to go to St Croix, although you are allowed $1,600 worth of duty free goods per person per 30 days. This can make up quite a saving.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

Top Notch Cruises

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

If you enjoy travelling and visiting new places, I recommend a cruise. I have cruised the Mediterranean and the Baltic and my next cruise will be a Caribbean cruise. I am really looking forward to it. If you have never been on a cruise, start saving up now, because it is opulence like you have never imagined before.

Never having been on a Caribbean cruise before, I do not know how much the various Caribbean islands differ from one another, so I do not know how varied that cruise would be. However, I have cruised the Med and the Baltic and woken up to a different country every day and in both of those seas and every country is very different from its neighbours.

On our Baltic cruise we left from Southampton and cruised to Gothenburg in Sweden. From there we went to Helsinki and Leningrad (in those days). On the way back, we called into Copenhagen and the Tivoli Gardens. None of those countries was in any way similar to another or even Britain.

Similarly, my Mediterranean cruise left from Minorca in north eastern Spain going east to Sardinia and then north along the southern coast of Europe. Italy, France and Spain. The second week of the cruise left Minorca again and went to Sicily and then south along the northern coast of Africa including Malta.

The luxury on a cruise is practically indescribable to someone who has never been on a cruise. There is no standard higher than five stars, but the cruises I have been on offered superior levels of luxury than any five star hotels I have stayed in anywhere in the world.

Food and shore trips play a major part of cruising. The food is top notch with no mistake. Breakfast on a cruise liner is better than most Americans and most Europeans have for dinner. Whatever you want from prawns to steak, from exotic fruit to porridge. Lunch and dinner are even more sumptuous.

Shore excursions are well organized too. They include a ferry from the cruise liner to the land and then a coach trip by a local firm to the destination, which could be an historical site or a shopping mall. Most cruisers go on these trips, but some would rather stay on board and take advantage of the lower number of passengers and the free food.

I went on every shore tour and thoroughly enjoyed each one. The excursions are usually pricey though, but you are part of a trapped audience, so what can you expect?

I thoroughly recommend a cruise holiday to any and every one. You should go at least once in your life, but do not leave it until late in your life because you will want to go again.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

categories: honeymoon,wedding,marriage,vacation,holiday,recreation,caribbean,USA,travel,happiness,luxury,sea,outdoor,other

Economical Wedding Favours

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

If you are holding a large wedding, that is one with many guests, the cost of wedding favours can be quite considerable, if you do not set a strict budget. One immediate method you could use to cut the cost of your wedding favours is to give one to each couple or single, rather than one to everybody who comes. The first decision to make is how much can you afford in total and then divide that by the number of guests in total and then divide it by the number of couples and singles.

This method will make it easier for you to decide what you are going to do: get for everybody; get for couples and singles and keep the rest for something else or give to couples and singles but buy more elaborate presents. If you still find that there is not a lot of money to go around, you will need to look for lower-priced wedding favours. I will offer you a few thoughts below to get you going.

Candles can be very successful, low-cost wedding favours. If you buy in bulk, you can get some really lovely candles at very reasonable prices. You could get perfumed candles, maybe with the same smell as the bouquet the bride carried. You could also consider buying personalized ribbons to tie attractive bows around the candles and the ribbons could have your names and the wedding date on them.

Candy or chocolate is another type of low-cost wedding favour. There are many ways to go down this route. You could have the wrappers of popular candy bars custom-made; you could buy quite expensive chocolate in bulk and wrap it up in a special way yourself or you could buy small boxes of connoisseur chocolate.

Giving packets of flower or vegetable seeds is also an economical way of giving a practical wedding favour. Again, you could give seed packets of the flowers in the bride’s bouquet. The seed packets could be wrapped or boxed with your own special logo, names and wedding date. You could give them in a pot or tray too in order to make it even easier to sow the seeds.

A pen or pen and pencil set is also a fairly economical way of giving wedding favours. These pens can also bear your wedding details such as names and date.

However, I am Welsh and so my favourite wedding favours are love spoons in miniature, say four inches long. Love spoons were given in Wales by a suitor to his beloved for hundreds of years and many love spoon makers will make mini versions by hand for a small amount of money. These love spoon wedding favours can also be inscribed with the wedding details as they are typically made out of wood.

Another nice touch is to add a stamped, self addressed envelope to your wedding favour present, with a short note asking the recipient to get in touch with you soon, so that you do not let too much water go under the bridge.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Welsh love spoons, and Wales in general, please go to our website at Welsh Products Online, if you are too.

Going Sailing In The Caribbean

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

There are lots of destinations for people interested in sailing and if you are tired of the Virgin Islands then try the rest of the Caribbean.

The Caribbean islands are part of an island chain covering 2,500 miles. Given the enormous distance, it is no surprise that tourists spend weeks out there in order to get pleasure from the magnificence that it has to offer.

Just like in the Virgin Islands, there are loads of charter companies you can go to. for a range of hobbies. These firms come in different sizes, but perhaps the best is the yacht charter.

When you charter a yacht, apart from the yacht, the other elements and benefits that come with it are meals, separate guest rooms, a galley, toilet and shower.

Since you are the paying guest aboard the boat, you can customize the menu by telling the cook before the trip what you want to eat. You can help out by buying the provisions yourself, having someone from the crew do it for an additional fee or select a set menu from one of their pre-composed packages.

Since most of the islands in the Caribbean are small and uninhabited, you are certain to see places that not many have seen. But if you can’t afford to rent a chartered yacht, don’t worry because you can probably get one that will cost as little as $50 if you are able to book a pre-arranged trip with several other guests to share the bill.

One thing you have to be ready for during you sailing vacation is the likelihood of a storm. These generally happen during the months from June until November. If you are not sure that this is the best time, book the trip on another date.

But if you are adamant about going on your dates, there are some online tools you can use to check if the area you will be sailing in has ever been hit by a hurricane before.

The other option is to plan your itinerary to the Caribbean islands further south because they are less likely to be affected by a storm. These places include the islands of Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curacao, and Turks and Caicos.

If you like the idea of going sailing around the Caribbean there are ample opportunities. You could do far worse than start in St Croix in the US Virgin Islands and travel south or west. If you start in St Croix, which the pirates of old used to call Santa Cruz, you will not need a passpert and can take your pets with you, but you will need more ID if you call into foreign islands.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

categories: honeymoon,wedding,marriage,vacation,holiday,recreation,caribbean,USA,travel,happiness,luxury,sea,outdoor,other

Choose Your Wedding Ring Carefully

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

There is a huge number of wedding rings available in the shops these days. In fact, you have the world of wedding rings to pick from. The high street shops in a large town have a very good assortment, but the Internet lays the best jewellers and the best styles out for your inspection.

So, it is very important that you take your time when choosing one. Maybe the enormous choice of wedding rings makes that more difficult not easier. Diamond wedding rings have been the most popular since ordinary working people could afford them, before that a plain band of gold had to suffice, for people who could afford that much.

Nowadays, Western people have become more adventurous and they are choosing other stones like the stunningly beautiful blue sapphire. Some even choosing not to have a stone at all, going back to tradition, so to speak. However, there are plenty of examples of not so plain bands of gold too.

There is the Irish Claddagh ring with its distinctive two hands holding a crowned heart symbolizing love, friendship and loyalty; and there is the Celtic Knot with its intricately interwoven strands twisting and turning without end, symbolizing eternity and eternal love despite the twists and turns and difficulties of daily life.

So, selecting a wedding ring is not just a question of picking a beautiful wedding ring, you should be choosing one that says what you want it to say. You could look up on the Internet what the different metals and various stones indicate traditionally. If you cannot find a ring that says what you want, consider having one made. It is not as expensive as you might think.

Tradition is a good thing when it comes to wedding rings. After all, you want your ring to express your everlasting love and devotion for the person you are giving it to and your marriage could last fifty or sixty years, especially with people living longer these days. With a bit of luck, you will wear this ring for the rest of your life, so pick a style that seems timeless to you.

Picking a wedding ring is not as easy as it looks, because you are going to be wearing your ring every day for the rest of your life, so it should be something that you will not get tired of in a couple years. You should look at and try on many rings in order to get one that feels comfortable. You will want a ring that does not look out of date in ten years time. The simplest way of doing that is to go for a traditional style, because those styles have already stood the test of time.

One last piece of advice is to ask the jeweller to verify the total carat weight of the stones in the ring and the weight of each individual stone and the quality and weight of the metal (although it should be hallmarked) on paper, then if it gets lost or stolen you have something to show the insurance company.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the Celtic knot wedding ring. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

categories: rings,celtic,wedding,gifts,gold,traditions,ireland,britain,history,spirituality,religion,happiness,politics,other

The Virgin Islands Of The USA

Friday, March 26th, 2010

The US Virgin Islands came into America’s possession in 1917 after Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to it for $25m in gold. At the time, the USA was worried that the Germans would gain control of the islands and use them as a base from which to launch attacks on America.

The status of the US Virgin Islands is one of an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. This means the residents of the US Virgin Islands are US citizens, but cannot vote in US presidential elections. Therefore, US citizens do not need a passport to visit the US Virgin Islands.

The US Virgin Islands are part virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward islands of the Lesser Antilles along with the British Virgin Islands. The three main islands of this American territory are called Saint Croix, Saint John and Saint Thomas. There is also a much smaller island called Water Island. All together, there are about 60 islands with a total surface area of 133.73 square miles, although most of the islands are uninhabited.

The four main islands of the US Virgin Islands are known to their residents by nicknames. These are ‘Twin City’ (St. Croix); ‘Rock City’ (St. Thomas); ‘Love City’ (St. John) and ‘Small City’ (Water Island) and their total population was 108,612 in the 2000 census.

Since the 1960’s, the islands turned their focus from agriculture to heavy industry and tourism and the US Virgin Islands are a very popular destination for American tourists and honeymooners. It is very easy for Americans to get there because a passport is not required, the islands are only 1,730 miles east south-east of Miami, the currency is the US dollar and everybody speaks English.

The islands enjoy an arid, pleasant climate. The average temperature in the capital, Charlotte Amelie, is 33c in the summer and 30c in the winter. September to November are the wettest months and February and March are the driest. The USVI are subject to hurricanes. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 was particularly devastating, but the islands were also hit in 1998, 1999 and 2008.

Tourism is the industry that most of the islanders are engaged in and about 2,000,000 people visit every year, many of them on cruise liners. St Thomas and St Croix are the best equipped to deal with tourists offering hotels and resorts along with lovely beaches and fine restaurants. Water sports are the main activity, although tourists can also hire horses or jeeps to discover the interior of the US Virgin Islands.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

categories: honeymoon,wedding,marriage,vacation,holiday,recreation,caribbean,USA,travel,happiness,luxury,sea,outdoor,other

The Growth of California and Gold Fever

Friday, February 26th, 2010

In January 1848, James Marshall was overseeing the building of a saw mill for his boss, when he saw an odd rock glinting in the upturned earth.

He was not sure whether it was gold or not and did not want to get people’s aspirations up. So Marshall attempted to break the yellow rock with a hammer. It did not crack, but it did dent. just like gold would. The woman who was cooking meals for the saw mill construction crew, tried another test by boiling the rock in lye.

They boiled it all day, but it did not change colour. So, they passed the rock over to the mill’s owner, Mr. John Sutter, who also conducted a few tests. In the end, everyone agreed that this rock was indeed gold.

It seems that the Sierra Nevada Mountains held huge hordes of gold, but that over tens of thousands of years, erosion had loosened up gold nuggets and the mountain streams flushed them down to the bottom of the mountains. Sutter’s property was situated between two rivers and so was likely to generate great wealth.

Sutter had plans to build an agricultural empire on his 39,000 acres of land, so he asked his employees to keep quiet about the strike. However, as is to be expected, word got out. Eventually news of the gold strike reached the small town of San Francisco.

There, a newspaper publisher shouted down the streets: “Gold from the American River!” and within three days of the news arriving, 400 of the 600 settlers had set out for Sutter’s land. It was a groundswell and by the end of the year, gold prospectors had traveled to California from as far afield as Mexico and Chile.

When word of the gold strike reached the east coast, President Polk confirmed the finding. It was December 1848 and ‘The Gold Rush’ became a national and even a worldwide phenomenon. The gold prospectors of 1849 and later years became known as forty-niners.

What has to be borne in mind is though, that most people, who came from Canada, Mexico and the eastern United States came by wagon train, as there were not locomotive! This meant a arduous trek of between six and nine months

Nevertheless, at least 32,000 people actually walked to California in 1849, and about 44,000 more got there in 1850. Others, such as South Americans, faced an arduous journey by sea. They suffered storms, shipwrecks, hunger and thirst, disease, and overcrowding and after all that, some still had to face mule rides through jungles and deserts! Still, in under a year, about 40,000 people arrived in San Francisco from abroad.

The new arrivals constituted a dramatic change in California’s population, because in 1848, California had had about 100,000 residents, most of whom were Native Americans, but within two years, the state populace more than doubled but the variety of ethnicity increased tens of times.

Some people found gold and made a lot of money in the Californian riverbeds, but most people did not become rich in the Gold Rush. When gold was found, the hoard was usually cleared quickly. James Marshall had little success as a miner, and he died impoverished. John Sutter, who had once owned 39,000 acres, left California in heavy debt after miners flattened his land.

In fact, it was simpler to make money selling spades and other provisions to the prospectors. Most people lost everything they had, so they stayed to farm the vast expanse called California or to set up businesses. By 1856, San Francisco had a very cosmopolitan population of over 50,000 people and California had become the most exhilarating state in the nation.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with Celtic knot rings. If you have an interest in gold rings, please go to our website now at White Gold Claddagh Ring

Ladies Wide Fitting Shoes - The Workplace Or at Home - Ladies Wide Shoes Are a Must

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Ladies wide fitting shoes are all of the rage since they have stopped just being for comfort but are now also including an element of fashion and style.You will be definite to twist heads wearing these shoes now. We are going to take a peep at ladies wide fitting shoes in this article.

Ladies Wide Fitting Shoes

It does not have a bearing if you are a line of business lady that wants to have comfortable shoes or if you are a stay at home Momma that needs to be able to put up with the children without putting up with foot hurting, ladies wide fitting shoes are a must.

In the situation of being a line of business woman you are most likely on your feet running around a lot. Perhaps you are juggling consultation calls,jet setting or going from conference to summit.

Ladies Wide Fitting Shoes

When you do not take care of your feet by in shoes that fit rightly you can actually make your profession go down hill pretty quickly. Perhaps instead of running to your next convention you would be limping to your next assembly.

Do not feel that you are left out if you are a stay at home Mom. I know how very imperative it is to be physically able to run errands while taking care of the children and not having to worry about painful and aching feet.

You can have very a serious circumstances when your feet begin to hurt. If you have a little one to carry around then you do not want to limp, trip and drop the little one.

You should never put your feet in a “tight condition” when it comes to shoes. You can cause a lot of harm if you continue to crush your feet with shoes that are way too narrow. You have learned that all females with wide feet can benefit from the purchase of ladies wide fitting shoes in this article.

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Ladies Wide Dress Shoes - One Sure Way To Fit Those Wide Feet Into Hot Shoes

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Becoming more and more popular these days are ladies wide dress shoes. Ladies wide dress shoes are the one sure way to fit those wide feet into attractive shoes. In this article we are going to speak a little bit further about these shoes and why they are essential.

Ladies Wide Dress Shoes

If you are not unlike myself then you have been in a store and seen an awesome couple of shoes on display, you have ran over and then tried to cram your foot inside without any success - this is not just a simple bother… it is a crisis!

Maybe those shoes are for your wedding ceremony or a extraordinary date. I know that I unquestionably must have the just the thing duo of shoes to go with my outfit or the full outfit is ruined. It sort of feels like going out half dressed. Who desires to go on a date in their birthday suit?

Ladies Wide Dress Shoes

In recent years not only the females that have had to deal with this predicament have seen the problem, companies have noticed this as well and have started making wide shoes. Ok then what was the difficulty? The difficulty was that scores of of those shoes were less than appealing.

Now there are designers that are making these shoes now and you can attain some wonderful looks at a magnificent price and they will even fit your feet. No, you are not dreaming. Comfort, fit and style all in ladies wide dress shoes.

If you want a sense of style you no longer have to torture your feet for it. What a reprieve is that?

In this article you have learned the cool reality that even ladies with wide feet can attain the look that they want with ladies wide dress shoes. Check out the great styles and enjoy the new found info.

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