St. Thomas Wedding Photographer | Pretty Klip Point St. Thomas | Sapphire Beach Wedding USVI
Patrice & Devin’s Caribbean elopement was full of twists and turns…but in the end, their Pretty Klip Point and Sapphire Beach wedding on St Thomas’ Sapphire Beach was beautiful, and full of joy and laughter!
Patrice & Devin’s Caribbean Destination Wedding
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands is my part-time home as a destination wedding photographer—and its beauty is exactly why Patrice and Devin decided to elope here.
For those wanting tropical blue waters, rainforests, and the island spirit, the US Virgin Islands is the place to be. I used to live here full-time, photographing intimate weddings and destination elopements on St. Thomas and St. John. Now, I go back and forth for clients, in between photographing larger weddings and adventure elopements on the mainland, Hawaii, other islands, and internationally.
Are these two not just pure delight?!
Patrice and Devin decided to tie the knot post-pandemic (er, IS there such a thing as post-pandemic since it’s still happening?!), and found me through their wedding planner, Island Bliss Weddings. They wanted to elope just for themselves, and didn’t want a huge crowd or a lot of fuss.
Hence, eloping in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
A US Virgin Islands Wedding
I certainly love photographing weddings at Pretty Klip Point (a jutting-off section lined with palm trees off of Sapphire Beach), but it wasn’t the original plan. In fact, these two planned to fly in from Maryland and asked me to help them choose where to get married.
I originally chose Lindquist Beach for their US Virgin Islands wedding, which is probably my favorite spot to photograph weddings on St. Thomas. Unfortunately, Lindquist wasn’t meant to be.
As I mentioned, Devin and Patrice didn’t have the easiest time with their elopement plans. Changes in coordinating, guests, surprise covid tests at the airport, marriage certificate misfilings, and more seemed to thwart their every plan. It was just days before that they knew they were coming to the islands.
On the day of, it seemed more obstacles were thrown their way! We started out with a lovely, calm morning at Diamond Villa, a beautiful USVI rental overlooking the blue ocean waters. Diamond Villa has multiple apartments for rent, a private gate, a pool, a garden, and awesome views of the southern side of the island, but is quite peaceful and lovely. You can look out to see Frenchman’s Reef and Morningstar Cove, two popular St. Thomas hotels. But up here, it’s super quiet—the perfect place to get ready.
Patrice had hair and makeup done, and showed off her tiny bachelorette party feathered bridal robe outfit—ooh la la! Then I photographed them getting ready—included Devin putting the finishing touches on his elegant white tuxedo. Who doesn’t love a white groom’s suit? But God bless a man for wearing a 3-piece suit of any color in the Caribbean sun!
After their first look, Patrice’s sister joined us and we went to Lindquist Beach. Everything had been set up for them beautifully, but there was a problem: Seaweed had invaded the beach overnight, and the brown stuff was many feet deep and wide, covering most of the beach. It was a no-go. So the coordinators took everything down. I transported the cakes, and we made our way over to Sapphire Beach. Talk about a last-minute change!
Sapphire Beach St. Thomas Wedding – A Last-Minute Venue Change
Sapphire Beach is another favorite wedding beach of mine, mainly because the views are great, the water has several shades of aqua, the snorkeling is awesome, and Pretty Klip Point is here.
It took some time for the coordinators to set up the awesome circle arch and flowers, and everyone had to switch places—which meant my old pal and coworker Andrew officiated (and I photographed his first-ever officiated wedding on St. John back in 2015!).
Patrice, Devin, and I took some fun wedding portraits while he was getting ready, and then it was time for their intimate wedding on Sapphire Beach. They had a gorgeous cake, a beautiful arch with the blue Caribbean sea behind them, and peach + white rose sprays decorating it all. SO picture-perfect.
Their vows were simple, because like many, they preferred to just say “I do” and leave the talking to the officiant. They did a unity sand ceremony with pink, blue, and Sapphire Beach sand, and then had their first kiss as wife and husband! We did cake cutting, rose petal throwing, and some photos with their only other witness—Patrice’s sister (I was their photographer and witness).
Pretty Klip Point St. Thomas
Pretty Klip Point at Sapphire Beach is a pretty area that’s essentially a palm-lined walkway lined with sea flowers and rocks, with views of all the uninhabited islands (and even some of St. John). It used to be really spectacular before Hurricane Maria destroyed a lot of the flora. It’s still lovely, and is quickly regrowing. That said, Pretty Klip Point weddings are AWESOME for about 25 guests and under, because it’s a super unique, beautiful spot for saying vows close to the ocean but without the sand.
It’s also great for wedding portraits, and with their elopement all done, Patrice and Devin ran here and there all around Pretty Klip. There are some particularly great views one can get, and with all the stress over, they laughed and were utterly joyful in their photos. The USVI is so popular for elopements because, I mean, look at this place.
A Sapphire Beach Wedding or a Pretty Klip Point Wedding?
Both are awesome, and both generally cost $100 – $250 for the site fee, depending on the number of guests. If you have a local wedding planner (highly recommended, as they know all the vendors), you can get it included in your elopement package. Or, do what these two did, and have both options for photos!
Devin & Patrice’s USVI wedding may not have had the smoothest sailing, but all’s well that ends well, right? What’s important is that they had the elopement THEY wanted, and got amazing photos of their day. They were a darn photogenic couple, and I loved capturing their memories.~
Kathryn Cooper Weddings: Creative Wedding Photographer & Destination Wedding Photographer
Sapphire Beach St. Thomas Wedding | US Virgin Islands Elopement Photographer | Pretty Klip Point
Love all of the colors and the way you captured their day! Absolutely gorgeous!