stthomassoontobe

Hi! I am trying to plan our wedding for May 2007 in St. Thomas. We are looking for a villa that is on the beach (preferably!) and is fairly private. We will have 12 people including us. We want to be married at the villa or on the beach. We are hoping to spend about $100 per person/night. Any suggestions?

Carrybean

Do you mean a villa that will sleep 12? You can rent condos here & they will help arrange weddings. Check this out & then expand on what you're looking for:

http://www.secretharbourvi.com/

Carrybean

http://www.weddingstheislandway.com/

Carrybean

I've been by this place & it's beautiful & should be within your price range if you mean $1200.00/night for all 12 of you.

http://www.vrbo.com/30754

Tuxedocat

There are a lot of huge, gorgeous private villas for rent on St. Thomas. Just check out some of the websites like www.caribbeandays.com or www.caribbeanvillas.com to name only 2. If you search under St. Thomas USVI villa rental, you'll come up with a whole slew of sites to look at. A large villa may run anywhere between $5-10 grand per week and up. But with 12 people, that could work out to less than $100/pp per night. If I come across anything interesting, I'll post again.

Tuxedocat

I'm such a curious minded VI afficionado, I had to take a look myself. Carrybean's suggestion of vrbo.com is excellent for an overview of your options. IMO, if you really want the experience of a private villa and want to be mindful of costs, I'd keep an open mind about the proximity to the beach thing. There are some very nice villas at a really reasonable price which are not on the beach but are either a short walk or a quick drive to a beautiful beach. If you do want to have the all out experience, look at Sand Dollar villa. It is a bit pricier, but you can't beat the villa for amenities and its own white sand beach. Congrats and good luck on planning your wonderful wedding. IMO, you've made an excellent choice because St. Thomas is underrated by many. It's beautiful, easy to get to, offers a wide range of accomodations, and is the gateway to the rest of the Virgin Islands. The negatives said about it, IMO, are said by folks who have only swayed by the commercialization of Charlotte Amalie and its inevitable urbanesque issues. The island on the whole is so much more than that and wonderful.

stthomassoontobe

Thanks for the info!

Tuxedocat...I checked vrbo.com and I found a villa called Villa De La Vista that looks beautiful and inexpensive, but can't seem to get a hold of anyone via email or phone. Any suggestions? Have you heard of this villa?

Thanks again! I need all the help I can get!! I've been online every night for weeks now trying to make a decision!

Tuxedocat

That villa does look wonderful. Did you try to reach the owner's website directly? If you look at the vrbo listing, it has a place where you can click into the owner's site which has even more detailed information including the owner's email. I would also just wait a bit. You never know what keeps people from answering right away. Good luck. A final thought, if you are dealing with the owner directly, you need to make sure all of your questions are satisfactorily answered. e.g. What the neighborhood is like, what security is like, how far is it from stores,etc., who do you call if there are any issues... Also, if you are planning to have the wedding with just the 12 of you, you might consider either not mentioning you're having a wedding or assure the owner that it is just the 12 of you, lovely respectful people. Some folks get freaked out (understandably) and may insist on charging you extra for a wedding because additional guests and activities can increase use of utilities and wear and tear on the property.

waring

Contact:

[email protected]

www.elegantweddingsandevents.com

She will help you out in every way.

Carrybean

Try to contact them again, stthomassoontobe. The phones on the south side of the island were out for almost 3 days but are up & running again.