My daughter is looking to get married in December on St. Thomas, so guests don't need to get a passport. She is looking at Bolongo Bay or Emerald Beach? SHe wants a reasonably priced resort on a beautiful beach for the guests to enjoy. She might ferry to St. John for the wedding itself, but wants a nice resort, with activities for the guests to enjoy for 4-5 days. Any advice, or suggestions? Thank you

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Frenchman's Reef Marriott St Thomas older but nice.

For best St Thomas Beach magenspoint.com my fav

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yards walk to the beach... would make a wonderful

budget place to wed.

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hi dhalstead, welcome to fodors & congratulations.
a resort with lots to do would be wyndham sugar bay. nice hotel, great pool area next to their beach with restaurant, grill & a full service bar. my best friend's daughter was married there a few yrs ago. sugar bay arranged a nice wedding on the beach and fun reception on one of their porches, with drinks & hot buffet & music. the resort offers snorkeling, a few casino machines, parasailing, kayaks, jet skies. this resort is all inclusive. rooms are hotel style.

my favorite resort on st. thomas is secret harbour beach resort. a lovely peaceful oasis on an otherwise busy island. their picturesque beach is outstanding with enough shade, sandy gradual entrance & the best snorkeling we found on the island. they have an onsite dive shop but no other activities.
i hosted a shower for the wedding couple on the shbr beach. i ordered my food from the on site restaurant - the blue moon cafe - which was nicely presented and very tasty. not to upstage the wedding cake i asked their baker to make choc & white cupcakes with buttercream frosting. i wanna tell you those were the best cupcakes i've ever eaten! (it was better than the real cake - i have no way of knowing if that baker is still there) all the rooms are condo style with studios to 2 bedroom. these are big units with plenty of room, kitchen in each and each has a large deck or patio. the blue moon cafe is known as one of best on island & they have a small but very fun beachbar on a nice stone patio.
shbr would be my first choice unless i could afford the ritz.

i would never choose the marriott as it's to "hotely" with no island vibe & too close to town.
bolongo is a fun place, but while i've not spent much time there, seems like it might be too young/party place of a vibe - your daughter might like it while her grandparents might not.
sugar bay & secret harbour are both fairly close to red hook where the ferry to st. john goes from. ferry takes 20 mins. from marriott guests could take marriott's ferry into town then take reg ferry to st. john - which takes 45 mins. from bolongo drive 25 mins to town (charlotte amalie) then catch the ferry.
while a wedding on st. john might sound nice, the logistics of getting all your guests to a separate island & then onto transportation to wedding site & back could be a nightmare. not to mention some may wish to "party" much longer than others - then you've got some ppl safely back to their resort & others still on st. john.
as qwovadis mentioned magens bay beach is gorgeous but again you're transporting everyone back & forth.
perhaps those who wish to see st. john could go over on their own on one of the none wedding days.
if guests want to explore st. thomas they will probably need to rent cars from any of these resort locations. taxis are available but not cheap. i think sugar bay has vans to move ppl around i'm but not sure.
perhaps the ladies could set up a shopping/lunch excursion into charlotte amalie to check out all the duty free goods.
the restaurant at the marriott - havana blue - is outstanding. gorgeous venue with excellent food. very romantic!!! perfect if you get a table at sunset. quite pricey.
fyi - please insist "the kids" use extra common sense re bachelor/bachelorette gatherings. going into charlotte amalie at night to bar hop is not a really safe choice. if you stay near red hook there are several smaller bars in walking distance of each other that might work. boys could go to one while the girls try another, then could hopefully all return to your resort together.

I think Frenchman's Cove would be you best choice. Yes, it is large but if you have 20+ people you can get to the hotel manager via email before hand, even though you may work with the gruop sales office for a discount if Kayak or others do not get you a lower price, and let him/her know you have heard mixed reaction from former guests but that here are the guests names and you hold him/her responsible for everything goibng :right". Then upon arrivakl, preferably a day before see him with a $100 bill , I know this sound tacky but it works, and tell him/her there is another $100 when you leave if everything goes well. Give him/her once again a list of the guests and if group sales has given you room numbers, you can push for this 48 hours in advance at such a largew hotel. put those on the list you give him/her. Also, give him/her the name of your contact in group sales.This is too important a day amd too expensive an investment by you and the guests for much to go wrong. It's the best $200 you will spend. I have done it twice and friends have and though nothing is fool proof you have the upper hand.
As for a wedding service the above comment is correct that to get everyone over on the ferry to St. john and then taxi's to Caneel which is simply beautiful or the Westin which is in my opinion a bit tacky (it's now really now a hotel/timeshare/condo operation has many opportunities for things to not go smoothly. If the total group were 6-10 then it could be done but if its 15+ I would not chance it.
As for a honewymoon, 5-6 nights at Caneel Bay Resort in the Hawks Nest section (request upper level-end unit if poosible) or for a little bit more Scott Beach rooms (they are on one level-ask for an end unit. The place is magnificant the staff is generally friendly and the good which used to be gourmet is now up and down but still quite good. But you can take the MAP meal plan for a few days and then if you want go off it and eat dinner in Cruz Bay, a $8-10 taxi (open joint affair)just 15-20 minutes from the resort.Caneel is pricey but magical.
Good Luck.

What about Sapphire or Emerald Bay? Is anyone familiar with those?