St. Barths Recap

Last weekend I traveled to St. Barth's for my aunt's wedding, and it was truly the most beautiful weekend. The trip had been planned for about a year, and I am so grateful that my family and I were able to make the trip down to the island and back safely and without a hitch! I left on Thursday the 20th and while it was a quick trip, it was truly the most beautiful few days, and I would be completely remiss not to share it with all of you.

(everything I wore linked at the bottom of the post)

THURSDAY

Thursday was quite a long day for me! My journey to St. Barths started around 4AM. Everything went smoothly with my flight, which was direct from JFK to St Marten, and then my family’s flights all landed at similar times, so we could meet up at the airport to head to St. Barths.

If you’re unfamiliar, you can’t fly directly into St. Barths from the states. You have to fly into St. Marten and then take either a ferry or a tiny plane over to the island. My family opted for the ferry, and it’s about an hour ride. I almost wished we’d taken the plane to save time (the flight is only 10-15 minutes), but it was so cool to see the outline of the island and spend a little time on a boat. I was completely taken aback by all of the yachts when you come in!

Upon arrival, my cousins, brother, and I grabbed a taxi to take us up to our villa that my dad rented for the weekend via VRBO. Our villa was absolutely insane— coolest views ever, but literally at the top of a mountain, making it difficult to find, and not like a walkable place into town. 

Fortunately, we had a rental car the rest of the weekend, and eventually got ATV’s too, which are totally the way to go. The island is definitely bigger than I thought, so having transportation is crucial. We took taxis at night when we were all drinking and everything, but you really have to plan ahead for a car to come to get you, so it was nice during the day to be able to go where we wanted on our own terms.

By the time the ferry arrived in St. Barths and the taxi eventually found our villa, we needed to quickly get ready for the welcome party with everyone attending the wedding! The welcome party was at the Hotel Christopher by their pool on the ocean, and it was beautiful. It was so fun to see everyone and start celebrating. I wore a Roller Rabbit dress that I bought in Southampton over Labor Day, so unfortunately I can’t link it, but I’d say it was the perfect dress for a poolside soiree.

 

FRIDAY

Friday was a really fun day. We started off the morning by just enjoying our pool at our villa, before getting dressed to head to the church for the rehearsal. The church was on the other side of the island, so we all got in the car and got to really see the island for the first time during the daylight on our trip over.

After the rehearsal, we headed around that neighborhood to Shell Beach and had lunch at Shellona, a super vibey restaurant right on the beach. The food and cocktails were amazing- I had Mahi tacos and a Pina colada! After we ate we hung out at the beach and swam and snorkeled.

 

Eventually, we came back to our villa where I had about 10 mins left of golden hour to get ready before the sunset. I quickly threw on *THE* dress and snapped the below photo. Pic of the weekend dare I say!

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner at Le Tamarin- which was truly breathtaking. The restaurant is in a huge garden/jungle with string lights everywhere. It was beautiful, and again, everything was delicious.

SATURDAY

Saturday was the wedding day!! It was truly a beautiful day. St. Barths is already gorgeous but there was just something special in the air on Saturday that made the whole day magical from start to finish!

Since I was a bridesmaid and my aunt the maid of honor, my brother dropped the two of us off at Le Carl Gustaf hotel where my aunt was staying, to get ready. The other bridesmaids came over as well and we all drank champagne and did our hair and makeup throughout the morning. The wedding was at 3 in the afternoon, so around 2 we started to take photos at the hotel before heading to the church down the hill.

The wedding itself was beautiful. The church was decorated with flowers, and since it was an island wedding, everyone looked amazing in the bright colors and fabulous outfits. The wedding party itself was all-white, which was so chic.

 

My aunt’s dress was so unique and perfect for the venue. It was so feathery and a little sparkly. All of the walls were opened up with like plantation-style shutters at the church which made her veil just blow gently with the breeze, and it was beautiful!

The reception was at Fouquet’s at Le Carl and was so much fun. All around it was a fun, beautiful weekend— Kelli and Luke are so easy to celebrate and it was such a treat to be in St. Barths with them, our family, and many of their closest friends.

SUNDAY

On Sunday we all had to take our Covid tests because we were leaving the next day, so that was a huge ordeal that took up most of our morning. After that, my brother and my cousin ben and I went for an ATV ride around the island to Colombier to see the most amazing view. It was soo fun having the ATV's!

Sunday afternoon we took the ATVs down to Nikki beach and pretty much just partied on the beach all day... it was very fun and great people-watching. I was just in awe of the beach club life at both Nikki Beach and Shellona. Think methuselahs of rose, Europeans, and a lot of designer flip flops. The water in St. Barths is so blue and it felt amazing to jump in the ocean as well, as it always does!

Eventually, I went home looking like a poodle from all the saltwater and threw on a pink slip dress from Zara for dinner. We ventured to another side of the island and had dinner, but I can’t remember what the place was called.

MONDAY

Monday was our return travel day. We took the ferry back to St Marten, had lunch at an adorable local spot on the water, and then ventured to the airport to say our goodbyes! 

My flight ended up being delayed and canceled and I got home at 1AM instead of 7PM, but I really can’t complain- I just feel so lucky that I got to go to the wedding and the island in the first place!

xoxo