Barefoot Holidays

“Recognized worldwide as the ‘Most Romantic Island in the Caribbean,’ Saint Lucia has a natural ambiance for weddings and romance. By providing truly useful information to attendees about destination weddings, the Wedding Symposium builds Saint Lucia’s reputation as a premier location for weddings as well as provides opportunities for our island partners to better understand the market.” Louis Lewis, Director of Tourism, Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia hosted a selection of wedding experts during the third annual “LOVE Elevated” Wedding Symposium which took place from September 23 – 27, 2015. New this year, was a panel of real brides who were married on the island and shared their destination wedding experiences on the island.

Distinguished speakers imparted knowledge on topics ranging from “What’s New and Trending in the Industry,” “Using Social Media to Enhance Destination Weddings and Increase Sales,” to “Why Saint Lucia” and “Surviving a Destination Wedding,” all of which provided insights to planning and hosting the perfect wedding on the island.

Panelists and speakers included:

• Michelle Myers, chief revenue officer and publisher of BRIDES, launched Brides Live Wedding, a crowd sourced, live-streamed wedding curated by Brides, which garnered nearly one billion impressions and enabled her to successfully monetize social media. Prior to Brides, Ms. Myers served as vice president and publisher of Lucky magazine and was the founding publisher of People StyleWatch.
• David Beahm, founder and president of David Beahm Design, has drawn from experience with New York’s top florists and special event designers, as well as formal training in theater, television and grand opera, to become one of New York’s top event designers.  A favorite of celebrities, socialites and the fashion world, his work on Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas’s wedding was featured in magazines and news shows internationally and touted as the “The Wedding of the Century.”  Town & Country magazine has called him “one of New York’s extremely design savvy” talents.  His company, David Beahm Design, produces events the world over.
• Alan Berg has been named “North America’s Leading Expert on the Business of Weddings & Events.” Berg’s experience ranges from publisher of two wedding magazines, to vice president of sales at The Knot, and now, a contributing Education Guru for WeddingWire, the leading wedding technology company. He also speaks and consults for WeddingsOnline in Ireland, Dubai and India, as well as Guides For Brides in the United Kingdom.
• Andrea McDowell, previously a TV director for the BBC, is the founder and managing director of the wedding videography company Shoot it Yourself. The company launched five years ago and is the United Kingdom’s largest wedding videography company, producing over 350 wedding videos a year.

The festivities included site visits to unique wedding destinations and hotels around the island, a showcase of island wedding vendors, and provided an opportunity for attendees to observe a sunset wedding aboard the Pearl Pirate Ship. A picturesque sunset cruise and cocktail reception from the southern side of the island with views of the iconic UNESCO World Heritage Pitons rounded out weekend activities.