Summer is just around the corner and brides across the country are starting to blush and primp and fret about dyed shoes and matching bridesmaid dresses and bow ties.

Wedding season in the islands is starting to heat up as well with an influx of adventurous couples who bring their families or just escape by themselves to St. John for their dream beach ceremony. 

I recently enjoyed a visit from my family. This is the first time they had been down here since my wedding four years ago. My sister and her boyfriend flew in from Seattle a few days before my mother and stepfather arrived from New Jersey - we were all in for a surprise.

The first surprise of the week came when my sister’s boyfriend popped the question. They had been living together for six years, but the news was still a surprise. My sister has always professed a profound aversion to walking down the aisle. I always understood. 

Not being devout in any way, the act doesn’t carry sacramental importance for us. Also, since my sister and I both lack the maternal gene, we have no desire for children, making wedded bliss unnecessary for that arena.

But, alas, love — what more to say? My husband and I were together for almost a decade before we tied the knot — I called our wedding our seven-year itch party. I thought my sister would follow suit, but she beat me by a year. 

After the happy couple shared the news, we all celebrated with a bottle of bubbly and looked forward to telling our parents who were arriving the next day. They too were delighted with the upcoming nuptials — my sister is the last one of the six of us children to get married.

It must have been some time that day that the good-natured ribbing of my sister’s still strong “aversion” to all things wedding started.

She hated the word “fiance,” and “betrothed” didn’t make her feel much better. Her future husband’s hope to host an engagement party back in Seattle was quickly squashed. A planned trip to Germany next fall was certainly not going to be canceled for a walk down the aisle, my sister made that very clear.

A long, and for my sister painful, engagement seemed to loom on the horizon. Not that she wasn’t happy - she is in love and was thrilled to be taking the next step. She just didn’t enjoy the buildup, the expectations, all the stupid questions and the blushing bride-to-be crap.

So the teasing continued. On Wednesday we took the family boating to the British Virgin Islands with Captain Truman on Fly Away Charters.

We started with a beautiful snorkel stop and then made our way to customs and Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke.

We even stapled a shirt to the ceiling of the famous outdoor bar emblazoned with our names and the date, which would quickly gain importance.

A stop in White Bay continued the good cheer and lunch at Taboo kept the vibes going. We were on our way back to St. John when Truman told me that he was a licensed wedding officiant.

“Well, isn’t that just perfect,” I thought and I leaned over to tell my sister. 

Within a few minutes the vessel was pulled up to a cay just off St. John and we were all swimming to this tiny spit of sand. My mother could hardly believe it, but the rum drinks at Soggy Dollar Bar had made her agreeable to anything at that point.

We found a heart-shaped rock, Truman said a few meaningful words, the couple kissed and fell into the water. I made a short toast, the rum bottle was passed around and we all cheered.

The day was perfect, the water was clear and calm and most importantly, my sister was no longer worried about what to call her beloved. 

Now he was her husband. They are still going to throw a big party in the states with all of their many family members and friends, but it seemed like the simple act of professing their love on a sandy spit in the Caribbean took all the pressure away.

Theirs was a pirate wedding. It was the perfect antidote to matching bridesmaid dresses, bachelorette parties in Vegas and mashing cake in each other’s faces.

 

To plan your own pirate wedding in the islands, book a villa on St. John or St. Thomas as a base. Every pirate needs a base, so why not make it the luxurious Blue Palm Villa in Coral Bay or something on the larger island of St. Thomas. Many charter boats cruise the BVIs and off-shore cays around St. John and St. Thomas. To book Blue Palm Villa check out bluepalmvilla.com.

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