The Bag

Carib Creations custom makes clothes and other items in their shop here in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize. They have a large assortment of fabrics to chose from, or let them pick one for you from afar! They can make you a simple drawstring tote thats perfect for tossing assorted items in when cruising, biking, snorkeling, or even hiking. You can even have each bag monogrammed or embroidered with your names and wedding date as well!

The Contents
belize luxury chocolate

Perfect Wedding Favor for your guests

Ambergris Caye Belize Chocolate

2) Hot Sauce – Marie Sharps is some smokin’ hot stuff Everyone, for some reason, just love hot sauce. Its a staple in every kitchen, even in the US and Canada, not just Belize! Marie Sharps makes several varieties, from just wee bit of kick, to super-duper-burn-your-mouth-off stuff.

3) Belikin Item – you dont know it yet, but you or your fiance are about to become obsessed. Belikin is the official beer of Belize, and is one of the only beers you can get, and it has gained almost cult following. A bottle opener is a very handy and necessary item in a bag, and if it has Belikin on it, your guests will keep it for ages as a momento.

4) Neoprene Coozie Cup – It is the Caribbean, after all, and our little island does get HOT HOT HOT! Your beer will get warm fast, and the ice in your cocktail will melt and water it down. Carib Creations has come up with a very eco-friendly solution! Using recycled neoprene wet suits, they can embroider your wedding dates and the name of your guest on the Coozie! Personalized wedding favors…it doesnt get any better!

5) Sunblock – You’ll need it, for sure! I highly recommend and earnestly request you find a biodegradable kind. While harder to find, and more expensive, our very sensitive Barrier Reef System that will bring you so much joy, is damaged when the sunblock washes off as you snorkel about. A biodegradable option makes fish happier

6) Eco-Friendly Insect Repellent – we have bugs sometimes. Mosquitoes (mozzies as we call them) are a terror sometimes, but a little bug spray goes a long way! Make sure to use one that also repels no-see-ums (sand flies).

7) Lip Balm with sunblock. Lips get sunburned too!

Thank You Card – Although it might not make it in the gift bag, how about getting a shot like this done just as soon as you arrive (maybe not in the dress) and you can have them printed here on the Island and give them out while you are still here! It also would make a great “thank you” to the hotel staff, tour operators, etc that you work with. We really do get connected to the people that come spend time with us in our lives!

9) Jewelry – The La Isla Bonita has a number of people that sell hand made jewelry. Alex, on the left here, is a DOLL of a kid, and he sells his mothers hand made beaded jewelry after school. Although he looks like a wee pup, he’s actually 13 years old, so its a great after school job! We can hand pick some very simple designs that you’re guests will love!

10) Donation Card for the Belize Zoo – For a little “give back” how about making a donation to the Belize Zoo or the San Pedro Humane Society, SAGA in the honor of your nuptials, and your guests! Animals love love too!

You begin to walk toward him….and…

ICK

If you havent thought more about your dress than some fairy tale beach wedding with your dress flowing and whispy, then you might just be very sorry.

Truth is, Destination Weddings are in tropical locations 60% of the time. Here in Belize, we’ve seen our fair share, and it’s something we love above all things (aside from our Barrier Reef…we really really love that, but I digress). And sadly, I watch some women simply ruin their own wedding day because they never really thought about the dress.

When I was a destination bride, I hadnt really thought about the destination. I knew it was going to be warm (yes, I too married in tropics ), and I assumed a certain amount of humidity, but I hadnt counted on how much time I would actually be outside. In the tropics, everything is outside. It’s why we live here. But, that also means less air conditioning…which meant my lovely sheath dress, with its tiny straps, made me wanna melt. It had a polyesther lining. Now, I’d know to cut that lining out.

The Fabric

First of all, it’s hot here. And, since it’s the tropics, it’s also humid. Although many destination wedding dresses are made of material that drapes and flows, that material isn’t going to breathe very well. It is not something you are going to want to dance in after the ceremony.

Alaina www.lockhartsweddings.com, and I were talking about destination wedding dresses. It is surprising how few destination wedding dresses actually have the destination in mind! Although they are hard to find, do your best to find something made of natural fibers. Even if the bottom is made of synthetic, if you can find something with cotton or some blend of cotton on top. It’s your back and chest that are going to sweat the most.

If something with natural fibers is not available, go for as few layers of fabric as possible. The chiffon overlay should have the slightest of underlayer. Ideally, find a dress you love, have the lining removed, and by yourself something newer (and sexier) to wear underneath.

I also highly recommend (and not just ’cause it’s my company ) you get a Bridal Bikini. Lemon Crush Belize bikini’s are all hand made, one of a kind pieces using antique and vintage costume jewelry www.lemoncrushbelize.com. After the ceremony, go make a change Put on your LCB bikini top, and a fantastic pair of LCB wrap pants, or a skirt of your choosing, pair of footless sandals, and you’ve got yourself the outfit you can dance, hang with your friends and family, new and old, and enjoy the Destination part of your wedding!

Fit

Fit…you hear a lot about fit. It’s really so important. Forget about whether you look good or not, if that dress does not fit the destination you’ve got a problem. Every girl has had her dream dress, whether Princess or Mermaid, Ball gown or Short, you’ve got a picture in your head. Great. Now…add tropical breezes, sand, and sea to the mix when considering your dress. If you want good pictures, which of course you do, you need to be able to move around in your dress, and have it look good…in bare feet.

At Hidden Valley Inn, www.hiddenvalleyinn.com, you can get married by a waterfall. AMAZINGLY SPECTACULAR waterfall. That you have to hike to. It’s not a bad hike, more of a walk, really. Through the jungle path thats been cut out. And over a wooden foot bridge. Its completely worth the trek, honestly, but you do not want to hike in a dress. You want to be able to get it on and off in a clearing in the jungle. TOTALLY cool thing, by the way, but would you really wanna lug around a Princess Ball Gown? They had a bride who did the hike back in her gown…she said she bought the thing, and was gonna wear it for the rest of the day. Right On, Sister!

Final note on fit- do note that if you are getting married on the beach, you might just want to be able to kick your shoes off and limbo on the beach at your wedding. When speaking to your Bridal Consultant at the Bridal Shop you are using, make sure to mention this point. It will help them measure the length of your dress, and might actually help you with a lower pair of heels so that you wont have much difference.

Whatever kind of dress you chose, so long as you love it, it will be perfect. We have the team down here to help you if there are emergencies, and to help make your dream wedding just as you’ve dreamed it. If there is a problem… broken zipper or missing hem, wrinkled mess, etc, we’ll help you through it. No worries

I feel like i have two children. LCB and RTAB. LCB was in need of a ton of attention, and i had to take her to Vegas. That was a tough but fruitful trip. So, then i came home, knowing i would have to pay attention to RTAB.

And thats where i’ve been the last few months. And then i got an email from Vertical Fitness Dance, www.verticalfitnessdance.com, the premier Pole Dancing Fitness center. I called owner, Lorraine, and found an awesome spirit on the other end. She had purchased a Lemon Crush Belize suit when on a visit to Las Vegas www.strings.com. We got to talking, and realized that there is a very real opportunity in the competitive Pole Dancing Market for my suits. Alaina and Sue from Maggie Sottero boxed up what they had, and shipped them to Lorraine.

I am proud to say we got our first custom order today

I’d been wondering about LCB. Wondering where my focus should be. It seems she answered me, as she always does, with great big stamps of her feet, demanding my attention. Between the order from Lorraine, RTAB’s opportunity to get its members (LCB is a member of course) in The Knot and on www.theknot.com for $403 each member and the need for a great photo of the new line for that, and Bob The Parrot coming from WSEE www.onecaribbeanweather.com coming for Lobster Fest, i have to make suits!!!!

There is clearly opportunity for LCB. I am clearly onto something, and i’m clearly able to find the r,ight path for myself….just need to find a way to balance it all. Its new, after all. After four years of doing nothing…to find myself smack dab in the middle of ground zero.

I was talking to TP, a friend on the island. We were both very aware of the energy around right now, and i said i feel like there is this huge hurricane of energy around it, its not bad, but its strong and its good. She said “And you are standing in the middle of it, with a tornado of fire above your head! The Princess of the Hurricane!!!”

Yip, that just about sums up how i feel too.

the suits finally arrived in miami! she loved the patterned blue ones and was soo happy! apparently USPS was a little….off track with these suits… only seems fitting doesnt it? considering what it took to get them to her.

Working on continuing the rebuild of lemoncrushbelize.com. in looking at it, in working it, and watching LCB grow and change, the site doenst do what i want it to do. It did a good job at first of sorta telling the story of LCB, but it wasnt doing a great job of helping me sell LCB suits. I am trying to build a symbiotic relationship with the retailers wherein i help them sell my suits in a web way

I made a contact today with a head of a company that owns some pretty good websites, and also a publishing company that publishes over 50% of all bridal books. So thats a good thing.

The better thing is i convinced him he should come to belize. he did the traditional “Belize? where is that?” (we have TShirts in town with that phrase on it we hear it so much). Anyway, i start to tell him about Belize… i want him to come here, see what we see, experience what we experience, in exchange for ad space and a whole host of other stuff that will be great for the island.

So anyway, as i’m talking to him, he is asking about what to do with kids, is it safe, etc. I tell him the truth….kids play here the way we did…”go outside and play and i dont want to see you ’til dinner”. A place where we all know the children here, and they know us…and we know their MOTHERS. There are always eyes on the children of San Pedro.

He then tells me that he, his wife and three children were planning to go to Puerto Rico on April 2, but he was going to ask her if she would like to come to Belize instead This is a VERY VERY good thing for RTAB members and the island as a whole. I’m very hopeful he can convince his wife that Belize is a much better choice

In other news, the 2010 LCB line is making the rounds in Canada with the amazing Ms Sue, who also reps Maggie Sottero Bridal. Building a little business sure does require a ton of amazingly talented people!

it’s friday afternoon going into friday night, and i have had so much wonderful stuff going on at one time…and due to some late breaking fantastic wonderfully liberating phone call today, i’m even better!. Finish the day with a friend who is here, cocktails being shared with island friends, birthdays that are being celebrated, dinners that will be eaten…..and y notice that all seems right with the world

gulp! ;p

click the link below to listen.  My part comes on about 15 minutes in, following Marie’s introduction, and a really interesting bridal make up update from www.cheecktochic.com   Its quite interesting, and i am actually followed by Holly from Cotton Tree Lodge near Punta Gorda, Belize.  Very excited to work with them

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/marieomara/2010/03/23/honeymoon-trends

In other news, I’m also working on guest blogging for www.honeymoons.com blog.

the new line will be posted shortly

It’s been very interesting to me to watch how the two, very distinct, businesses support each other.   Romantic Travel Association of Belize came about purely out of need to market Lemon Crush Belize, and i simply knew that more can do more.  I see LCB as a client of RTAB, and there are two distinct ‘voices’ in my head.   I hadnt realized how much so until i did the interview today.   I kept going through the  members in my head to make sure everyone got some mention.   It was so much fun.  I just love having a brain again

was able to give a shout out to each of my stores, Amethyst Coutour, Strings Las Vegas, the Palm Springs Riviera Hotel, Lockharts Wedding and Special Occassion, and Moondancer.

well, much to do, so off i go!

Vegas was a tough town to sell in. Not because people werent nice, they were. not because its a pain in the ass to drive around in, it is. but because its a very very strange town. There are no boutiques. there is no quaint area where the locals would shop and buy nice things for themselves. I once asked someone “where do the rich people live”. They buy on the “strip” too. All chain stores, nothing really truly unique.

Until i found Strings Boutique, of course. Cori the owner has her own drummer in her head. Great sexy shop. she also makes and alters the suits for all the casino pool areas. www.stringsvegas.com. just cool peeps.

The week was HARD. Its hard to cold call, but its like learning something along the way with this business. each time i learn more, something happens, and i know to keep on going. Not only was i able to sell suits in vegas, i was also able to get an appointment with Assistand Buyer at the Wynn Hotel. www.wynnlasvegas.com check out the shopping section the website. I didnt get to meet with the head buyer, Todd, as he was in Paris, for Fashion Week. It was an amazing opportunity to meet with Alex, and i cant wait to see where that relationship will lead.

Alaina introduced me to an amazing woman, Sue, who is the Canadian national sales rep for Maggie Sottero www.maggiesottero.com. She loved my suits, and offered to take them on the road with her. So, basically, I have a canadian national sales rep now, helping sell Lemon Crush Belize bridal swimwear to the most discerning brides in Canada.

A couple other really cool things happened while I was there regarding the business, but i’m gonna keep that under my hat for now

Alaina and i did finally get to relax on Friday evening, where we drank like fools in our hotel. Oh dear american beer, how i love thee. Then on Saturday we treated ourselves to a bit of bargain hunting, and then saw Le Reve that night. It was lovely. A true inspiration of the human body, and a beautiful feast for the eyes. We drank at the bar in the Wynn and people watched. For a long time…

And as always, as lovely a time i had, as wodnerful to spend time with alaina, as thrilled as i was to be able to add Las Vegas to the elite places where you can buy my swimwear, it is good to be home

Now, i’ve got to get to work, and figure out where the next trip is going to be to Alaina, NYC seemed to keep on hittin the radar this week…….

ah, the great box debacle. With one month notice, i was assured my boxes would be done. I phoned the guy, who i was giving a third chance to, two weeks in, and he told me he was going to get in touch with his worker and make sure they were getting done. never heard from that box guy again (again).

the thing about this process i’m going through with building these businesses that i actually love is the learning. I love learning again. I love that i CAN learn again, and i love that i can HANDLE stuff again. I love that i’m back to being as competent as i used to be….back when i was that other person…with an office and a car. As competent, but not the same, and thats good.

What i relearned with the box guy is one of the most basic HR lessons i learned when i was cutting my teeth on the employee handbook of corporate life. There are “ass biters” in this world. These are the people that as a manager or supervisor you would give them “just one more chance” because you genuinely thought the person was a good person. When you find yourself with teeth marks on your ass, the only question in your mind should be “how many marks” because the fact that it happened at all is your own damn fault for giving them a chance when you really knew you shouldnt. But you just, wanted to be nice to someone.

Box Man bit my ass pretty hard. And the lesson to be learned is one that i am learning in this current growth spurt, and through its complimentary pains.

The first incantation of LCB was my debut, so to speak, and while i really had hoped to work with the “little guy” on a lot of things, had hoped to find people that would grow with me. I hoped to take some guy (have had 7 attempts at finding someone) to truly help them build a small business with me. Its a shame. I pay a good penny for those boxes, and someone would eventually have a nice basic living wage just off them. Sadly, i cant find anyone who is able to do it. Granielles might just have to pull me outta this one. Didnt have a great experience at ALL with them when i first moved here, and i had hoped to avoid them altogether. I’ve been told that the store is much worse than the cabinet shop. They truly were a pleasure as i got pieces of wood cut today for box man number 7 to try to salvage from what boxman number 6 had started. havent been able to get a hold of boxman 7 all day, drove by his house he’s not home. so, boxman 8 will have to be granielles, and they are going to have to make, stain, vanish and DRY 10 boxes in 4 days. Its possible, but its gonna cost me. UGH!

Poor Aida received the wrong fabric from chetumal, so it had to go back. she got me some LCB wrap pants though! So tonight, i will begin sewing the first of the OFFICIAL LCB WEAR!!!!!!!!!! YAY!

did i mention its tuesday?

Its been a slogging through this weekend, with my friend Barry Bowens’ passing. It sorta derailed me a bit as well, but i’m very grateful to be in a place that even with all the stressors of going away for a week (dog, cat, travel) and two businesses launching simultaneously, and a plane crash death of a true friend (i have a lousy track record with pilots in my life). I am proud to say that i’m holding it together, i’m gettin’ ‘er done, and i’m gonna somehow pull yet another rabbit outta my ass. its what i do

i’m maintaining my balance despite the chaos. its very exciting

seems i’m growing two businesses at the same exact time.  RTAB is doing what i intended it to do: Become the marketing machine behind LCB.  I’ve gotten3 paying members, and waiting for confirmation from a fourth.  The members i’ve approached, i’ve approached because i believe them to be the best of the best at running an actual BUSINESS on the island.  I cannot say how honored and humbled that they would consider working with me.   The website is up and running, but as with most things with me, nothing stays small for long.

Bigger scales, smaller fulcrum.

LCB is miraculously nearly completed making suits, new stressor:  no way to get them to me.  Worst case scenario, i get them shipped directly to the hotel in vegas, and i start sewing the minute i get there.  not ideal, but not the end of the universe as i know it.

Carib Creations is on board now.  Aida is making Lemon Crush Belize wrap pants and dresses that i’ll embellish as well.  Perfect cover ups for the bride

Carole Goodreau Esthetics www.cgesthetic.com is making Bridal Barefoot Sandals for market under the LCB label as well.  These are also one of a kind hand made items that really are perfect for the bride.

Still slightly concerned about getting the boxes in time…thats the one thing i’m still waiting to hear about.  I spoke to the box man, but i dunno…this bits making me a wee  bit noivous…

RTAB is going to be advertising on www.honeymoons.com, so i’m excited about that exposure for both LCB and RTAB.  Working with these amazing and respected business women is amazing.  I feel like i am truly among the best possible company to create a world class business and raise the boat for the whole island.  They bring balance to me in their mentorship, knowledge and supportiveness.  Its awesome.

So, i have to go rewrite all the copy for this site.  Now that we’ve started narrowing the LCB focus, i’m now ‘talking’ to a whole other audience

here comes the bride!!!!!!!!!!!

new website coming soon