Celebrating a Decade of Love: Rustic Bohemian Vow Renewal Surrounded by Captivating Ruins on Pigeon Island in St. Lucia

In this article

What was your wedding like?
As you celebrate your anniversary, what do you remember most about your wedding day?
Was there anything you would have done differently for your wedding?
What are your favorite things to do as a couple?
Who cooks?
Do you have any children or pets?
When it comes to careers, what do both of you do, and how do you make time for each other?
What are the most important elements of a successful marriage?
How do you keep the spark?
Tell us about the shoot. What inspired it?
What do you love most about one another?
What is the best advice you can give to newlyweds?
Looking for more wedding or vow renewal inspiration?
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Sharissa and Aaron celebrated a decade of love and evolution with a destination vow renewal on Pigeon Island in St. Lucia!

Sharissa and Aaron first got married in New Jersey on June 14, 2014. Their wedding was completely DIY and had an aesthetic vintage charm.

We’ve been told our wedding felt like it came straight out of Pinterest.
– Sharissa

Sharissa and Aaron wouldn’t change a thing about their charming DIY wedding, and neither should they, but for their vow renewal, it was time to embrace their wedding dreams. They knew they wanted to incorporate their love of travel and do it within Sharissa’s home country of St. Lucia. After visiting St. Lucia and seeing her cousin get married on Pigeon Island, Sharissa knew it would be the perfect place for their vow renewal.

When I visited Pigeon Island in St. Lucia for the first time in 2010, I instantly fell in love with the ruins! A few years passed, and I saw my cousin get married there, and I was like, wow, I would’ve loved to have gotten married there!!!
– Sharissa

Sharissa and Aaron’s key to keeping their spark is to not only accept each other’s growth and changes but to embrace them and encourage each other’s evolutions. Everyone’s sense of self changes. It’s what allows us to grow and become our most authentic and best selves. As a couple and as individuals, they’ve always supported one another, allowing each other to grow without resistance or negativity.

We think the spark is kept through the years by recognizing and embracing our constant evolution as individuals and as a couple. We often hear couples mention that they don’t like that their significant other has changed. We both value growth and want that for each other. Growing and evolving can be hard, but it also makes life more interesting.
– Sharissa and Aaron

Learn more about their love story, read their insightful tips, and see the enchanting details of their vow renewal in St. Lucia below!

Couple: Sharissa & Aaron
When did you get married and where? June 14, 2014 – The ceremony was at Rode’s Barn, and the reception was at Lucien’s Manor.
Original wedding feature: Chic DIY Wedding in New Jersey: Sharissa + Aaron -Munaluchi Bride
10-year vow renewal: June 29, 2024
Vow renewal locations: The ceremony was on Pigeon Island, and the reception was at the Windjammer Landing Resort & Residences.

What was your wedding like?

Sharissa: We’ve been told our wedding felt like it came straight out of Pinterest. Our wedding was completely DIY with a vintage charm! We got ready at The Victor Lofts in Camden, an adaptive reuse building that was initially built in the early 1900s as the headquarters for the RCA Victor company, where they created the Victrolas. The building featured some elements of the original 1900s charm, which added the perfect touch to the vintage aesthetic. The stand out was when we had our first look at the courtyard before heading to the ceremony.

The Ceremony

We decided to use a vintage trolley company to transport us to our ceremony venue, Rode’s Barn. The barn featured twinkle lights on the exposed wood beams, and we hung white chandeliers from the beams along the aisle. We lined both sides of the aisle with jumbo moss letters that spelled LOVE and XOXO. The altar featured an arch made out of branches draped with white chiffon fabric and an oriental rug. Along the walls behind the altar, we added empty frames with baby’s breath peeking out from the inside.

The Reception

From the ceremony, we went to our reception at Lucien’s Manor. Each table was decorated with centerpieces featuring lanterns or champagne bottles hand-wrapped in twine alongside hand-painted mercury mason jars. They were adorned with moss, baby’s breath, and succulents with a hand-cut wooden slab for the center. Each table number featured a handmade numbered doorknob with keys as place card holders for each guest. The cake topper featured a small birchwood slab with S+A etched into it. On top of the slab sat two gold-glittered birds with a small arch adorned with baby’s breath.

As favors, we gave out small glass jars with coffee beans and a tealight candle in the center. Thinking back on it is quite ironic as six years later I founded a candle business with our children as its namesake, Erin & Avery!

We created every element with much thought, care, and love. These are elements that we wanted to foster within our marriage going forward.

As you celebrate your anniversary, what do you remember most about your wedding day?

Sharissa: There are so many memories, it’s really hard to pick just one. If I had to pick one, it would be remembering the feeling when I opened my eyes the morning of the wedding day, and all the stress from planning months before just immediately went away! A sense of peace overcame me, knowing that in just a few hours, a new chapter of my life would begin with the love of my life.

Aaron: I remember most the feeling that it is finally here. I always knew that it would be a true turning point in my life, but to finally experience it was surreal. I relished every moment of that day as I knew it would be the most important day of my life.

Was there anything you would have done differently for your wedding?

Both Sharissa + Aaron: Absolutely nothing!

What are your favorite things to do as a couple?

Both Sharissa + Aaron: Aside from eating out at different restaurants, our favorite thing we enjoy doing as a couple is traveling! We love going to different countries, experiencing their culture, and wandering around their streets! Just in 2024, as a family, we traveled to five different countries (St. Lucia, United Kingdom, France, Monaco, and Italy) and New Orleans!

Who cooks?

Sharissa: Aaron is the chef within our household! I really look forward to the meals he cooks up for us!

Do you have any children or pets?

Sharissa + Aaron: We have three children: Nyla (2012), Kaden (2015), and Alaya (2022). As well as two pets, a miniature poodle mix named Sage and a red-bearded dragon named Dracarys (yes, named after Game of Thrones lol).

When it comes to careers, what do both of you do, and how do you make time for each other?

Sharissa: I own a business named Erin & Avery. I create clean aromatherapy products. For my ‘9 to 5’, I’m a Marketing Manager at a national architecture / interior design firm. I manage our photography program for our finished projects and create marketing deliverables to attain new projects.

Aaron: I am a Real Estate Developer and consultant with a background in community space development and affordable housing. Aside from this, I have a passion for cars and motorsports. Fostering my passion, I am in the process of launching a motorsport collective brand named Driven Daily.

In 2017, we both returned to school part-time to pursue our master’s degrees while maintaining full-time jobs and being present for our children. This experience required us to master time management, even if it meant spending time together studying after the kids were asleep. Those years were chaotic, but they taught us how to manage time more effectively for ourselves, our family, and each other. Prioritizing time together is essential, and it’s important to appreciate the small moments in between, even when schedules are hectic.

What are the most important elements of a successful marriage?

Sharissa + Aaron: We’d say the most important elements for a successful marriage are keeping God first, open communication, and always supporting each other. No two days, months, or years are the same, so it’s key to recognize this and be able to pivot even when things don’t go as planned. This is where the communication comes in. Letting each other know what the other needs or requires and finding the best way to be there for each other is so important.

How do you keep the spark?

Sharissa + Aaron: We think the spark is kept through the years by recognizing and embracing our constant evolution as individuals and as a couple. We often hear couples mention that they don’t like that their significant other has changed. We both value growth and want that for each other. Growing and evolving can be hard, but it also makes life more interesting. We’ve been together for sixteen years and counting (since 2009). We often look back and realize we’ve been together just about our entire adult years. We can confidently say we are not the same people we were when we met at 18 and 20 years old, but have learned, loved, and grown together since then, and continue to look forward to even further evolution.

Tell us about the shoot. What inspired it?

Sharissa + Aaron: For our vow renewal, we wanted to incorporate not only our love for traveling but also doing it within my family’s home country, St. Lucia. When I visited Pigeon Island in St. Lucia for the first time in 2010, I instantly fell in love with the ruins! A few years passed, and I saw my cousin get married there, and I was like, wow, I would’ve loved to have gotten married there!!! We visited St. Lucia in 2022, and during our visit, I made it a point to visit Pigeon Island again, and my love for the park was still there! A year later, we began planning our renewal, and I knew this was our second chance to actually have a ceremony there!

Fast forward to the day of the renewal, Hurricane Beryl was a day away from making landfall. With that, it rained heavily off and on that day. At the beginning of our ceremony, it came down really hard, but we pushed through and made the best of it! The rain eventually held off long enough to allow us to finish the ceremony and take our pictures.

With the ceremony itself, I wanted to keep in theme with small thoughtful elements of our first wedding, but with a twist. I’d say the style of the renewal was rustic bohemian. Prior to flying down, I collected five rugs to add as aisle runners and on the altar. We rented wooden cross-back chairs and wooden pillars to display the local island plants.

To tie in all the elements and bring everything to life, we hired a local violinist, Yannick. He beautifully played ‘Best Part’ by Daniel Caesar ft H.E.R. for me to come down the aisle.

What made this even more special was being able to incorporate our children. Aaron first walked down the aisle, and then Nyla tried to walk down with Alaya. However, Alaya didn’t like all the attention and started crying, which required Aaron to go get her and walk her down the aisle, just like he did on our wedding day with Nyla because she cried going down the aisle! Lastly, Kaden walked me down the aisle, which was really special. This almost felt full circle.

Tying everything together, I wanted to find a photographer who would not only document the ceremony but capture our vision poetically through their lens. Jelani delivered on that, and I couldn’t be more pleased!

What do you love most about one another?

Sharissa: What I love most about Aaron is his caring nature for both myself and our family. I’m often left in awe watching him pour into our children. I’m truly blessed to have a husband who goes above and beyond for his family without a second thought. Not only this, but he also balances me. We are complete opposites, for example, I’m more of a “go with the flow” and he is a planner and is more structured. He’s truly the yin to my yang.

Aaron: Sharissa has a way of making even the simplest moments feel special, and her love creates an atmosphere where our family can thrive. I’m grateful to have a partner who not only understands and is patient with me but also complements me so effortlessly. Together, we bring out the best in each other, proving that opposites really do attract.

What is the best advice you can give to newlyweds?

Sharissa + Aaron: Go into marriage with an open mind and understand it’s not a race but a never-ending marathon. You adjust your pace as needed and always continue to learn both with and from each other as you go. Realize that each of you will change over time, and that’s okay. You just need to communicate and be there for each other as best you can.