About Green Eyed Girl Weddings & Events
Hi, I'm Jillian.
More than 13 years ago I came to Vieques to work at the old W Retreat & Spa. At the time, I had absolutely no plans to become a wedding planner. In fact, if you had told me back then that I'd eventually spend my days coordinating weddings, designing florals, managing timelines, and helping hundreds of couples get married on a Caribbean island, I probably would have laughed.
Life has a funny way of changing your plans.
Long before Vieques, there was Elliott.
We've known each other since kindergarten. We grew up on the same street, spent our childhoods crossing paths, and somehow ended up building a life together. We were already married when I took the job at the W. What was supposed to be a temporary adventure turned into something much bigger.
We stayed.
Then we built a business.
Then we built a family.
And before I knew it, Vieques had become home.
These days Elliott and I are raising our boys, Liam and Oli, while juggling weddings, photography, farm projects, school schedules, animals, gardens, and all the wonderfully chaotic things that come with trying to fit an entire life into a single day.
How I Became a Wedding Planner
I didn't wake up one morning and decide to start a wedding planning company.
Like most things in my life, it happened gradually.
For years I worked alongside Elliott in the wedding industry through photography. The more weddings we photographed, the more couples started asking questions.
Who should we hire?
Where should guests stay?
How do we get everyone to Vieques?
Who do you trust?
Can you help with this timeline?
Can you help with these flowers?
Can you help with literally everything?
Somewhere along the way, helping turned into planning.
Planning turned into coordinating.
Coordinating turned into Green Eyed Girl.
And somehow, more than 300 weddings later, here we are.
Why I Care So Much About Vieques
When people ask why I'm so passionate about local businesses, the answer is simple.
This island gave me a life I never expected.
It gave me friendships, opportunities, community, and a place to raise my family.
The people who make weddings happen here aren't just vendors to me.
They're my neighbors.
They're the people I run into at the grocery store.
They're the people coaching youth sports, volunteering at community events, helping during emergencies, and supporting one another through all the ups and downs that come with island life.
That's why I work so hard to keep wedding dollars in the local economy whenever possible.
Not because it's trendy.
Not because it sounds good on a website.
Because these are real people whose businesses help keep Vieques vibrant and alive.
Every wedding should leave something positive behind.
Life Outside of Weddings
The truth is, weddings are only one small piece of who I am.
When I'm not working, you'll usually find me outside.
We have a small farm that somehow continues to grow despite my repeated promises that we're definitely not taking on any more projects. There are chickens, gardens, fruit trees, dogs, cats, and always something that needs fixing, planting, feeding, moving, or harvesting.
Our dogs, Finn and Huckleberry, are convinced they are involved in every aspect of daily life and rarely leave my side. The cats mostly tolerate all of us.
I also read constantly.
I always have.
There's usually a book on my nightstand, another in my bag, and an audiobook playing while I'm working in the garden. Elliott likes to point out that I often have multiple books going at the same time, which is true and probably says something about me.
I love stories.
I love learning.
I love the feeling of getting completely lost in a great book.
What I've Learned
After more than 300 weddings, I've learned that people don't remember perfection.
They remember moments.
They remember the people they spent time with.
They remember conversations, laughter, sunsets, adventures, and all the unexpected things that happened along the way.
Nobody talks about whether the napkins matched the flowers five years later.
They talk about the experience.
That's probably why I approach weddings the way I do.
I'm far more interested in helping couples create a meaningful experience than creating a picture-perfect production.
The best weddings feel personal.
They feel comfortable.
They feel like the people at the center of them.
A Final Thought
Sometimes I look around at this life and it still feels a little surreal.
A girl who grew up on the same street as her future husband somehow ended up raising chickens, reading books, growing gardens, and planning weddings on a tiny Caribbean island.
It wasn't the plan.
It turned out better.
Vieques changed my life.
Helping couples celebrate here is my way of sharing a little piece of the place that changed everything for me.
And after all these years, I still feel incredibly lucky to call it home.
My Philosophy
After more than 300 weddings, I've learned that the things people remember most are rarely the things they spend the most money on.
They remember the people.
They remember the conversations.
They remember laughing until their faces hurt.
They remember dancing barefoot.
They remember the sunset, the ocean breeze, the surprise rain shower that somehow became everyone's favorite memory.
I think we're often told that weddings are about perfection.
I don't believe that.
I think weddings are about connection.
The best celebrations feel comfortable. They feel genuine. They feel like the couple at the center of them.
That's what I've always tried to create.
Not perfect weddings.
Meaningful ones.
Why I Stay
People ask me all the time what keeps me in Vieques.
The answer is surprisingly simple.
It's the community.
It's knowing people by name.
It's running into friends at the grocery store.
It's watching my kids grow up surrounded by nature.
It's sunsets that still stop me in my tracks after all these years.
It's the feeling that life doesn't have to move quite so fast.
This island gave me a career I never planned for, friendships I never expected, and a life that looks very different from the one I imagined when I first stepped off the ferry all those years ago.
And somewhere along the way, it became home.
Helping couples celebrate here is one of the ways I get to share a place that has given so much to me.
And after all these years, I still feel incredibly lucky to do it.
Our Wedding Style
At Green Eyed Girl Weddings & Events, we specialize in weddings that feel connected to the natural beauty of Vieques rather than competing with it.
Our style leans:
coastal organic bohemian nature-inspired relaxed but highly coordinated elegant without feeling overly formal Think:
oceanfront ceremonies string lights over the pool barefoot first dances candlelit dinners under the stars tropical florals long wooden tables boutique hotel buyouts welcome parties with tacos and margaritas late-night dancing with salty air and island music drifting through the palms We don’t try to turn Vieques into a ballroom wedding destination.
We help couples experience the very best version of the island itself.
Why Vieques?
Because there’s nowhere else quite like it.
Vieques is not polished in the way large resort destinations are polished.
It’s better.
It’s wild horses crossing the road at sunset.
It’s hidden beaches with almost no footprints.
It’s tiny beach bars serving fresh fish tacos.
It’s bioluminescent bays glowing beneath kayaks.
It’s palm trees swaying during your ceremony.
It’s your guests slowing down, unplugging, and remembering what matters.
People don’t choose Vieques because it’s the easiest destination wedding location.
They choose it because it feels real.
And the couples who fall in love with this island usually fall hard.
