Today’s story comes to us from John, who prefers to leave home for the Bahamas and set his watch to island time! Thanks for sharing, John!

“In the summer of 2005 my family along with a number of great friends spent four weeks playing and discovering the Abacos.  Since that time, we have continued to visit the Bahamas and have spent countless hours fishing, diving, exploring and partying in this great island country! From the time we land in Marsh Harbor until the time we leave, we live a fantastic carefree lifestyle that everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy! Guana, Hopetown and Lubbers….. It just doesn’t get any better than that! ‘Thumbs up’ is the way I explain my travels to Baker’s Bay. The island people along with the visitors and the experiences are first class to say the least! I can’t imagine having this much fun in any other place in any other attire than vineyard vines! Love me some VV and the Bahamas!!!!”

Grayson and Dan shared their story with us for this week’s Wedding Wednesday! Enjoy!

Dan and I met while living in Atlanta. We are a North meets South love story.  Dan is a New Yorker at heart, while I’m a true South Carolina girl. After dating a year and a half, Dan proposed the morning of the Atlanta Steeplechase, my favorite event all year.  As soon as the last horse race of the day was over, I began setting plans into place for the big day.

In planning our wedding, first and foremost, we wanted it to reflect our distinct personalities. Before we planned any other thing for the wedding, we knew the NY Yankees tie would be essential to Dan’s wedding suit. Then, we decided to have each man in the wedding party wear a vineyard vines tie to reflect their personalities. The ring bearers wore the Center Console Boat Ties because they live on the coast and love boats. My father wore the Whale Golf Club Tie since he spends all of his free time golfing. With the attire taken care of, we launched into the other details. We decided to get married at a small church in South Carolina with the reception at my parents’ farm. At the reception, we spent with afternoon enjoying wonderful foods, playing games in the yard and enjoying time with family and friends. Our wedding day was the perfect combination of everything and everyone we love. Each detail, right down to the ties, reflected who we are.

This past weekend, Team VV and Whale Force One rolled into Nashville for the 71st running of the Iroquois Steeplechase at Percy Warner Park. This was our second year at the event, and we were excited to once again return to this beautiful setting for this lively event! We were also excited to see so many fans sporting VV, including the custom product from our Nashville store. Custom Steeplechase coozies proved to be the hot item on the infield as well as the always popular whale hats. A few lucky fans even grabbed VV ponchos early on! We were also luck to have Miss Nashville on hand, live music, and of course, an appearance by the VV Whale! Thanks to the Steeplechase staff for making us feel welcome again, and to all the VV fans who stopped by our tent!

Check out more photos on our flickr feed!

Thanks to our whale rep Kathryn for acing this event!

The Sigma Nu Temple Classic Volleyball Tournament, at Oklahoma State University, was held all day long and into the night. The Sigma Nu’s set up a table for me where I placed the vineyard vines tablecloth and merchandise. There were tons of students wanting something from VV. I had the DJ announce a raffle winner probably every 15 minutes.  In doing this, he gave VV a plug that was heard on the loudspeaker and probably all over Stillwater! There was a lot of traffic at the table and the Sigma Nu guys all wanted a turn wearing a whale hat. VV was a hit at the volleyball tournament!

April showers bring…well, cherry blossoms! Thanks to Maribel for sharing this great story and photo of her guys at the Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C.!

“At the outset of every spring tourists from all over the country flock to the nation’s capital for the Cherry Blossom Festival.  It is one of Washington DC’s most popular events and I have been in attendance every year of James’ life and use the annual pictures of our family as a way to look back at how he grows so fast.  The Cherry Blossom Festival is a great way for families of all ages to come together to enjoy life and appreciate nature’s beauty.  The event fits the vineyard vines image to a tee.  Tourists of all cultures commented on James’ style and he rarely had a moment alone during his picnic as ladies kept coming up to him and telling him how cute he looked in his bow tie.  Never did I miss an opportunity to tell them proudly of the vineyard vines brand and let them know that there were three stores nearby.”

Thanks to Jenn and Ken for sharing their seaside wedding with us for Wedding Wednesday!

After spending a week on the Cape with Ken’s family, we finished it up by attending a Red Sox game.  Boston is our favorite city, and we make it a point to spend a night there when we are visiting.  Ken had thrown me off that week by buying me a Cape Cod bracelet when we had gone to Provincetown to go shopping that week, so I was not expecting an engagement.   Ken and I ate a wonderful dinner at Boston’s Chart House on the water.  After dinner we started a LONG stroll back to the Fairmont where we were staying (I think Ken got nervous).  Finally right after midnight he Ken proposed back at the hotel right on Battery Wharf.  It was perfect!

We spent weeks trying to figure out a place we were going to get married.  We both knew we wanted to do a small destination wedding, but we just didn’t know where.  We contemplated the Caribbean, Mexico, and Hawaii and thought of so many reasons why we didn’t want to go to those places.    Then one day we were discussing our options again and we started talking about having our wedding on the Cape.  It was such a special place to Ken, who had been vacationing with his family in Eastham for over 25 years.  And over the past few years that I had visited with Ken, I had fallen in love with it as well.  We knew it would be the perfect spot for us to get married. We are both very close to our families so it was so important to have them in our wedding. Everyone was decked out in vineyard vines and the colors looked amazing together.  The boys wore light blue ties with a navy outline of the cape (perfect), with khaki linen suits.  The girls wore the navy Destination Dress.

All week the weather was dreary and over cast.  We got married on a Wednesday evening, the most beautiful day of the week. It was 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  Our wedding site was Rock Harbor in the town of Eastham.  There were boats in the background, sand at our feet and water for miles as we looked out to the bay.  Our wedding was at 7:15 p.m., all went so smoothly and the sun right behind us as we finished our pictures after the ceremony.  After the ceremony we went back to the house that my family had rented for the week and had a wonderful dinner catered by a company out of Chatham, and of course there was lobster!!  We were serenaded by Jack Weatherby while we ate and danced the night away.

We were surrounded by our family in the most beautiful spot, the beach!  Thank you, VV, for letting us share our day with you, and thanks for being part of such a special day and giving us the options to make it just what we wanted!

Hello!

We’ve returned from Charleston Race Week! This was our first time doing this event and certainly plan to have it on the calendar in the future.  There were over 250 boats racing in idyllic Charleston, South Carolina hosted out of the Charleston Resort and Marina. This event has some of the best post race activities including VV cornhole boards and plenty of Goslings Rum. We won the Viper class which was the largest of all the fleets with 41 boats. This event also served as the Viper Class Atlantic Coast Championship. Between the great sailing conditions, fun shore side events at the resort and vibrant nightlife, Charleston Race Week truly is living the good life!

Here is a photo of Team Argo (left to right is John Baxter, Chad Corning, Molly Baxter, Jim Condon and Jason Carroll) and here is the final press release.

Next up is a trek to Rochester, New York for the Interclub National Championship this coming weekend.  We will be sure to report in.

Thanks again for everything!
Team VV, John and Molly Baxter

When you live in the islands you can’t help but look on the bright side.

If you can’t live well in the islands, you aren’t trying hard enough. Thanks to Lydia Williams (pictured with her daughter Jenna) and her team at the Market in Baker’s Bay, you hardly have to try at all. Best conch fritters on the island, they’ve got ‘em.  Fresh and fruity tropical drinks, they’ve got those, too. And so does the nearby Conch Shack, which named one of its signature cocktails, The Lydia, in her honor. Made with tequila, lemonade and a splash of OJ, it’s sweet and refreshing…just like Lydia herself.