St. Thomas: Sapphire Beach, U.S. Virgin Islands: Flying Dress Photoshoot

Last updated: May 30, 2024

While visiting the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), I was standing in line at a sandwich shop on St. John when a woman approached me and gave me a flyer. I don’t even remember what she said because I was distracted with my order, but I took it and told her thank you. A minute or two later, I glanced down at what she’d given me and gasped because it was a flying dress beach photo shoot with a lady wearing a long flowing dress (which I later learned was her). I had never even heard of or seen a flying dress photo, but I immediately wanted a photo shoot to celebrate my time in the USVI and my birthday that was only two days away. When I gasped, the man who was also standing in the sandwich line laughed out loud, and I later learned he was the photographer. I said, “WHY did you give me this?!” as I began to immediately book a session with them. They loved my enthusiasm so much, they gave me a deal when I cringed at the original price. I scheduled the day after my birthday on the beautiful Sapphire Beach on St. Thomas.

They later sent me the details and asked what color dress I wanted. I was keen on the pink, but they had mentioned there was a gold option. I couldn’t find anyone from their Facebook page wearing a gold dress and was told it was because no one had chosen it yet. I suggested I would be willing to take a few shots in the gold so they could use it as a sample for future customers. 🤞🏼🤞🏼

They met me at 9 am, and when I stated above that Sapphire Beach was beautiful, the landscape in these photos is REAL! When I looked at their Facebook photos the first time, I assumed they photoshopped the landscape, especially the island in the distance, but no, this is legit. The island is St. John in the distance, along with some offshore cays. I was so impressed with the horizon! Check it out:

I had sent them some poses from other photographers taking flying dress shots that I liked (who knew this was a thing!), which they took into consideration when shooting.… these folks were top-notch professionals who made this shoot so fun.

If you’re like me, you are probably wondering how much of the dress is photoshopped into the air or if we had a large fan making the dress fly. The answer is no and no. The wind was CRAZY that day. The only manipulation was the lady holding the dress train at a certain angle for the camera, or she would throw it into the air when the photographer gave the signal. Other than that, the wind was doing all the work!

Here are some behind-the-scenes my mom took. She was far away, so they aren’t great quality. You can see the lady holding my dress, but the wind is definitely doing all the work!

I asked them if I could try running and jumping. I thought this would be an utter failure because my jump did not last as long as I had imagined. I laughed and said, “I obviously don’t know what I’m doing!” to which the photographer replied, “Well, we don’t know unless we try!” which I took to mean, yep, that was terrible. But here it is in the final cut. 😜

I recommend this flying dress photo session to anyone visiting the USVI. They will shoot on three islands and even do couple shots 😍 (don’t worry men, you don’t have to wear a dress!) But really, if you’re planning to be in the USVI, reach out to these folks to get your photo shoot scheduled… you need to budget about $450. They are just getting their business started so I expect them to start filling up quickly with appointments… the sooner you can call and get things scheduled, the better.

Flying Dress St. Thomas

Flying Dress St. John

Flying Dress St. Croix

They even used some of my photos as promotional content on their websites above, which is super flattering! 🩷

The good news is this only takes about an hour, so if you schedule an early morning appointment, you still have your whole day to vacation. You can expect to have photos back in 10-14 business days, but they were so excited about my pictures that they had 5 or 6 sent to me that afternoon and the rest the following week. These folks are so wonderful. I hope you book with them!

Never in my life have I ever posted so many photos of myself on a blog post, but I wanted to share this experience in full; plus, I really like the images (even if I am the one in them! 😆). The dress on the beach makes them so unique! I liked my photos so much that I used one with the new iPhone 17.1 update to create a contact card. Like it or not, this means if you’re in my contacts, you get this when you call me or vice-versa. 😂 #SorryNotSorry

So, I’m just over here living my best life and feeling oh-so fine at thirty-nine. 🩷💃🏻💛

I encourage you to live your best life and do things that bring you joy! Are flying dress photos on a beach for everyone? Absolutely not, but I enjoyed it, and I didn’t consider who would like it and who wouldn’t. I have no regrets! So go on that Saturday fall hike that takes all day, even if you go alone. Don’t spend your days and weekends doing things you don’t enjoy (or possibly even hate) because life is way too short for that nonsense. Mark my words; I will go to the grave having lived a fun and HAPPY life. I gave way too many weekends and essentially my entire 20s and 30s to corporate America. I still show up giving 100% Monday – Friday, but I no longer cash out my unused PTO at the end of the year. I use every single hour of my PTO. I don’t take my laptop on vacation, and I’m certainly not typing away in the wee hours of the morning anymore (unless it’s blogging!😁). I’m not doing things I find boring in the evenings or on the weekends to appease other people. I am following my passions, which are growing faster than I can keep up with now that I’ve given them space to develop. I can’t tell you how exhilarating it is to discover who I am as an individual. Not as an employee, or a daughter, or a sibling, or a spouse, or a friend, but who Jessica Soto is at her core.

Discovering who I am and fulfilling my passions is the best part of life and one reason of the many reasons I blog. Life is such an adventure full of mystery and thrills. I genuinely feel I’m the main character in a best-selling book, and I’m the author!

So, thanks for coming to this impromptu Ted Talk. You can always count on me to give you totally unsolicited advice. 😘

Until next time… ✌🏼