Shipping Items to the Islands... Customs? Duties?

[faithengaged]

I'm concerned about some of the items I need to ship to St. Lucia for my wedding in terms of making sure they allow it in to the country. For example, I just ordered these coconut candles from the same place where I got my wedding favors and my MOH brought it to my attention that because the candles have organic materials in them such as the coconut shell or the soy wax, some countries might not let them in. She said this happened to her when she tried to ship some stuff to Australia. Does anyone know the rules or laws about shipping organic materials to the caribbean or more specifically St. Lucia? Also, how do customs or duty fees work if I ship the items down the week before I get there? Any help is very much appreciated!