So just before our trip, I find myself thinking I could end up with THREE ‘wedding planners’ for one wedding of 35 people. Makes me sound like quite the diva, don’t you think? Luckily I’m not an obnoxious bridezilla.

We learned there are different types of ‘planners’ for different parts of the process or different types of weddings. Many of the resorts will provide you with an in-house wedding planner that has experience with weddings at their location. (In particular your ‘branded’ hotels often have this – Renaissance, Marriott, Hyatt, Westin etc.) There may be a fee for their services or the services may be included as part of a package. They know their hotel well and what the hotel can and can’t do and will handle the outside vendors like the florist, officiant, entertainment. Some hotels are really strict about what vendors they allow letting you choose only from a list of their approved vendors. The Hyatt was by far the most restrictive. If you want something their pre-selected vendors can’t provide you may be stuck.

There are also independent wedding planners. Since we were also wanted to check out the ’boutique-y’ low rise area, we arranged to meet with an independent planner. These independent planners have experience with lot of different types of weddings at different locations. They know the island inside and out and may be able to help guide you in selecting the best location for you and your budget. Even though we chose the Marriott and they will provide us with a planner, we are also still considering working with the independent planner. With the Marriott, they are really flexible in allowing you to use outside vendors. One thing that bothered me about the Marriott was that they charge a 19% service fee on top of everything, even services they don’t provide. So, we’re hoping an indepent planner may help us get more for our money.

Then there is the ‘travel wedding planners‘. Shortly before our trip an acquaintance insisted we contact a woman he just met – someone that is a destination wedding planner. At first I’m thinking we could already be working with two planners, why would be need a third? Well the value in them is that they know these locations well and have seen how they have handled many different weddings. What this particular organization really does is help you pick resorts to consider and then helps you in organizing travel arrangements and negotiating the room contract (if you choose to go into a contract). She was actually the one that insisted we re-consider the Aruba Marriott, (we had ruled it out early on), and sure enough – she was right. That was the location that suited us best.

This particular destination wedding company is commission based. They’re basically travel agents that specialize in weddings. Sometimes their ‘buying power’ will help you negotiate a better deal, sometimes you can work out a better deal on your own when the resort doesn’t have to pay that commission. In this case she helped us negotiate our contract and we believe she got us a better rate than we could have gotten on our own.

So – we had the travel planner help with contract negotiation, have the hotel’s wedding planner ready to help us, and may still work with an independent wedding planner / decorator. In fact we’re waiting for proposals from three independent planners. I have to admit I’m getting pretty anxious for these proposals but I’m trying to keep in mind they are on “Aruba Time”. I’m also telling myself that the fact that they are taking a while to get back could mean they are busy and in demand.

In the end, can you go it alone? Sure… For me it wouldn’t be worth the headache and the unknowns. For the simplest wedding a high-rise hotel with an in-house wedding planner is probably your best bet. However if you want something really personal that reflects your style an independent planner is worth talking to.