Wedding coordinator: The hubby and I are so glad we chose the Westin to host our wedding extravaganza. They truly went above and beyond for us and we can’t thank them enough! Our wedding coordinator, Patrick, did an amazing job. He was always on point with communication through email, answering all our questions in a timely manner (even to say he received our email and he’ll get back to us shortly). I often here of brides in Aruba having communication problems with wedding coordinators or planners, but that was NEVER the case for us!!

Jeff & I met with Patrick for our pre-wedding meeting, where we discussed details of the ceremony & reception and any other last minute details. I had given him my DIY projects (escort cards, programs, flip flop basket, menus, table names, etc) and instructions of where and how to place them. We walked around the property and did a quick run through of all that would happen on our big day! The meeting was very helpful and reassuring for Jeff & myself, so we enjoyed the rest of our days prior to the wedding in the sun!

The big day finally arrived and it was PERFECT with a little bump but nothing that ruined the day! A crazy thing happened as my girls and I were about to take the elevator down to the beach for the ceremony….the POWER went out on the whole island…eekkss!!! I have to be honest, I did freak out for a minute, but luckily the generators kicked in, I was able to take the elevator down and walk down the sandy aisle! Unfortunately the microphones didn’t work on the beach, but it didn’t stop us from saying our vows!

Patrick, was the hero of the day, making sure everything was being taking care of with having no power. I must say, he rocked it out! I’m sure he was stressed, but he didn’t show it or let me know it which relieved a lot of stress on my part.The reception was the best part of the night! Patrick made sure everything was in place before the guests arrived. He even got security to buy some citronella candles and OFF spray for our guests (we never noticed the mosquitos until that evening, must have been because of the power outage). That was a sweet gesture, even our photographers captured the moment when our guests sprayed repellent on themselves!  The reception setup was perfect, Patrick did the setup as asked and everything was in place! He stayed for the whole wedding party just to make sure everything was going as planned! We are so thankful to have worked with Patrick and we couldn’t have asked for anyone better! So Patrick, if your reading this…THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!! YOU ROCK!!

I will be posting pictures and other reviews on my blog if you’d like to check it out. If you have questions, please feel free to ask!

http://allaboutjingnjeff.weebly.com/my-blog-spot.html

Hotel: I’m glad we chose the Westin over the other hotels.  I like that The Westin was the first one on the high rise side because it wasn’t as crowded as the others and as cramped being in the middle like all the other hotels.   Some might say that it’s windy on this side, but I didn’t find that true at all.  For those brides wearing a veil, I didn’t have a problem.  I would recommend using The Westin over and over again because I believe that they can host a hellava party!   We’ll def be back next year to celebrate our 1^st anniversary!

Flowers: I wanted something simple for all the bouquets and the florist vendor, Greta, did a great job.  I showed Patrick pictures of what Jeff & I envisioned and her work came through for us on our wedding day.  At the last minute we ordered 7 boutonnières (due the my husbands procrastination) and they came out lovely.  The reception centerpieces were gorgeous too, we asked for 3 square vases of hydrangeas and they came out beautifully.

DJ: The Westin recommended Cool Pro DJs and they were a lot of fun!  Our guests were on the dance floor all night and even the waitstaff said they had fun at our wedding because the music was great.  Jeff’s job during this wedding planning was coming up with a reception playlist and that helped out a lot.  The hubby and I did a choreographed dance and gave the cd to the DJs and they worked it out great for us.  Like Christine, we ended up having wedding crashers, but we didn’t mind it!  Kinda lets you know that your wedding was that much fun!

Food: OMG!!  This was the best part of the reception.  Some of our guests were still talking about it days after the wedding.  We had Chilean Sea Bass or Flat Iron Steak as our entrée choices.  The Westin’s food was by far the best I’ve had at a wedding and I’m not just saying that because it was our wedding, but because people are still talking about it!  In my search for venues to host our wedding, The Westin’s menu was one of the reasons why they were chosen, the prices and the selection was most reasonable for us.  I’m glad we made the decision to have The Westin host our big event because we have no regrets whatsoever.

Oh yeah, the cake, The Westin made our cake just like the picture I had given them, if not better.  Not only was it a gorgeous 3 tier cake, it was a delicious cake at that!

We truly had an awesome time and so did all 55 of our guests!  The island of Aruba is a magical place to host any event!  So no worries on your big day because regardless of any bumps or mishaps, it’ll be unforgettable either way so ENJOY!