Our Aruba Wedding

Hello hello! I know this post is long overdue and hope it will be still be helpful to someone. I’ve finally found our personal photos from our wedding trip to Aruba. I have lots of photos to share and it will take a while to go through them, but here are a few. I’ve chatted with a couple of brides that are struggling to decide which reception site to choose at the Aruba Marriott. The leading contenders for most are the Patio / Terrace and the Pool Deck. (They also use the lawn, the sandy area by the volleyball nets and have the “Atrium Terrace” which is just outside the lobby bar.)

A lot of these photos will seem redundant, but you never know what small detail might catch someone’s eye.

Here I am standing on La Vista Restaurant’s patio, looking out toward the beach. Between the sand and the patio is the terrace / patio that is used for receptions.

I’ve taken a step down onto the patio, and turned to my right to take a picture of the patio itself. To the right is a little low greenery to separate La Vista’s patio from this one. I really wished they had done something to ‘dress up’ the patio. Like maybe some nice potted plants to make it a little lush and more inviting.

Now I’m turned back toward the beach again. To my left is the walkway that takes you to the hotel and the pool. To my right is more of the terrace.

Now I’ve turned 180º and am looking back at La Vista, where I just came from.

Now I’m standing near the middle of the terrace. La Vista is on my left, pool straight ahead and beach to the right. You can kind of see the walkway that guests will use but they will not walk through your space. However you will have people eating dinner next to you on La Vista’s patio.

This is just my ‘postcard shot’ that I included for fun. On this morning there happened to be rain rolling in. There were some really cool clouds and waves at the beach – something you don’t usually see here.

I’m standing now at the edge of the terrace looking at what had been our wedding site. The like to set you up just to the left of that ‘boat rental’ palapa.

I’m sitting and having my breakfast at La Vista. You can’t really see the reception patio because it is two steps down. But, you see there isn’t really that much to separate you from diners. And there really isn’t that much of a ‘view’. Its more than a view than you get off the pool deck, but does it really matter once the sun goes down? We had our ceremony, then guests enjoyed a sunset cocktail hour on the beach before joining us at the reception site. By that time it was dark, so for us, seeing the water from the dinner table was suddenly not important.

Another photo of the ‘wedding site’ between the two sets of palapas. Really, its a lot better than it looks. There is plenty of open space up there.

We chose to have our Welcome Party at Marriott’s La Vista restaurant. We had briefly considered Moomba Beach Bar, down the beach as well as renting out one of the Marriott’s “Governor’s Suites”, but La Vista won. Moomba is still a little bit of a walk and while the catering menu is less expensive, it didn’t look very interesting. They also only have outdoor facilities – no indoor back-up. The Governor’s suite just isn’t large enough or properly equipped for a party. It has the same tiny fridge as the rest of the rooms and a small sink, but no other kitchenette amenities. There also isn’t enough seating for 20, let alone 40+. One other location we considered is the Marriott’s Atrium Terrace, an outdoor space outside the lobby bar, but were warned that area can get really hot. Also, if we used the Atrium Terrace we’d have had to pay set-up fees. In the end we decided we’d rather save our money for food and drinks!

We had a couple of conference calls with Desireé, the Marriott’s wedding planner, and Eveline, the manager of La Vista. I’ve mentioned before that I had a lot of fun talking to these ladies! They both have really cute personalities and genuinely seem so happy to help. They make it fun. Given they are both planning weddings I felt like I could relate to them and that they ‘got’ where I was coming from.

Eveline worked with her crew to help us create an appetizer menu which included items that are not on their regular menu. She seemed to enjoy the challenge. One of our favorite items was a Tamarind Margarita as well as a colorful non-alcoholic mango margarita. She also worked with us help figure out how to best use our budget.

The Tasting – Drinks: When we arrived Wednesday, we did a tasting with Eveline, Desireé, the bartender and Corrine, a trainee who is visiting from the Netherlands. The bartender (who we’re told happens to be one of the best on the island – I’ll get his name), started off by offering us the tamarind margarita which was beautifully garnished with this little yellow fruit (can’t remember the name of it) and a lime and served in a martini glass which we loved. As far as I am concerned, the first one was perfect! Nice and tart like a margarita should be. The bartender then suggested trying it a little sweeter which my husband-to-be liked even better! We thought those might go down a little too good though, so we finally settled on one that was in the middle. The mango margarita we loved as is and it was so pretty with its swirl of raspberry puree.

The Tasting – Food: After drinks we moved on to food. The Tandoori Chicken Kabobs with a tangy chili sauce were amazing and made just for us. We think they need to add these to their catering menu! We could have made a meal of them – tender and juicy and the sauce was yummy! And we both really liked the Curried Pumpkin Seed Crusted Shrimp with papaya relish. The Spinach Puffs were not my favorite but he was really happy with them and we’re told they are really popular at Indian functions. They were good but just didn’t have the “wow” the others had. (I have a feeling the marinated vegetable skewers they were going to make special for us would have been better. The chicken kabobs that weren’t on the menu ended up being our favorite item!) The Seared Beef Medallions with pineapple relish and red thai curry were good but we decided instead to switch to the Mini Thai Marinated Beef Kebabs with teriyaki sauce which ended up being a huge hit!

Party Planning: Finally we moved on to planning the party itself. We would be taking over the La Vista bar and were offered the lounge as well. Eveline showed us some great candles she could bring out to add ambiance and asked us if we would like furniture moved. Aside from adding tables for the fruit and cheese displays, we thought the La Vista bar was perfect as is. And while I normally don’t like ‘flameless candles’ the ones Eveline has are beautiful.

Mehndi: The big round table in the corner was great for the henna artist to work. They brought in some extra lighting that let her work comfortable without being intrusive. People were able to gather around that table and sit with Dipti as she was working. Our guests loved Dipti and her henna artistry. Almost everyone got in on the action, even my uncle who had a ‘henna ring’ drawn around his finger and one of my other male friends who had his girlfriends name ‘tatooed’ on is shoulder. Dipti was a real delight and her husband was also a huge help. You could tell he is so proud of her talent.

Running Late: Unfortunately, we were running really late but Eveline kept the party moving. She played the bhangra music we had given her, and not so subtly – the music was really rockin’ when we arrived! She would call to confirm it was ok to move on to serving drinks, starting the music, sending out the food.. We had been delayed because we were assembling the welcome bags that we didn’t get to put together the night before. We wanted the bags waiting in our guests rooms when they returned from the party. (Too many times my husband-to-be was pulled away to attend to his family – he’d run down to do one errand and then get pull in different directions. And the bellman that needed to pick up the bags arrived on ‘Aruba time’.) Luckily, when we arrived everyone seemed to be in really good spirits and having fun! And we think the delay was worth it because they loved the bags!

Things to do differently? The only thing I’m unsure of is the Welcome Party timing. We had planned it from 8:00-10:00pm. We figured guests would have had very little sleep and would be wanting a nap when they got there. We knew they would arrive at the hotel between 3:00-4:00pm. We also weren’t prepared to offer a full meal and wanted them to have time for dinner. Because of the late time a few retired before we were able to get there. Probably 80% hung in til the end though. Should we have had it earlier – 7:00-9:00pm? Maybe. Also, we had ordered personalized chocolate bars for the party and forgot to give them to Eveline when we gave her the bangles and bindis that would be passed out. That wasn’t all bad because we later caught up with guests to give them the bars in person, however some guests were missed. We also ordered extra bars to pass out at work and to send home with his parents so they could pass them out to friends in India.

Why choose La Vista Restaurant for your Welcome Party or Rehearsal Dinner?

1. The people! Eveline and her crew do an outstanding job. They really listen to you and want to make it your party!
2. The food is outstanding! If you want something that isn’t on their menu, just ask – I think you’ll be surprised at what they are willing and able to do.
3. The space – we love the contemporary decor and the vibe of the space. While it is a bar, its non-smoking and has ambience without being too dark and doesn’t need ‘decorating’
4. Cost control - since there are little (if any) set-up charges and no decorating necessary, you get to spend your money on food and drinks!  You determine your budget and decide what you want to serve, yet there is a full bar still available for those that want to order food or drinks on their own tab. We chose to offer a pre-determined amount of margaritas (alcoholic and non), 4 different appetizers, a fruit display, cheese montage and some veggies. Also, the left-over fruit, cheese and veggies were packaged up and held for us to take on our sailing excursion the next day.

Thank you so much to Eveline and the La Vista crew for getting our event off to a great start!

Photos to follow, probably in a separate post…

I forgot to mention the best news from last week! The Marriott has finished their pool facelift, not in the anticipated 6 weeks but in 4 weeks! It is open ahead of schedule. I was concerned when I found out that the pool was being renovated the month before our wedding. While my experience with contractors is still somewhat limited, I’ve been conditioned to expect them to take at least twice as long as expected. The manager assured me it would be open ahead of schedule and sure enough it is! What a relief. There will be dancing poolside!

Planning is moving along! On Friday I spoke with the Marriott’s wedding planner regarding Welcome Party options. As of Friday morning I was down to three options: the Marriott’s “Atrium Terrace”, their “La Vista Restaurant” and the neighboring “Moomba Beach Bar”. The wedding is Saturday and most guests will be arriving Thursday afternoon so we wanted to arrange a function for us to Welcome them as well as give them an opportunity to meet each other. We’re planning our party for 8:00 pm to give our guests plenty of time to get checked in and rested up.

We also want to share one Indian tradition with our guests – Mehndi. Mehndi is where an artist draws elaborate designs on the hands and feet of the bride with henna a day or two before the wedding. This is done for beauty and is considered good luck. Following the bridal Mehndi there is usually a party where all ladies are invited to get their own henna ‘tattoos’ (they fade in a week or two). Though I am American (my fiance is Indian), this is one Indian custom I am really looking forward to sharing with my friends and family. I’m hoping this activity will be a fun ice-breaker for the two cultures.

For our modest budget ($1200, 30-35 people) we wanted to be able to have a dedicated space (preferably an outdoor or partial outdoor space), provide some appetizers and desert, non-alcoholic beverages, have music (preferably bhangra music from our iPod) and have a space for our henna artist to work comfortably. I also wanted to have a full bar nearby for guests that would like to have a cocktail and ultimately, would love to have some Indian appetizers.

Moomba Beach Bar: Moomba has a pretty affordable catering menu and is just a short walk. It is outdoors and on the beach and we were hoping they might have live entertainment. Unfortunately the lighting is low and being totally outdoors with the wind, the space might be awkward for our artist to work. Also, even though the catering menu was less expensive, it didn’t really look very interesting, and there is no live entertainment on Thursdays. I look forward to checking out Moomba’s happy hour when we go back, however it was easy for us to rule it out for our welcome party.

Marriott’s Atrium Terrace: The “Atrium Terrace” is the patio that is just outside the lobby, between the lobby and the pool. Its a nice sized space that is often used for corporate cocktail hours. We would be able to play our own music via iPod and the lobby bar is close by for those that want to purchase cocktails. The biggest downside is set-up fees. Even though we just want to provide soda and maybe iced tea and lemonade we would have to have a bar set up. (We were hoping we could just serve themselves with soda cans on ice and pitchers of tea and lemonade, but that’s not an option.) There would also be set-up fees for the iPod speakers as well as tables for catering and the henna artist. These fees could easily take up 1/3 of our budget. Catering is expensive (the same menu you make your wedding reception selections from), however they will try to provide us with some Indian options.

La Vista Restaurant: The reason it has taken so long to get some Welcome Party answers is that the manager of the La Vista Restaurant was out of the office for three weeks in July and there wasn’t someone else that could answer our questions. To be honest, that had me a little down on La Vista as an option. Well, I think its going to turn out to be worth the wait.

From what I understand, La Vista’s manager is glad to let us use their bar and lounge space (both are very cool, contemporary spaces). The menu options and prices are the same as for the Atrium Terrace (same kitchen) so they will work on some Indian food for us. There will NOT be set-up fees so we can spend our whole budget on food and beverage. And, they will let us play our own music. (We assured them we are just looking for ‘background music’, not dancing.) While we won’t be providing a full dinner, our guests will be able to order off of La Vistas menu if they want more to eat as well as order drinks from their bar. The biggest downside is that it is not outside. They do have an outdoor patio but that must remain available to those having dinner. Still, guests wanting some fresh air can just step outside and relax near the pool or take a walk out to the beach.

Right now we’re still working on the menu. So far the spicy chicken skewers sound wonderful! I’m unsure of a few options though – the vegetarian spring roll, spinach puff and mushroom touch. She said they are Indian options, however I think maybe these are items that Indians just happen to order often because they are vegetarian. They do sound yummy, but I really want to make sure there are a couple of traditional Indian items. On the wish list is samosas. They have not yet made them for a party but are looking into it. Right now what I appreciate is their willingness to explore items beyond their menu. If you have something you really want on your menu, don’t be afraid to ask. They may surprise you! (The Westin’s catering department was also wonderful about being willing to try new things.)

The Welcome Party option we ruled out fairly early on was renting out one of their Governor’s Suites. While they are huge, the usable space for the party was small. We figured we’d rent the suite and then cater in food from the local Indian restaurant but the suite doesn’t even have a wet bar or kitchenette. The huge balcony would have been awesome but there were no deals to be made on the suite rental which would have consumed over half our budget.

Here is something I never thought to ask my resort: “Do you have any construction projects planned during the week of our event?”. Just last week our wedding travel agent forwarded me the following email. Imagine if you are a couple getting married at this Marriott in September.

“The pool area at our Resort will receive a facelift starting August 18th until the end of September, 2009. During this time we will be resurfacing the pool. In addition, the surrounding rock formations will be part of a beautification project. Therefore our pool facilities will be closed for an estimated six weeks.

All guests staying at our Resort from August 18th until the end of September can enjoy the pool facilities at Marriott’s Ocean Club, adjacent to our hotel. This freeform pool features a spacious pool deck, several secluded swimming areas with a very comfortable swim up bar. To snuggle up after your swim, deck chairs are provided for a perfect lounge moment with your favorite book, or to get an afternoon snooze.”

While I have heard that the neighboring pool is fantastic, imagine if you had your heart set on a poolside reception like we are planning? Our reception isn’t until 4 weeks after this renovation is expected to be completed, however I can’t imagine what will happen if the project is delayed and the pool is unavailable during our wedding weekend. (Photo from Marriott website)

One function we are planning to have is a Welcome Party on the night we expect most of our guests to arrive. (Most guests will arrive around 2pm on Thursday – Wedding is Saturday.) What started as an informal, ‘Stop down to [designated space] at [time] and introduce yourself’ has turned into a real party. Our challenge is to try to do something nice enough to get the trip off to a good start, but keep our budget under control.

Our Welcome Party will have an Indian theme. I am American and my fiancé is Indian. While the wedding will be a western non-denominational wedding, we want to incorporate some Indian tradition so we will have a henna artist at the party. She will do bridal henna for me as well as henna designs for any other ladies that want to participate (even men and kids will be invited to get a henna ‘tattoo’.) We’re hoping to have some Indian music and food.

Our first approach was to try to get a good rate on their 1100+ sq ft “Governor’s Suite“. We figured we’d have to pay something for the suite, but could then cater in some Indian food from the Indian restaurant and play some Bhangra from the iPod. This suite has an awesome wrap-around balcony that would let the guests enjoy the outside and the view! Well, try as we must, the best they will offer is us 30% off the suite’s going rate even though they have 6 of them we only want to use it for a few hours. The best price we were offered was a little over $800, and our wedding travel agent’s best rate was just over $700. We were pretty disappointed at first, until I reviewed the floor plan of that suite. Turns out there pretty little ‘living space’. This suite has two full size bathrooms (weird), a bedroom and the living area, but has no kitchenette or even wet bar. So though we love the balcony, we’re glad we didn’t commit to that suite.

My next thought was going offsite to Moomba Beach Bar which is close by. I contacted them and received their catering menu. The food options look ‘ok’ but the pricing is really good. Unfortunately they do not have live entertainment on Thursday nights which would be a bonus, and they are ‘outdoor only’. So, Moomba, probably not, though I expect we may turn up there on another night for happy hour. =)

Plan C – back to the Marriott. We do plan to provide some snacks and non-alcoholic beverage. While we don’t plan to pay for alcohol, I would like it if there is a bar nearby so those that want to ‘indulge’ can do so easily. Our two best options may be the La Vista Restaurant or their ‘Atrium Terrace‘ (pictured). Unfortunately the manager of La Vista has been out of the office for a couple of weeks now and will be gone until early August, so I still have no idea what can be one at La Vista or how much it will cost.

The Atrium Terrace does sound promising though. This is an outdoor ‘patio’ off the lobby. It doesn’t have a beach view, but by 8pm the sun has long set. It does have a pool view though which I seem to remember is pretty at night. There is some seating and guests would be able to walk to the lobby bar for cocktails. We can cater some appetizers and they can set up a table for our henna artist. I was hoping that for the non-alcoholic beverages, they could set cans of soda on ice and have pitchers of iced tea and lemonade sitting out. Well they can’t do that — we have to have an actual bar set up. I’m not sure yet what those costs are. At least I think we can play music off the iPod.

Expectation: We were expecting to really like but not fall in love with this property but it sounds like they will work really hard to make us happy.

In our initial research we had ruled out the Aruba Marriott. We had exchanged some emails with them, received their wedding packet and then wanted to schedule and appointment for a Saturday site visit. We were shocked when we were told their office is closed on the weekend! That there wouldn’t be anyone that could meet with us. We figured how can they be effective at running our weekend wedding when they can’t even arrange to have someone show us the place on the weekend?

Well along the way, though an acquaintance, we were referred to a destination wedding planner. This is an organization that specializes in helping you select a resort and arranging your travel. I was skeptical at first but the woman we met through the phone and via email was outstanding! She was eager to help and never applied any pressure. I told her our plan and she insisted that we reconsider the Marriott. She promised the property is gorgeous and everyone she has worked with has been wonderful. After making a call for us, she helped set up an appointment with a manager that was glad to come in and meet with us on her day off. We were really encouraged, enough so that we arranged to spend the second night of our visit on their property.

The Aruba Marriott has just finished a $50 million renovation that is fabulous! Our first impress was that we loved it – the lobby was large and open and very contemporary with a nice bar. The check-in staff was helpful and friendly. We were impressed with our room – theirs are the biggest on the island and ALL rooms have large 100sq ft balconies. They have nice beds, beautiful modern decor, flat panel TVs and brand new bathrooms with double sinks. The biggest downside to the room was that the door to the balcony is a heavy solid glass door that swings out. There isn’t a slider so that you can keep the door open letting fresh air in. On the other hand, the lack of the screen door is probably the reason their room seemed to be the brightest of any of the rooms that we saw.

We were a little early so we decided to go have lunch by the pool which was quite nice. The resort is “U” shaped with the pool nestled in the middle courtyard. While the pool isn’t terribly large, the pool area is lush with palms and tropical plants providing shade an a real tropical feel that you come to a resort for! And I was pleased to see a swim-up bar. We ordered a grouper sandwich that was great and a couple of fruity cocktails. We really enjoyed being there and had fun watching the iguanas. The only downside I saw to their pool area is that they put WAY TOO MANY lounge chairs around it. The pool wasn’t at all crowded with people and it seems they could have done just as well with half the chairs.

The woman we met with was right on time and didn’t rush us at all as we were still finishing our lunch. She pulled up a seat and told us to take our time. Then she showed us around the property. The beach was nice and didn’t seem overly crowded. (The fact that the Marriott is the northernmost hotel probably helps.) All in all, we LOVED the resort.

Unfortunately we didn’t love the reception options. You can have the reception on the beach, on the lawn, on a new outdoor ‘patio / terrace’, by the pool or in a ballroom. While the outdoor areas were nice, when we saw photos of how they are typically done up for a reception, we weren’t impressed. They looked so bland. We liked the lawn area but not the way they just stick tables on the lawn and call it good. We wanted something more intimate vs feeling like we’re having an expensive picnic on the lawn. Not only that, but for the back-up location there are ballrooms. Sounds good but we REALLY didn’t like them. They’re pretty ordinary… no windows, no terrace / balcony in front… So now the challenge is how do we personalize the space if we want to be at this resort? Of course they say they can ‘do anything’ but it will cost and the pressure is on us to be creative or hire a good decorator. (They do allow outside vendors for most things other than food and beverage.) And I cringe at that ballroom as my back-up location.

This is going to be an extremely difficult decision. We love the Westin for the wedding but aren’t feeling like we want to stay there. We love the Hyatt for the wedding but they don’t have our preferred date and may be prohibitively expensive for some of our guests. We love the Marriott as a resort but aren’t excited about their reception options…

Conclusion: We really liked the hotel! We like the lobby, pool area and love the rooms. It’s priced in between the Westin and the Hyatt. Unfortunately we are not excited about the reception site options. We especially dislike having only ballrooms as our back-up location in the case of rain. Our last appointment is back at the Renaissance to see their private island – maybe after that visit this will all be more clear.