A few more Wedding Photo!
January 13, 2010I mentioned in our previous post that one of the things we LOVED about our wedding photos and our photographers, was that they captured how young and adventurous we FEEL. The pics are fresh and funky. Here are a couple of our favorites from the wedding day itself. We have plenty of photos that aren’t loaded with attitude and featuring sunglasses, but they seem to be our favorites! (Thanks for indulging me!)
How cool is this!?! This totally says “Married in Aruba!”
My sister-in-law described this photo the best: “Mission Accomplished!”
Somehow we really don’t care about ’sunset photos’, but love this one!
And I just LOVE these shots — the “Moody Guy Shots”. Maybe this
one would be better titled “Mission Accomplished”. He’ll probably say
more like “I’m in charge now” but we both know better. =)







Hello, hello! I know I haven’t posted in a while. Things have been crazy busy now that the wedding is done and it’s time to get back to everything at home that we neglected during the planning. We are still on a high after our wedding and were SO EXCITED last week when we were notified our wedding photo proofs are ready.
The day after the wedding we chose to do a “Trash the Dress” shoot. I remember the first time I heard the term Trash the Dress. I was mortified! Why on earth would someone trash their wedding dress? Why would they destroy something so special? Well the more I read I started to realized that “Trash the Dress” isn’t always what it sounds… The dress may not get trashed at all. Sometimes what’s called Trash the Dress is really just a ‘post-wedding’ photo shoot. Often these are done in an unconventional location. I have TTD links I’ve posted here in other posts. Sometimes you see an unconventional location like the couple sitting cross legged in the middle of a street. Other times you see a backdrop or setting that is often in stark contrast to the delicate beauty of a wedding dress. Graffiti walls, “ruins”, among cacti, riding bicycles (or even banana tubes!) and of course, getting in the water!
The more I looked at these photos, the more I started to love the idea. In these sessions, the couple is often much more relaxed and having fun! Gone are the pressures and distractions. Suddenly its time for the two of you to ‘play’ and really get some unique photographs. Suddenly I ‘had to have’ these pictures. Luckily, my husband also loved the idea!
We made it through the wedding and had our TTD shoot lined up for the next afternoon. I so loved my dress that I realized I wasn’t done making some amazing memories with her. I packed up the dress and the veil and we stopped by to pick up the photographers. We asked the hotel concierge for directions to the “Gold Mill Ruins”. Well we should have been more specific and asked for the
A few minutes away was Eagle Beach. We parked by the Bucuti and got in the water there. (Remember, there are no private beaches in Aruba.) There were very few people around. Our photographer told us to just take a stroll down the beach and back. We had fun goofing around. And they warned us — the ‘getting in the water’ part goes really quick. So how did we do it? Well we started walking… he said go ahead and walk in the water a little bit. Just maybe our feet. Then he had me lay on the sand, head toward the beach, feet toward the water. The idea was I’d be laying there and the waves would come up and envelope me. Swallow me up. I thought this would be a succession of building waves, but instead we got one big wave right off the bat! And he got the pic!!! What a surreal feeling…
After officially getting drenched, then we went ahead and went into the water to play. It was hilarious. Its amazing how heavy a wet wedding dress gets! And the waves were strong. They kept knocking me over. And the photogs had ideas of these shots they wanted – him lifting me up or carrying me out of the water… yeah, right! Took a LOT of tries with the water knocking me over again and again and him adjusting to the fact that I now weighed 20 or 30 pounds more than he is used to. It was an absolute blast.
Our photographers warned us the dress was going to be smelly. We got back to the hotel and let her air out on the balcony the next three days. When I went to collected it, what a sight! Why didn’t I feel a tinge of regret, I don’t know. I’m very sentimental about the dress and just grinned as I thought about the fun we had together. My husband was the one that actually insisted we get it dry cleaned and even ‘preserved’. It was embarrassing to bring it to the cleaners. There was all kinds of sand and even driftwood in the underskirt. He sent it out and it did take longer than normal to get back. I’m still dying to open ‘the box’ and survey the damage, but the dry cleaner insists it came clean! Seriously!?! He said if it didn’t you’d see the ’sorry…’ sticker, tag, indicating there were stains they couldn’t get out. Clean? Really? I actually had a couple of photographers tell me that many of the dresses come clean just fine. Still, you have to be prepared for it to not come clean.
Thank you so much to the wonderful bride that resent the ‘Ruins’ photo link I love so much. These photos are so gorgeous! The album of “Joel & Katrin” is featured in the SOTA Dzine / SOTA Weddings portfolio. Here is the album: “
Several weeks ago, someone sent me an email that included a link to a photographers blog that featured a trash the dress shoot done in Aruba. It was amazing and I cannot find the link! There were some really cool pictures done at a site with some ruins. If you sent that link, could you please please share again!?!
So just this morning I was exchanging an email with one of my favorite fellow brides. One of the topics was photography. Then right after that, I get yet another email asking about photographers. While I didn’t want to review specific vendors until after our wedding is done, I know it can be hard to secure the best photographer. Since I get so many emails on this, I will share with you who I think is the best photographer – In my opinion, hands down, its 



























Finally – the fifth (and last) appointment of the day – going to see the Renaissance Island. We’re told we would see a wedding set-up and get to walk around the island. When researching the private island I found posts from those who LOVED the island and wouldn’t dream of having a wedding anywhere else. Then there were others that found the island lacking in charm – even describing it as ‘cheesy’. There were complaints of mosquitos, airplanes flying overhead and the boat ride over to the island.
Then we went back to look closer at the reception area. I could see how some people would love this set-up. Dinner with your feet in the sand and having all that privacy and being able to make as much noise as you want. Still, it didn’t sit right with me. Maybe it was just a little too informal because it felt more ‘beach barbecue’ than dream wedding. The decorations were unappealing to us, though we do have to respect that the couples taste was different than ours (and budget may be more limited). Also, just my personal preference, but I didn’t want to be in the sand for a whole night. They do have a concrete slab / dance floor under the sand in front of where the band was set up so you could at least be on solid ground for dancing. It was maybe 10-12″ square.











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.











Expectation: We were expecting to LOVE the Westin. Wherever we travel, Westin is one of our preferred hotels. The sales coordinator we had been exchanging emails with was always prompt and friendly – prior to the trip she was by far the best to work with.













