Our Aruba Wedding

Edwina Werleman is the owner of E2 Events and Celebrations where she not only offers planning services but also owns wedding and party rentals. We adored Edwina from the moment we met Edwina during our site visit in May. She helped us explore our options, in particular, high-rise vs low-rise – Palm Beach vs Eagle Beach. (Eagle Beach weddings are a specialty of hers.) Even though we ended up choosing to keep things simple with a high-rise / Palm Beach venue with the Aruba Marriott, Edwina was a huge resource to us! She’ll be kind of like your ‘Aruban mom’, taking you under her wing and looking out for you.

We were really happy with the Marriott but were glad Edwina was there to help us where the Marriott left off. Most importantly, there was a look and feel that we wanted for our event that we were finding very difficult to find. The setting is gorgeous and will be more than enough for many people, but we wanted a little bit of what I think of as a ‘Miami Beach’ vibe.

First, I have a real aversion to the plastic slip-covered, sashed chairs I’ve seen in most set-ups at most hotels (from Eagle Beach set-ups to the Hyatt, you see this everywhere – maybe you’re lucky enough to find it charming). Luckily for us though, Edwina has recently invested in some simple clean white folding chairs that worked out perfectly! (We used them for the ceremony and then they were moved to the dinner.) We received so many of compliments on the bamboo and fabric arch we rented from her – it was just perfect and she can drape it however you would like, even with colors. So, if you have something you’d like to see, send her the photo – she can probably do it.

We also wanted the dinner space on the lawn to be more intimate and fell in love with the idea of a fabric canopy that would mimic our arch. We didn’t want to feel like we were having an ‘expensive picnic’. We wanted to create a little drama with one or two long tables and the lawn was a great space for it, however I didn’t want to feel ’so exposed’. (We knew we wanted dancing poolside.) When we had just about given up on the idea of a canopy, Edwina decided she could invest in this for us. We are so glad she did. It turned out beautiful! It made the space so much more special and I loved the softly flowing sheer drapes. She had crew there the night before waiting for its delivery and had set-up ready to begin at 5am on the wedding day! It was decorated with hanging silk organza lanterns suspended by ropes of crystals (hopefully I’ll get a better picture soon).

Next, I wanted candelight but was not liking the ‘rustic’ lanterns that were available. I fell in love with some contemporary nickel lanterns I had seen at Restoration Hardware. After careful consideration, she decided she could invest in those for us as well – from 7″ tall to 24″ there must be at least 40 of them. In addition to using some of these lanterns on the tables, we used them throughout the ‘lounge’. Desiree and Edwina worked together to create a really chic lounge space for us that was perfect! Our guests loved having a comfortable place to sit, where they could watch the activity on the dance floor and still feel like part of the activity. The folding chairs are great, but toward the end of the night they so appreciated the Marriott’s comfy seating and the lanterns helped give the space some of that ‘Miami Beach’ feel.

Edwina worked with the florist as well. We were really frustrated by the 19% ’service fee’ Marriott adds to everything, however they were cool with letting us hire these services through Edwina. (The service fee is a corporate policy they can’t do anything about, however it was a big point of contention for us since Westin and Hyatt add the service fee to food and beverage only. Hopefully that policy will change someday.) Flowers ended up being a struggle for us, as you may have read, but much of the blame falls on me for waiting til the end to figure out what I wanted. And of course I wanted something they don’t have! Everyone worked really hard and we did get some beautiful flowers. (And by the way — the ’sprayed mums’ I was so opposed to turned out beautiful!)

Edwina also helped us with other things like having these yummy dutch butter cookies made fresh for our welcome bags and arranged to have hair and make-up done at the hotel for our mothers and maid of honor. (Marriott graciously let us use an available meeting room that worked out perfectly!) We also hired our videographer through Edwina and are looking forward to seeing the video!

It was nice to work with someone that had the flexibility to do things Marriott could not. Everyone seemed to work together so well and we were grateful that the Marriott did not give us a hard time about using some of our own vendors (some of the other hotels aren’t as accommodating). Marriott knows what they do well, and are good sports about letting you bring in what they cannot give you.

Edwina is wonderfully receptive to new ideas. If you can give her a picture, she can probably figure out how to make it happen! (Though keep in mind importing anything to Aruba is very expensive – duty and shipping on our lanterns cost as much as the lanterns themselves!) Edwina is very honest and will tell you what things she can and cannot do well. And she usually replies to emails surprisingly quick! She’s a little crazy though, often replying at 1-2am – we don’t know how she does that and then get up in the wee hours to supervise her crew.

Not only would work with Edwina if we could do it all again, but I now also consider her a friend!

If you’ve been following this blog at all, you know my aversion to floodlights! By default, Marriott will give you some spotlights to light your functions. (The good side of this is I don’t remember any ‘lighting’ fees – I think that lighting of the space is included in any other set-up fees you might be paying. Please correct me if I’m wrong.)

Our goal was to create a mood with lighting. We were off to a good start with the tiki torches the Marriott provided us. They helped delineate the space and carry through that ‘island vibe’. Then Edwina had invested in some contemporary lanterns we loved that would bring candle light to the lounge and dinner table. Now we needed to finish of the dinner and dancing spaces. Most important to us was nicely lighting the dinner canopy which was a large expense for us. We wanted to see some classy ‘up-lighting’. My husband also loved the idea of putting lighting under the buffet tables. To be honest, I didn’t really care about lighting the dance area much, but now can’t imagine the area without it. Nice lighting is just one of those things that take an even up a notch.

Anyway – the week before we started to get really anxious because lighting wasn’t sorted out. Desireé ended up putting us in touch with Mark Benson who was already going to be managing the reception entertainment. Mark also owns Elite Productions. The night we got there we met with Mark and DJ Randolph about the entertainment, and then walked the space with Mark to talk about lighting. His first quote (our ‘wish list’) was out of our reach, but we came to a really nice compromise that was in our budget.

Below you see the lighting under the buffet tables creating a little drama. (Keep in mind it will be dark by the time dinner is served.) You also see our first dance – I know I talk a lot about ‘drama‘ — I’ve never been looking for a lot of drama, but just a touch like you see in the first dance photo. And finally our dinner canopy – when it got a little darker the canopy was beautifully lit with a combination of candlelight and accent lighting.

Thank you so much to Mark Benson for helping us to create the ambiance we were looking for!

If you’ve been following along, you know we’re planning on having dinner on the Marriott’s lawn, near the pool. Our biggest hang-up though was a desire to create some intimacy in that space so we don’t feel like we’re having an expensive picnic – we didn’t want to feel ’so exposed’. While we know we can’t have privacy, we want to feel like the space is a little more ours.

What we really wanted was a bamboo canopy like the one pictured here, but the one available on the island was prohibitively expensive. We also weren’t liking what we were hearing about the company we would have to rent it from.

We had almost given up on this idea when our independent wedding planner decided she would invest in one for us! Unfortunately the bamboo structure was really expensive and presented potential problems with a lawn set-up so she choose another more versatile type of skeleton (I’m not sure what its made of – it’s simple and white).

No one was really excited by the picture she first showed us (the draping looked kind of hap-hazard and sloppy), but we could all see potential – that maybe all we need to do is tidy up the drapes. For weeks she has been trying to get over to the Marriott to do a test run (one any given day it seems either she has a function or they do). Finally yesterday she succeeded (after 6 hours of set-up) and sent us lots of photos. The verdict – I think the canopy is going to be awesome! The drapes are white and really sheer and so pretty. You still get the ‘island’ feel and somehow I know having this canopy over us will give us the intimacy we are looking for.

The entertainment company will see about providing some diffused ‘uplighting’ to create ambience. Our favorite lighting effect is the one shown here with lights shining up through some branches and casting a pattern on the top. Now that I’m thinking about it though, that effect might not work for us.  Our draping will be sheer, looser draping, not a tight opaque tent like in the photo. Also we’re thinking we’d like there to be openings in the drapes, so there is some draping above, bouncing light back down, but other spots where you can look up at the stars.

Finally, she has some silk organza chinese lanterns she can hang from the top (though they won’t be lit – chandeliers will be an investment for another day). There aren’t a lot of them (she just happened to have them around for a different project), but I think they’ll be nice. I did have a time where I really wanted hanging crystals but finally decided to not push my luck. And good thing because I’m suddenly pretty sure I will NOT have enough room to pack them!

In all, we’ll have the canopy, the hanging organza lanterns, simple white resin folding chairs, eclectic arrangements of flowers and the shiny contemporary nickel lanterns she invested in for us as well as the ‘mini’ lanterns we’re bringing with us. All of these are simple things that I think will give us a nice elegant space and intimate setting that doesn’t distract from the beautiful landscape around us. I can’t wait to share pictures! I might not turn out like I hope, but at least no one can say I didn’t try!

The search continues… We are looking for ways to make the dinner area more intimate. At the moment we are planning dinner on the lawn between the beach and the pool. (Wedding on beach, dinner on lawn and dancing poolside.) What we do not want is to feel so ‘exposed’ sitting there on the lawn… We do not want to feel like we are having an expensive picnic. There is a walkway surrounding the area that hotel guests will continue to use. While we know we will not get privacy we want the space to somehow be more personal. Our favorite idea so far is to have a bamboo and fabric canopy placed over our two long dining tables.

Unfortunately the Marriott does not have anything like this available and our quest has us talking to three different independent wedding / event planners. The first is the one we met in Aruba during our site visit but she does not have this available. Another is a planner the Marriott suggested since they recently did a similar set up but its been over a week now and I do yet have any sort of quote. The third is someone recommended to us on the Aruba.com message boards but he may not be able to service our date. That contact was also over a week ago and I do not yet know about the date or the price. Initially the quote the Marriott gave us on behalf of an ‘outside vendor’ was more than our dinner would cost which is hard to justify. Even if the cost is lower working directly with the vendor it will likely be significant and affect the rest of our planning. I’m just getting a little anxious to know whether this is something that should remain ‘on the list’ or we should move on to other ideas.

If only Yvonne Design, who’s canopy is pictured, serviced Aruba!