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!

To help consume some of my wedding planning energy, I’ve been working on creating an ‘Inspiration Board‘. Its really just a collage of a lot of things I would love to see this wedding include. Soon I’ll have to start replacing ‘wish list’ items with the actual items as I know some items on here are unrealistic. Like the Jimmy Choo Macy bridal shoes I want are sold out worldwide and the bouquet with the “Pink Cone Ginger” I’m sure won’t happen. Still, I’m collecting pictures I love and will hopefully find something comparable that will work.

I am happy, happy to announce that our favorite lanterns will soon be available in Aruba. By mid-August our independent wedding planner will have these in her possession! One of my ‘must-haves’ is candlelight for dinner, however the wind in Aruba makes that a challenge! We got excited about the prospect of lanterns but were not liking what we were finding on Aruba. While the ones we were able to find do have a ‘rustic charm’, we want our personality reflected in something that’s more contemporary. We think the lanterns pictured here are a chic way to carry through the ‘island’ theme while still suiting the personalities of us and the hotel. Thank you thank you to our wedding planner for making this happen! We really appreciate the investment she is making on our behalf.

If you want to know where you can find these, just send an email to info@ourarubawedding.com and I’ll pass along her contact info.

Suddenly in the last week I’ve been having trouble sleeping. It seems that as I crawl into bed I suddenly start thinking about all of the wedding stuff I haven’t done yet! The day before yesterday I realized there is less than 4 months to go and I hadn’t even started looking at invitations, didn’t know what our budget is going to be and therefore don’t know how much I can spend on a Welcome Party, don’t have bridesmaid dresses picked out, didn’t have a proposal from an independent wedding planner, was giving up hope that I’ll be able to find the kind of decor I want…

This last weekend we were ready to take at least one matter into our own hands – We were shopping and we found some lanterns we love on sale at Restoration Hardware and almost bought them on the spot. We figured we’d have them shipped to Aruba. Well, RH doesn’t ship to Aruba. Turns out shipping items like that isn’t easy thanks to customs. I’m told we would need to ship to an ‘exporter’ in a ‘port city’. Then they handle the product and customs and get your shipment to the island. So, lots of extra time and cost. Our other idea was to have the large floor lanterns made in India and shipped from there, but again, expensive and shipping hassle and what would we do with them afterward (except try to sell them to the wedding planner)?

Well today there may be a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve maybe found a wedding invitation – not one I’m totally in love with but one that will probably be close enough. My maid of honor is coming into town this weekend to look at wedding dresses. And most important, it looks like the independent wedding planner we adore may pull through for us! She has put in a lot of work trying to find solutions for us. Today she gave me options of TWO different kinds of canopies which she is going to invest in for us. She has also received her folding chairs and priced their rental, AND a big bonus, she may have found the lanterns we want! So, it looks like by the end of the week we may have a budget put together!

So now I get to take a breather for a couple of days while I wait for the wedding invite sample to arrive and enjoy some time with my maid-of-honor, bridesmaid and flower girl. My fiance is going to work on the budget and I’ll try to be a good sport when reality sets in and he needs to reign me in. =) But for not at least, a small ‘lanterned light’ at the end of the tunnel…

This weekend my fiance and I were hanging out in the bookstore and of course I was sitting with a pile of wedding books and magazines in front of me! I stumbled across a couple of books by Karen Bussen that I loved! Lots of tips for a simple, sophisticated decor. In a place like Aruba you don’t want elaborate decoration competing with the gorgeous surroundings. Karen has elegant, timeless ideas. The books are a quick easy read with lots of photos for inspiration.

The ones I looked through were “Simply Stunning Wedding Flowers” and “Simple Stunning Weddings”.

Well unfortunately there hasn’t been much progress in the last couple of weeks. I’m still waiting on proposals for decorating (using outside vendors) and still have a lot of unanswered questions. The latest issue is trying to sort out the Welcome Party. The Marriott says they don’t really start planning the wedding details until about three months out which I understand, but we have to get our budget inline. The big wildcards out there are the wedding decor that the Marriott does not provide and how much it will cost us to throw a nice welcome function. (The woman that would be able to answer questions about one of our Welcome Party options is out of the office until August!)

Decor that the Marriott is not able to supply includes the canopy we’d like over our dinner area and the ‘lounge area’ we’d like to have in the reception. If these things are prohibitively expensive with an outside vendor, then we might as well allocate the funds to the Welcome Party. However if they can be done, we may have to trim other areas of our budget. We are now less than 4 months away and I don’t think its unreasonable to expect these questions to be answered by now. Still, I’m trying to be patient.

Of course the easy answer would be to just let Marriott handle all the outside vendors. Will it be worth it to hire my own services? I have absolutely no idea. Of course this is a small island I have to wonder if the same vendors will provide the services whether they are hired by me or the Marriott. Maybe they would rather just work with the hotel? If that’s the case, I wish someone would just say so.

Since our reception will be at night, I really love the idea of having candles on the tables. The problem is that Aruba is really windy. To have candles they will have to be in large hurricane vases or lanterns. I found some lanterns I love on Pottery Barn’s website but have not yet found a supplier in Aruba that has something like this available to rent. At least not contemporary nickel lanterns like the ones I’ve fallen in love with.

So, now one of my projects for the summer is scavenging stores to try to find similar less expensive lanterns or a really good Pottery Barn promo code. I’m thinking I’d like 15-20 of these in various sizes and shapes both on the dinner tables and on the peripheral lounge seating group tables.

Well we’re finally comfortable with having the wedding and reception at the hotel but are still struggling with decor. Dinner will be held on the lawn between the pool and the beach and we’re looking for ways to make this space more intimate. We want 1-2 long tables but don’t want to feel so ‘exposed’ sitting on the lawn. While we know we won’t get privacy there has to be a way to at least personalize this space.

While we love Aruba, we don’t like many of the outdoor setups we’ve seen. We want something more sophisticated (think “Miami Beach”) versus feeling like we’re sitting at an expensive picnic. One idea we love is to have a bamboo structure around the tables with white draping. We’d also love to have some loungy seating for guests to enjoy after dinner. Unfortunately the hotel does not have these items available and neither does the independent planner we adore. The hotel can hire this from a third party but we’d rather work with that party ourselves, especially since the hotel charges 19% service charge on everything, even services they do not provide!

So, we now have recommendations of two more wedding planners / decorators to try to get proposals from.