Our Aruba Wedding

I 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!

After spending what’s often countless hours looking for the dress and thousands of dollars to buy her, its still hard to imagine ‘trashing’ her. Shortly before the wedding I purchased a simple white cotton strapless eyelet sundress that I was thinking I would probably use for the shoot. Even I couldn’t imagine subjecting my Romona to dirt and bricks and water.

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 Bushiribana Gold Mill Ruins. This is the location of some of the dramatic post-wedding photos you may have seen; large rock walls and the sea crashing in the background.

Instead we were sent to the Balashi Gold Mill Ruins. These were not at all what we expected. Not the drama of Bushiribana. We were conflicted – make the most of it, or go in search of the intended location? We decided to make the most of it and are so glad we did. We totally had the place to ourselves and still got some gorgeous photos…. Photos you probably won’t see anywhere else! That’s what’s great about having a brilliant photographer – they can make any location ‘the location’.

So I put on ‘the dress’… Romona, and we got started. I went to climb up in the window and realized it was going to be a challenge. The dress really could get damaged. I knew I was ready and up I went! It was a rush. A nook or cranny we wouldn’t have given a second glace to inspired the photographers. We had an idea the photos were going to be cool, but really had no idea just how much we were going to love them! And even better!?! We had time to hit the beach and do sunset in the water!

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.

So why trash ‘the’ dress instead of the sundress? A dress I love so much? A dress I worked so hard to find and pay for? It’s hard to explain. Part of it was wanting those photos. I’ve never felt as beautiful as I did in that dress. Part of it is saying goodbye to ‘the bride’, the single woman. Part of it was an outlet for some of the frustrations I experience during planning…

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.

Now she’ll be boxed up til our 10th year anniversary when we’ll open it back up. Our joke is that if I can fit into it on our 10th anniversary I’ll get diamonds! What does he get if I don’t? I guess he gets to save a lot of money! Or maybe by then he’ll decide he gets a sports car if I don’t. Its all in fun…

In the end, these turned out to be our favorite photos! I feel really lucky that I have a husband that was willing to entertain what to many seems like such a crazy idea. And we were so lucky to have such gifted photographers that captured how young and adventurous we feel!

Oh and those photographers, no, they are not in Aruba. Though I tried and tried, I just couldn’t seem to find any that compared. Sometimes you just ‘know’. You see photos that take your breath away and know you won’t settle for less. My advice – never settle with your wedding photos!

Instead of wedding favors (giving our guests a trinket with our name on it), we decided to treat them to a sailing / snorkeling excursion on Friday, the day before the wedding. After much deliberation, we decided to privately charter Mi Dushi. (Linked here is a post that can tell you more about why we chose Mi Dushi.)

We decided to schedule our sail from 3:30-6:30pm. We knew the sun was supposed to set around 6:15, so we wanted to give our guests a little bit of a ‘sunset sail‘ on the way in. The biggest downside was that Mi Dushi leaves from the DePalm pier down by the Westin, which is probably a 25-30 minute walk (or 5 minute cab ride). Since many of our guests are older (and it was 90º!), we asked those that wanted to take a cab to meet us in the lobby at 2:30. We started running late because we were waiting on the fruit and cheese that the La Vista Restaurant was supposed to have packaged up for us (left over from our welcome party the night before). A little before 3pm, we started loading guests into cabs and sending them on their way. Cab ride fares are fixed – I believe we paid $6 per cab to get to DePalm Pier. (Available to us were nice Toyota truck cabs that could take 5 people each – maybe they were Land Cruisers?) Finally we got into the last cab only to have OUR cab driver drop us at the WRONG pier! He got us about halfway there and we walked the rest of the way down. At least we were the ones needing to walk, not our older guests. We just laughed it off.

Boarding the boat is supposed to be at 3:15. They load everyone onto a ferry shuttle that takes you out to the ship which is anchored further out. We liked the crew the moment we met them! They did a great job in reading our group – they knew how to get the party started. They were fun without being ‘in our faces’. The bar is a premium open bar which includes local beer, premium liquor and a couple specialty drinks like the Aruba Ariba (yum)! As soon as our guests were situated they introduced themselves, told us what to expect and then started taking drink orders!

As we are on our way to our first stop, the Antilla Shipwreck, they start passing out gear which included disposable mouthpieces. I was surprised that probably 70% of our group actually got in the water! (Also, all but 3 of our guests joined us on the excursion – those three weren’t feeling well that day.) One of our concerns when weighing Mi Dushi against Jolly Pirates was that JP takes you to three snorkeling spots and Mi Dushi, only two. I have to say that I was GLAD we did only two. I don’t know how we would have worked in three. I think it would have felt too rushed. We chose the Antilla Shipwreck and one ’shallow reef’ spot.

After everyone got back on board after snorkeling the Antilla, it was time to ramp the party up a bit! People were having a blast and the drinks started flowing. Needless to say, not nearly as many people snorkeled at the second spot because now they were in party mode. We had people standing on the roof of the cabin and dancing and having SO much fun. And, at the second snorkeling spot, out comes the ROPE SWING! It sounds kind of cheesy – who’s really going to get excited about a rope swing?!? Well people just LOVE that thing. It was going non-stop from the time they brought it out til it was time to leave. And for even more fun, you could swing ‘piggy-back’ on the captain who would do flips. I’m not sure if the ladies were interested in those flips or wrapping around his hot bod, but they sure had fun!

While Mi Dushi might not be the sexiest boat on the water (she’s seems a little worn), she and her crew make you feel at home. She’s not as big as Jolly Pirates but holds up to 60 people. Our group of nearly 40 felt perfect – everyone had plenty of room, but you didn’t feel ‘lost’ as you might have on a larger boat. We liked the cozy feel.

Since we privately chartered Mi Dushi, the crew tailored the snacks for our group as we had vegetarians on board. I had read reviews that the snacks were pretty bad so I kind of warned people the food might not be great. They brought out trays of little chicken drummies that our guests snatched right up, and my dad actually liked the ‘Dutch sausage’ that even I wouldn’t try. They also had mini fruit and cheese kabobs that were nice and fresh. And of course we had the extra fruit, veggies, cheese and dip from La Vista that was worth the delay. And I had brought along the individual packs of Oreos that I had forgotten to put in the welcome bags. So we snacked and headed back, enjoying the gorgeous sunset! We had gotten a later start than planned and the crew was gracious enough to extend our time, though we knew they didn’t have to. We got the feeling that they were having as much fun with us as we were with them.

We made it back, took the ferry again to the pier and for many the party was just getting started! There was live music playing at the pier that was calling out to me but we had to get the kids back. The guests kind of scattered from there, most walking back, hitting whatever bar caught their attention.

My husband and I had this grand plan where we would grab some dinner, but then he would go back to the room with his two boys (his boys were staying in a room adjoining his parents) and I would go back to our suite. He’d have that night to spend quality time with them and wouldn’t see me again until the wedding (or at least our pre-ceremony photos). Well, the kids were just exhausted after doing so much snorkeling and the rope swing, so we realized they were going to pretty much pass out after getting some food!

We were on such a high after the excursion that we decided we didn’t want to split up – we wanted to spend that night together. We were SO HAPPY with the decision to have the excursion and were glad we were in a position where we could pay for it. For us it was great to have that opportunity to spend time with them, away from the hotel, phones, wedding planners, meetings… For them, it was an opportunity to cut loose and have fun without having to spend a penny. We were also lucky that no one got seasick, overly drunk or had a bad experience in the water. While I don’t remember hearing the snorkeling was that great (I didn’t get in the water), no one seemed to mind – it was really just a fantastic event all around.

Hosting the sailing excursion and choosing Mi Dushi is without a doubt, one of the BEST decisions we made and was worth every dollar!

A couple of great real wedding reviews have just been posted to the Aruba.com forum!

• Renaissance Island, October 2009 – Though this  couple brought their own photographer from North Carolina, the bride raves about working with Juney. They also decided to do the civil ceremony at home in NYC – like us they considered that ceremony a ‘formality’.
• Aruba Marriott, November 2009 – Serena raves about several of the same people we did: Desireé (of course! she’s awesome), DJ Mark Benson, Tico the Steel Pan, Dufy (sp?) the bartender, the Marriott’s food! (they had filet mignon & lobster), Bully the Taxi Driver, and Reverend Gibson. She also bride raves about her hair and make-up experience with Knipoog: www.knipoogaruba.com, 297-583-0221. Sure wish I would have known about them! (Here is her Knipoog review.) And she loved her photographer, Victor Winklaar – (I’ve mentioned before when it comes to island photographers, I’ve felt Victor’s work is the best. The photo, right, is uploaded to the post on the forum and links back to that original review.)

I know its been a little bit since I posted, but now that the wedding is a couple of weeks behind us, I’m ready to put together a short review with my overall impressions. There are also other reviews I intend to get to like the sailing excursion, the welcome bag photos and contents, and trash the dress shoot. And of course I’m planning to share photos, though want to figure out how to do so while respecting my guests’ privacy.

Welcome Party: We started our ‘Wedding Weekend’ with a Welcome Party at the Marriott’s La Vista Restaurant. We arranged this for Thursday evening, the day most of our guests arrived in Aruba. Eveline and her staff at La Vista did a fantastic job! She was willing to do so much to accommodate our group and next thing we knew La Vista felt like a home away from home. She let us take over the bar and lounge and they prepared some fantastic food and drinks! Since we were only able to pay for a limited amount, we were glad that our guests also had the option to order off of their menu. Here you can find the full La Vista Review»

Sailing / Snorkeling Excursion: On Friday we privately chartered Mi Dushi for a sailing / snorkeling excursion for our guests. We decided this would be our gift to our guests instead of wedding favors. (Does anyone really want a trinket with our name on it anyway?) I have yet to write a full review (sorry), but will say that this excursion was one of the best decisions we made! Aside from a couple of people that weren’t feeling well, our entire group participated. All from our 3 year old to those in their 80s had a day to remember! And it was nice for us to finally get to spend some time with them where we couldn’t ‘work’ on anything except enjoying our guests.

WEDDING DAY

Getting Ready: The wedding day started with my hair and make-up appointment at the Mandara Spa. I hate to say that hair and make-up ended up being one of my bigger challenges nearly putting me in tears twice. I had trials on both Thursday and Friday, neither of which went well or gave me much confidence. Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised when my hair turned out awesome and held beautifully throughout the day. (Doesn’t look too exciting in photos but you have to understand that I have baby fine pin straight hair you can do almost nothing with.) Make-up didn’t turn out as well, but luckily I had a photographer that assured me that anything I would do myself would improve it. I brushed off a lot of the cheek color and re-worked the eyes a bit. I will say that the base they applied (I believe it was Bare Escentuals Mineral Make-up) held up beautifully throughout the day. Read full Mandara Spa review»

The Ceremony: The weather was gorgeous even though the famous Aruba wind seemed to have left us that afternoon. It was sunny and hot! Must have been at least 90º. Desiree collected the guests into the lobby and then walked them out when we were about ready to start. I walked down the aisle to beautifully played steel pan music. Reverend Gibson officiated and it was a really nice ceremony followed by the ’sand ceremony’ which is Aruba’s version of a unity candle. The decor was minimalistic – simple clean white folding chairs and a bamboo and white fabric arch provided by Edwina Werleman of E2 Events and Celebrations. Marriott’s had done a beautiful job grooming a path for the aisle (my husband was especially impressed!), and we lined the aisle with simple palms. I’m glad we didn’t spend a bunch of money on flowers – in my opinion they weren’t needed and might have just created clutter. Here are link for: full Ceremony Review», Reivew: Reverend Robert Gibson», Review for Edwina Werlemen and E2 Events & Celebrations»

Cocktail Hour: Following the ceremony was a cocktail sunset hour on the beach with some fruit and cheese provided and more steel pan music. I’m assuming this went well – we were busy with photos and went upstairs to change into our ‘reception clothes’. If I hear any specific feedback I’ll be sure to share. I have yet to ‘debrief my friends’… I’ll get the real scoop from them next time I meet them for drinks.

Reception / Dinner: After changing, we came down to the poolside reception. We were a little late because we took a few moment for an impromptu photo shoot in the entry to the hotel – hey – when your photographers are inspired you just go with it! Desiree had our guest seating at waiting. Edwina had set up the gorgeous canopy that helped give us intimacy created whimsy. The canopy combined with the contemporary nickel lanterns complimented the island theme beautifully. We were introduced, did our first dance, cut the cake and then joined our guests for dinner. The food was Unbelievable! I’ve never had food like that at a wedding and am still disappointed there were items I didn’t get to try. From rave reviews of the Indian food that is not on their catering menu to people who ‘don’t eat fish’ that went back for two helping of the red snapper, the food was an overwhelming success! Other than that first bite, we didn’t get to eat any cake but it was decorated beautifully and late at night we had arranged for a ’surprise ice cream sundae station’. Read the full Aruba Marriott Reception review»

Mark Benson of Elite Productions did a fantastic job with the lighting. At first I really wasn’t too excited about the lighting aside from wanting some indirect lighting instead of floodlights. I didn’t like the idea of colored lighting because so often I think its tacky and felt the lighting was really expensive. Now, when I look at the photos I really see what a difference that lighting made! I wouldn’t have expected the colored lighting to be done so well and to be so beautiful. Here is a full review of Mark Benson’s Elite Productions»

Mark Benson also provided the DJ which happened to be DJ Randolph. Though I had some reservations at first, I couldn’t have been happier! He did a fantastic job aside from the fact that whichever of the two introduced us as husband and wife pronounced our last name wrong! I had been warned that happens a lot… Read the full review of Cool Pro DJs, Mark Benson & DJ Randolph»

Farewell Brunch: On Sunday we had planned to have a farewell brunch at La Vista again. Most of our guests had breakfast included in their room package so this was a cheap way for us to offer another function. I’m kind of glad to say that there wasn’t much of a turn out. While we would have loved to spend more time with them, we were glad they were out having fun! We had a few joiners and many others that just stopped by to say “Hi / Goodbye”. It ended up working out really well as we got to dine with a couple that missed the sailing excursion and it so happened they were the only two that didn’t stay with us at the Marriott. (This person has a condo in Aruba and he was the one that insisted we consider it as our destination!) And by the way – Champagne mimosas are included as part of the La Vista brunch but they don’t seem to advertise that! Luckily my husband had found out about that. =) Food again at La Vista was great, though I have to admit we were a bit distracted, wishing we had the food from the night before! We wanted that Indian food again.

Trash the Dress: After seeing off our families at the airport, we hit the road for a trash the dress shoot which was so much fun! When I get to my post of “The Best things we did and things we could have done without”, the post wedding shoot will definitely be on the BEST things list! It was fun to put the gown on and spend time in unconventional settings. We went to some ruins and then went an ‘got her wet’ at Eagle Beach! Unfortunately it could be 4-6 more weeks before I see the photos.

For our wedding dinner we chose the Marriott’s “International Four Corners Buffet“, the corners being the “Asian Wok”, “Mexican Fiesta”, “Caribbean Warmth” and “Middle Eastern Oasis”. We liked the idea of offering different types of food and loved that they would be willing to swap out one of the corners for Indian food. We chose to swap the Middle Eastern Oasis for the Indian food. They do not have any Indian food on their catering menu but told us they sometimes do Indian weddings and can cook it when they need to. We were a bit skeptical but figured at least there would be three other ‘corners’ if it didn’t turn out great. Ordering something not on the menu seemed like we would be asking for trouble.

Our menu would have Indian, Asian, Mexican and Caribbean. Then a week or two before the wedding, I’m taking another look and realizing there will be several people I know that may not eat any of the food on the menu! (There aren’t many adventurous eaters in my family.) So, at practically the last minute, we asked if we can swap one more corner for what we expected would be a boring but safe “American Corner”. They were very accommodating giving us two entrees, three salads, mashed potatoes and two deserts! (I think they were generous with the American Corner because the Indian corner would be all vegetarian and relatively inexpensive for them to prepare.)

We didn’t get to taste any of the food before the reception so we were just hoping for the best. Does anyone expect great food at a wedding reception anyway? We’ve had few (if any) remarkable meals at receptions, but were expecting the Marriott catering would be above average. We thought it might even be “good” (the menu sounded really different and pretty good). We weren’t prepared for the food to be outstanding! I just left a couple of friends who are still talking about the food saying it was among the best meals they’ve ever had!

My husband and I started with the Indian food and were blown away! It was so good! He had emailed them the list of what he would like to see on the menu and they did a fantastic job. We were afraid they would be too conservative on the spices but they packed some heat into it! We had a couple of people tell us it was some of the best Indian food they had ever had. We both also had some of the red snapper and plantains from the Caribbean Warmth and again – oh my god - so good. We have a 13 year old that ‘doesn’t like fish’ who went back for two servings! And those plantains are amazing. I can’t even describe them but had two helpings!

The “American Corner” ended up being anything but boring as it featured a Beef Tenderloin Carving Station with Chimichurri and Bernaise sauces. I have one guest in particular who’s favorite food is beef tenderloin but he’s super fussy about how it’s prepared and isn’t shy about telling you if its not right. Well I visited with him tonight and he was going on and on about that tenderloin! And this guy – another person that ‘doesn’t eat fish’ actually tried and raved about the red snapper too!

The Four Corners Buffet is surprisingly well priced for the amount of food you get. (I believe it was $60 per person as of October 2009.) Each ‘corner’ comes with salads and / or appetizers, an entree, at least one side and one or more deserts. There is so much food its almost embarrassing. The deserts alone were an impressive display that I wish I had a picture of – all kinds of cute little desert ‘bites’ and ’shots’. The only bad part is that I have yet to talk to anyone that really even got to the deserts because they were so stuffed by the food! As you can see in the picture, there are 6 tables of food set-up. The next morning when my husband and I woke up we were both just wishing we could get our leftovers! I believe the chef’s name is “Francisco” but I’ll have to check on that. (By the way – the lighting is one of our touches – I don’t believe the buffet comes with the lighting under the tables. This lighting was something my husband wanted. I thought might be kind of tacky, but I ended up loving it!)

Like the deserts, I also didn’t hear much on the cake – many people were just too full. They did a beautiful job with the decorating of the cake and we did get that one bite we fed each other when we cut it. The bottom tier was white cake with strawberry filling, the midde was chocolate with chocolate filling and the top tier was carrot cake with cream cheese filling. We had a bite of the bottom tier (white / strawberry) which was ‘ok’. I remember thinking it was a little dry and typical of many wedding cakes I’ve had. Someone did tell me the chocolate tier was really good and I never got around to trying the carrot cake which is what I really wanted. We also had way more cake than we needed so they were going to box up slices of left-over cake for the guests to take with them (would you believe they don’t charge for that?). Well they forgot about that and we also forgot. We had just talked about it but it was never listed in the “BEO” (banquet event order). Three days later we mentioned we wished we had tried the cake and they told us they still had the cake if we wanted it – that they always take the extra cake and put it in the freezer. We said no thanks, but now I do wish we had them get us a couple of pieces so I could know how good the other tiers were. I also wish we had thought to have a slice of each tier sent to our room to enjoy later (though they did have a really tasty surprise waiting for us in the room). 

Cocktail Hour and Drinks: We were so glad we kept the cocktail hour simple offering only drinks and some fruit and cheese. Initially we had planned on also passing three chilled hors d’oeuvres and had considered the crab claw display. At that time we had no idea how generous the buffet would be. We had scaled back purely for budget reasons. We also limited the cocktail hour bar to two ’signature cocktails’, beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages to control cost and to help keep the party from getting too ‘colorful’ too early. I also hadn’t gotten around to picking out those signature cocktails so the Marriott improvised choosing one orange signature cocktail and one pink – our wedding colors.

The bar at the poolside for dinner and dancing was a full premium bar. And by the way – I’ve also received great comments from the guests about the staff – they loved the bartender and said the servers did a fantastic job, even cheering the the guests on when they were on the dance floor.

Reception Menu: Below is our menu. I’ve put an * by and bolded our favorite items, though hate to say that there are so many courses we didn’t even get to try (like the Mexican food) and most of the salads! I had printed menus which I mounted to bright pink card stock and had given these to the wedding planner. They coordinated with the rest of our materials, featuring the same pink and orange paisley border. The were placed at each guest seat and would help get the guests’ appetites going while they waited for us to make it to the reception (and do our dance, and cut the cake). 

There is only one thing we would change knowing what we know now. We had the dancing poolside, the buffet set-up on the lawn and the dinner tent in between. Two hours into dancing we wanted to surprise our guests with an ice cream sundae station which would have been perfect because it was so hot! Only thing is they set it up over where the rest of the buffet set-up was. We discussed this in the meeting and all thought that was the most logical place for it. Well, DJ Randolph was just doing too good a job rockin’ the party that people didn’t want to leave the dance floor, my husband and I included! At that point I would have loved an ice cream sundae but couldn’t tear myself away. So, if we were to do it again, the surprise ice cream sundae station would still come out at 9:30pm but it would be placed next to the bar! There, I know it would have been ravaged!

Buffet Menu: Below is our menu. I’ve put an * by and bolded our favorite items, though hate to say that there are so many courses we didn’t even get to try (like the Mexican food) and most of the salads! I had printed menus which I mounted to bright pink card stock and had given these to the wedding planner. They coordinated with the rest of our materials, featuring the same pink and orange paisley border. The were placed at each guest seat and would help get the guests’ appetites going while they waited for us to make it to the reception (and do our dance, and cut the cake).

International Four Corners Buffet

A taste of around the World

The American Corner
Potato Salad, Pineapple Cole Slaw Pasta Salad tossed with ranch dressing
USDA Beef Tenderloin* with chimichurri & sauce bernaice
Fried Chicken with Mashed Potato
Chocolate cake bites
Apple pie bites

Caribbean Warmth
Sweet potato & plantain salad with local basil & chili* (this was so good!)
Seafood ceviche marinated in fresh lime with sweet potato & crisp corn
Grilled fresh red snapper* served mango & papaya relish on fragrant couscous & salsa verde Caribbean fried plantains*
Avocado crème Brule with a Key lime & apple salsa
Freshly brewed coffee & specialty teas

Mexican Fiesta
Marinated Jicamica salad with cilantro & roast corn 
Avocado & shrimp ancho chili dressing
Sliced marinated chicken fajitas with sautéed peppers & onions
Soft flour tortillas
Traditional Mexican Toppings Bar Including Shredded Lettuce, Diced Tomatoes, Black Olives, Sour Cream, Shredded Cheese, Fresh Homemade Salsa, & Guacamole
Chocolate jalapeño tort with caramelized banana crisp

Indian Buffet
Appetizer: Pakoras*
Dal Makhani* (Lentil made in rich butter sauce)
Mattar Paneer (Peas and Cottage cheese curry)
Accompanied by Nans (plain and garlic) & Pulao Rice
Gulab Jamun
Freshly brewed coffee & specialty teas

We had our ceremony on the beach at the Aruba Marriott. Sunset was at 6:14 that night so we chose to have our ceremony start at 4:30. We did not want a ’sunset ceremony’. Our idea was we would have the ceremony, then guests would move on to the cocktail hour to enjoy steel pan music and the sunset while we were taking photos. Also, the photographers told us the best light is the hour just before sunset, so we wanted most of our photos taken between 5:00-6:00. (Believe it or not, we don’t care about ’sunset photos’. Instead of capturing sunset photos, a little after 6:00 we were on our way inside to enjoy an orange mojito in the lobby bar before going upstairs to change clothes.)

The day of the ceremony, guests were asked to gather in the lobby around 4:15pm. Desireé, the Marriott’s wedding planner, would be walking the guests in groups to the ceremony location, when she confirmed everything was on schedule. She didn’t want our guests to spend more time than necessary waiting in the heat if we were for some reason delayed. Good thing too, because it was HOT! And Aruba’s characteristic ‘wind’ seemed to have left us that afternoon, so the ceremony was probably 90º with very little breeze! (Desireé had recommended we instead had the ceremony start at 5:00 because of the heat, but we stuck with 4:30 since we didn’t want to miss out on the hour of primo light.)

My groom joined his two groomsmen up at the arch while the guests were being seated. (We did not have the groomsmen ‘walk the aisle’ with the bridesmaid and maid of honor.) His eldest son seated both of our mothers and then it was time to begin!

Steel pan music played as my bridesmaid and maid of honor walked down the aisle up to the bamboo and white fabric arch. Our flower girl (daughter of the maid of honor) started off great, but then decided to walk off and do her own thing which was fine. For us it was something to laugh about – after all, she had just turned 3 so we knew something like that might happen. Then my dad walked me down the aisle to the steel pan ‘here comes the bride’. Somehow I thought it would be cheesy to have that song played by the steel drum, but it was actually quite nice. That tune tugs at the emotion but the steel pan playing it made it seem so cheerful and fun – perfect for the beach!

I wore a gorgeous Romona Keveza Collection silk gown, Nadri chandelier earrings and bangles, and high heeled wedge flip flops. Luckily Romona’s dresses have the most amazing construction so I didn’t need any ’support undergarments’. A simple pair of lace undies is all was needed under that dress! And I heeded the advice from bridal consultants that said limit the veil to simple single tier of fingertip length, though I also brought a cathedral length veil which I used for other photos. (I purchased both veils on eBay for only $20 each!) Had there been a lot of wind, I would have just tucked a little bit of the veil in the back of the dress to hold it in place. (My ‘reception’ dress which I’ll show in the reception review was a gorgeous Nicole Miller gown purchased on RueLaLa.com. RueLaLa has short ‘private sales’ of designer clothes and accessories, during one of which I purchased the $2600 gown for only $650! They emailed me a teaser two days before and I was lucky enough to snag that dress before it sold out.) My bouquet was white cymbidium orchids and white freesia and the bridesmaids carried orange calla lilies. (I loved my bouquet even though it was really expensive but wasn’t impressed with the bridesmaid bouquets. I’ll elaborate more on flowers in another post.)

The Ceremony:

For the ceremony, we chose Reverend Gibson, whom I had communicated via email for a few months and we met in person the day before. He’s definitely a pro and very comfortable in front of the group. There was something that put me off a little bit, but I can’t put my finger on what is was (maybe I’ll figure it out by the time I write a more detailed review for him).

We exchange traditional vows and were then asked to say some words of our own. He had warned us the day before that he would ask us to do this. He insisted ‘Don’t worry about it – don’t even give it a thought’. He said he had never seen it go wrong. He said relax and something beautiful will come out, ‘it always does’. We decided to go ahead and leave that part in and trust him. When the time came though, I hate to say that I felt a little lost (luckily the groom had to go first!). Did some beautiful words come to me when it was my turn? I’m afraid not. I thought it was really awkward and I remember feeling embarrassed. I haven’t seen the video yet – when I do maybe I’ll decide he was right. My hunch though? Probably not.

After we are pronounced husband and wife we were invited to participate in the ‘sand ceremony‘, kind of Aruba’s version of a unity candle. We invited my husbands children to participate with us and filled the sand vase as a family. (By the way, we hired Rev. Gibson directly and in our email communications he never mentioned we’d need to provide the vase for the ceremony. We found out about that the day before. Luckily, Edwina came to the rescue and found us a beautiful vase and some colored sands.) The vase gets filled, the ‘keepsake certificate’ signed and then he invites guests to come up and congratulate us. It was nice to get that hug from each person right after the ceremony, however it took a while and I kind of feel like our guests were wanting some shade and a drink and not so excited about waiting in line to say their congratulations at that moment. (And we wanted to move on to our photos so we could stay on schedule.)

Decorating:

We chose to simply line the aisle with palm leaves. (The pink / orange ombre rose petal pattern I had in mind would have likely been disrupted by the wind and sand. I had instead chosen a white carpet runner which I decided against at the last minute. I had been considering the runner so that it would be easier for me to walk in my high heeled wedge flip, but then a carpet on the sand just didn’t seem right.)

We chose to do almost no decorating of the ceremony – no flowers at all and no sashes. We rented the folding chairs (which I think are more sophisticated than the plastic slip covered / sashed chairs) and bamboo and fabric arch from Edwina / E2. I had briefly wondered if I should have at least decorated the chairs at the ends by the aisle, but was glad we chose to leave them plain. We just didn’t want to spend more money than necessary on the ceremony – we wanted to save our budget for the party! I never felt like anything was missing.

The Beach:

If you’re planning an Aruba wedding you probably already know that there are no private beaches in Aruba! Many couples are bothered by this and its probably one of the biggest reasons some choose Renaissance Island, where you get to rent out the whole Island and you have ultimate privacy. Edwina warned us that Palm Beach is much busier than Eagle Beach which is why she prefers Eagle Beach for weddings. We had read posts from couples that were concerned about having tourists and water sports activities in their photos. The fact that Marriott is the Palm Beach hotel furthest to the north, we hoped these things would be less of a problem.

So, were there sunbathers laying around watching the wedding? Was there water sports activity going on in the background? Was there anyone in a speedo walking the beach? Yes, Yes and Yes! Were we bothered by these things, like the fact that some of our ceremony photos show a person in the water in the middle of the arch (shown here)? Surprisingly, no! Aside from one group of skimpily clad people that we politely asked to move during family photos after the wedding, we weren’t bothered. We really didn’t even notice the extra audience to the sides and were able to laugh off the occasional person strolling the beach. You may notice two of the photos in this post are almost identical with the exception that in one the swimmer is easily Photoshop-ed out of the arch. With as much as I get hung up on so many other things, I’m surprised that this didn’t bother me. I will try to post more photos later and let you judge for yourself how big of a deal it is. If you do want to be assured more privacy though, I’d consider Ren Island or Eagle Beach.

Things I am glad we did:

• Kept the ceremony decoration simple! I did not want to spend a lot of money decorating a short ceremony and wondered if I would regret that later. In the end, that simplicity was something I loved.
• Steel pan player: I believe Tico was the steel pan player and he did a fantastic job. Marriott positioned him perfectly between the cocktails and ceremony and the volume was perfect. I had wondered if a single steep pan would be enough and I totally think it was. (Other options were a steel pan trio or a steel pan and guitar duo.)
• Timing: I’m glad we kept the 4:30 timing (vs. moving back to 5:00), even though it was hot.
• Cocktail hour: Arranged for a cocktail hour to follow. (We limited it to 2 signature cocktails, beer and wine and fruit and cheese displays to help keep the cost down.)

Things I might have done differently:

• Sand Ceremony: I would have brought a vase from home for the sand ceremony. I think we paid $80 for a simple glass vase that I could have purchase for a fraction of that here at home. I also might have liked to pick out this keepsake myself. For the sand, you can keep it as simple as using some beach sand, or you can use some colored sands. Luckily we loved the combination of natural sand and earthy colored sands Edwina found for us.
• Vows: Put some thought into the words Reverend Gibson would ask us to exchange

So, the final verdict – should we have done our ceremony elsewhere? No way! We found the Marriott’s beach to be much less crowded than other hotels on Palm Beach and really wanted the convenience of having everything in one place. We didn’t have to worry about transporting guests between the ceremony and reception site. We wanted everything to be as easy as possible for our guests who had come so far. Also, some guests like being able to sneak up to their room to change into something more comfortable for the reception. Having spotless facilities nearby (bar and restrooms) was a plus as well. And we actually enjoyed having total strangers come up to us the rest of the weekend telling us they had watched our ceremony on the beach. Some said that it was the most beautiful ceremony they had ever seen. Every “Congratulations” was well received and we even had one lady say our ceremony brought tears to her eyes. Awww…. !

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!

Ok, you know you have a great party going when you get party crashers! According to Desiree, in her years of doing weddings for the Marriott, she has never had to deal with wedding crashers. And this for a party where we weren’t even sure we’d have anyone that would dance!

We met with Mark Benson (of Cool Pro DJs and Elite Productions) and DJ Randolph the night we got into town. At first we didn’t know what to make of DJ Randolph – he seemed so ’serious’ and kind of quiet, but when he asked questions we knew he was really paying attention and ‘getting’ what we wanted. He wanted to know the age ranges of the people, genres of music we preferred, what kinds of songs we did not want to hear, etc.

This reminds me of an insecurity I had in planning — for some reason I had a feeling we would be hiring them to just ‘do what they do’ and would be left ‘hoping for the best’. That is not the case all. They do have real talent and did care about our event. They were so glad to meet with us and find out what WE wanted – make sure they helped share our personalities with our guests.

One of our most important requests was to have some bhangra music incorporated, which we would give him on a CD. We told him we wanted it well represented, along with some other music our guests are less likely to hear at home like reggaetone and caribbean music. As far a ratio? How much top 40? bhangra? etc, we told him to just feel out the crowd – see what they are responding to.

After the ceremony and family photos we ran upstairs and changed, and then had a quick cocktail in the lobby. (Marriott’s lobby bar makes a great Orange Mojito! Luckily for my husband I only had time for one!) We walked in and did our first dance which Randolph perfectly faded out at the right spot (around two and a half minutes into the song). We cut the cake and then Mark announced we would open the buffet. (Both Mark and Randolph were present the entire time, Mark acting as emcee and Randolph playing music.)

Dinner music I don’t remember much because we were trying to visit with people but I know it was nice. I do remember hearing some jazz… Then all of a sudden the party music started and a lot of people hit the dance floor! Even I was out there and I normally need several drinks to even think about it! As the song was ending I wanted to go to the ladies room but then another great song came on and another and I think 20 minutes later I was finally able to break away. DJ Randolph did a GREAT job of keeping the party moving (we didn’t want any ’slow songs’) and expertly worked in the bhangra music he had just received the day before! My husband is convinced its the bhangra that drew in those party crashers. We felt ‘the more the merrier’ and just asked that the bartender to try to keep track of who was part of our party and who wasn’t.

The did forget to do the champagne toast which we had also wanted to do right after the cake cutting and first dance. Desiree asked if we wanted to still do it and we chose to heed some of Mark and Randolph’s advice – don’t interrupt the flow of party! If its going great, let it keep going – don’t break the rhythm with ‘formalities’ since you may not get it back. They hadn’t opened the bottles yet so instead just got credit for them. We were a little late getting to the ceremony so we were glad to skip another formality and give our guests the party!

One of the best decisions we made was pushing to have a ‘lounge space’ that featured comfortable seating and a nice ambiance created with our lanterns. Those that didn’t want to dance could comfortably watch the activity on the dance floor. We could also take moments to sit with those guests without being too far from the dancing.

And when we asked for something ‘local’, something ‘unique’, Mark had an idea for us. Randolph kind of laughed at him (or maybe it was the other way around, Randolph’s idea) because it sounds a little cheesy – they have a local song and dance called something like ‘the Wiper’. Years ago they had unprecedented rain during Carnival – so much so that they created a song and dance about using the ‘wipers’ (something you rarely have to use in Aruba). So as we’re getting ready to wrap up the party the second to last song they play the Wiper. They got ALL our guests on the dance floor, and Mark is showed them how to do this dance. It was hilarious!!! Even those that sat to the side all night got out there and then remained for one last rockin’ bhangra track! (And yes, that is a napkin on my husband’s head!)

At the end of the night, we couldn’t have been happier with the entertainment! They all made us look like we knew how to throw a party! And of course it proved to be another example of where I should have just listened to Desiree! Her first choice was to hire Mark Benson but I got all wound up when I couldn’t find much information about Cool Pro DJs on the web. I couldn’t find comprehensive reviews, a good website, etc, so I doubted them and wondered if we should hire someone else.

Thank goodness I came back to them! However I do still think this could have been easier for all of us if I could have been pointed to a good website with DJ bios, some music playlists and videos and pictures of parties they’ve played. Its so important to have confidence in your entertainment and so hard to leave their hiring to another person you have communicated with only via email. Hopefully this review at least will give more confidence to the next couple that want to hire them. We give them an A+! And that’s even considering the one ‘problem’ – we were warned they ‘prounounce everyone’s name wrong’. Sure enough – when we were introduced he pronounced our last name wrong. With the way he rocked the party though, he can call us whatever he wants!