Our Aruba Wedding

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.)

Well, I know these photos aren’t very good, but they show a little of what I was trying to explain in my review. I’m sitting and getting my hair done. I’m facing a large mirror that extends to the floor – my knees come within inches of it. I’m taking the pics forward into the mirror. The room actually looks bigger than it is but I think you get the idea. Not that you need a large room, but it wasn’t the ‘zen’ spa experience I was hoping for on our wedding day. You also get a peek at that harsh lighting that wouldn’t let me see my eyes when I looked forward.

There were some things I liked about the Mandara Spa at the Marriott’s Ocean Club property next door to the resort. They have Phyto products which are awesome (in particular their volumizing spray). They use Bare Escentuals mineral make-up which is what I use at home! They gave me ice water with lemon which was refreshing and played nice calming music. Also, one of my bridesmaids had her hair done at the Mandara Spa. She was really happy with the bun, but when she asked them to ‘flat-iron / straighten’ her bangs, they didn’t seem to know what she was asking for. She went back to the room and did her bangs herself.

For me though, the ‘zen’ ended there. The people were very nice but it just wasn’t the experience I was hoping for. I was taken to the room where hair and make-up would be done and wasn’t impressed. It was small – maybe 7′ x 9′? The cabinets were dark and looked dated as did the plain porcelain tiled floor. (When I visited the Westin’s Intermezzo Spa, I remember their hair / make-up room being modern, bright and immaculate.) The Mandara room was crowded and there was a layer of dust on the cabinet in my line of vision. (All I really had to look at was a mirror inches in front of me and part of that dusty cabinet.) The room felt worn and tired. The lighting was also terrible – I remember big bright light directly overhead – there are no windows for any natural light and I don’t remember additional light sources. If I looked forward at my face, my eyes were just black shadows, so to see my eye make-up I had to either tip my head way back and hold a mirror hand-held mirror or go outside. You also hear the conversations going on at the front desk which are a little distracting.

Hair Trial: Thursday was my hair trial with Carmen. She seemed very nice but didn’t speak english so the manager, Cheryl would ask what I wanted and try to translate. I wasn’t bothered at first because I had brought photos. One of my inspiration photos is the image, left. I liked that it looked organic and beachy. Unfortunately, the first hair attempt was totally wrong. I wanted an updo with some volume that still looked natural, which I know is a challenge with my fine hair. She started with the curling, and then did some teasing. Then she took small sections of the front and twisted and pinned them back. It totally reminded me of a high school ‘prom’ hairstyle. Taking a closer look at the picture here, I can ‘kind of’ see how she got that style from one of the pictures, though there was some volume only on top and the sides were stuck to my head. In the back she tried to do a fancy bun which just doesn’t work with my baby fine hair and wasn’t in any of the photos I had showed her.

Cheryl came in to check and when I was really unhappy Cheryl explained some more to Carmen and Carmen started over. We then moved on to my alternate inspiration photo, shown here. Neither of the ladies seemed to get upset with having to start over. They seemed to be very patient which I really appreciated, so I was not yet concerned. This time she did some teasing giving me some volume on top, and tried another sort of fancy bun with three distinct sections which again didn’t work with my fine hair. (Maybe this is the trend of the day that brides ask for that has somehow missed me.) The volume on top only gave my head a triangular shape and made my forehead look huge. I didn’t get anything close to the sideswept front you see here.

By now its been 2 hours. I’m just about ready to cry, especially as I’m thinking of all the other things I’m supposed to be working on (putting together bags for the welcome party) and we haven’t done any make-up yet. I point again to my photo and ask if there is any way we can do something more like that. She takes my hair down and it does in fact have some volume in it. That’s when I ask, can’t we just kind of gather this to the side and put it in a more natural bun (like the photo!!!)? As if I had just grabbed it and tied it up. Finally, everyone agreed yes, they could do that. They would blow it dry and put it in rollers for a while to get the volume, then tease and tie it up. We didn’t have time to try it but I finally felt like they understood what I wanted, and we at least had a plan for the wedding day. I made another appointment for the make-up trial for the next day and scramble out of there to run upstairs and start assembling welcome bags (which would take 3 hours)!

Friday’s make-up trial went worse than hair. Keep in mind time is really tight and this is an appointment I wasn’t expecting to need. I presented one photo, shown left. VERY soft natural make-up except for some drama in the eyes. The eyes feature sandy and bronze colors, darker at the outside and shimmery on the lid. Somehow I ended up with really heavy purplish-grey eye shadow all around. I was stunned to be presented with something that was nothing like my photo. Cheryl came in again and again took Carmen to look at the color photo on the computer (our printout was black and white, though I had a color image on my iPhone). She did it again with natural colors, but pretty light – no drama. I was feeling defeated and running late for a meeting so I called it ‘good enough’. One note – as I was leaving I noticed lipstick she used was crumbling and peeling off (don’t know what kind it was but it was very strange). I walked back into the salon to point this out and she said she’d us a different kind the next day. I ran upstairs, wiped off as much of the make-up as I could and then rushed to my meeting.

Wedding Day! Luckily we were finally all on the same page with the hair. Carmen did a beautiful job! Great hair, first try! Very natural (I think) and looked much more like ‘me’. I was asked to arrive with it damp so she could blow it out and put in the velcro rollers. After that she teased quite a bit and then parted to the side and pulled it back into a simple neat bun that didn’t look ‘over-done’. Then she brought out the super-hold hairspray and oh my god — the hair did not move all night!

Make-up wasn’t so easy. I asked, could she do the eye a little more like my photo and am told yes. What I ended up with was the really light eye. I asked again, can it be a little more like my photo — a little drama at the outside of the eye? Another lady took over and added way too much, some of which had fallen under the eye leaving me with what looked like dark shadows (they said they would put a tissue underneath to catch falling shadow but didn’t). They had also put on way too much blush which looked like a poor attempt at ‘contouring’ my chubby cheeks. I didn’t dare to let them work with it more and left.

I left the Mandara and stopped to where Edwina’s (our independent wedding planner’s) make-up artist was working on the moms. In a few minutes she expertly helped me with the false eyelashes the Mandara could not help with. I really liked her and wished she had been the one to help me with my own hair and make-up which she would have done for a lot less money.

I got back to the room feeling like I am wearing a pound of make-up. Luckily my photographers are also friends and weren’t shy about telling me I could lose most of the make-up! (Initially I had given the make-up artist the benefit of the doubt thinking maybe I really need that much make-up for photos.) I started by using a dry wash cloth to rub off a lot of the blush and breathed a big sigh of relief. Then I wiped away a lot of the eye make-up and tried to soften it by putting some highlighter on top of the dark that wouldn’t lighten up. I also rubbed under the eyes and finally ended up with something that looked more like my photo and had a little drama.

So, in all, I have to say that the Mandara Spa might not be the beautiful ’spa experience’ you are looking for. I wouldn’t say not to use them but definitely do a trial and have photos that show exactly what you want, hopefully front and back. I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of the trials that ‘went so wrong’ but I was just too embarrassed by how bad they looked. I’ve also read online reviews that say their manicures and pedicures are pretty bad. On TripAdvisor is a review from a bride who loved her Marriott wedding but said she went back to the room and redid her Mandara manicure and pedicure herself the day of the wedding.  I guess I should have done like her and asked for at least part of my money back but I just needed to move on.

I do feel that hair and make-up might have gone better if there wasn’t a language barrier. I think not being able to communicate ‘as we go’ caused problems and I hated having to call the manager in. She comes in the room expecting me to be happy and I’m nearly in tears. It was really awkward and I think led to me giving up quicker than I otherwise might.

Cost: I believe I paid around $100 for the hair trial, around $75 for the make-up trial, $170 for my hair and make-up on the wedding day and only $50 for the bridesmaid updo. (The bridesmaid asked for a simple french twist but instead got a bun – luckily she liked the bun better than the twist she had in mind.) Total cost, around $400 for 4 services, only one of which we were totally happy with (the bridal updo on the wedding day).

If I were to do it again, I would probably have worked with Edwina’s lady who seemed really sweet and came to the hotel. (By the way — the Marriott let us use an open ‘meeting room’ for the hair and make-up for the moms and maid of honor which worked out perfectly!) Sorry – if you want to book her, you’ll have to make that booking through Edwina. I do not have the stylists information to share – her services were part of the billing from Edwina.