Our Aruba Wedding

One of our favorite tips involved figuring out where to buy (and not to buy) Aruba Aloe products. We were surprised to find that the Aruba Aloe Factory and retail locations were the most expensive places we saw Aruba Aloe Products.

We learned that this is because these are sales intended for tourists! Weeks ago I had emailed the Aruba Aloe Factory directly since I knew they would deliver to the hotel. I asked for a price on 30 4oz tubes of Aruba Aloe After Sun cream that would be purchased and consumed in Aruba and was told they would be $13.75 USD each! At first I thought they were being opportunistic and trying to scam me but then I found out there is a big difference between ‘tourist’ and ‘local’ pricing and the factory will offer you the ‘tourist’ prices.

When we got to Aruba, one of the first things we did was take a trip to the grocery store. I believe it was Super Food where they had the After Sun priced at $8.54 USD each. I breathed a sigh of relief – there was hope that I would still be able to include this in the welcome bags. Luckily I thought I could do even better because I had found the product on Ling & Sons‘ website for $7.10. We went there and sure enough it was $7.10 USD. (When price shopping, always make sure items are priced in US dollars, or at least that you’re comparing the same currencies.)

We went to make our purchase at Ling & Sons to find out that they didn’t have enough in stock. Would you believe that they were then kind enough to call their distributor for us to see if they had enough in stock. They did and priced out that same After Sun product at around $5 each! Not only that, we were welcome to go purchase from this distributor directly! (Our other option was to go to the difference grocery stores to collect enough but that it would be worth our drive to the agency.)

This wholesaler is: Oduber Agencies, Wayaca 33-B, Oranjestad, Aruba. They sold all of the Aruba Aloe products we were interested in, though of course minimum quantities applied. What was that minimum quantity? THREE! We could buy as little as 3 at a time. So, we purchased 24 of the Aruba Aloe After Sun, 6 of the Aruba Aloe Gel Burn Aid, and 3 of the regular green Aloe Vera Gel. Minimum quantities for lip balm are higher (24 or 36 I think), however they happened to have an open case in the office that they allowed us to buy 12 from. I think they may accept cash only – at least we paid cash. They have a walk up window – not a showroom or retail display, but if you know what you want, they could save you a lot of money! And the ladies there were really sweet! Probably 6 of them came out to look at my henna’d hands.

Here is an Aruba Aloe After Sun display we saw in an Aruba Aloe store the following day, priced at $15.25 USD! That’s nearly 3 times what we paid.

Here is the store in the Renaissance Mall, downtown where the above photo was taken:

Oduber is a little tricky to get to and I seem to remember it being out of the way – maybe near the airport?

If you can’t make it there, check out the grocery stores. There are 3 or 4 of them in the same area on your way to the hotels. You’ll see Super Food easily from the street. We liked Ling & Sons the best (its behind the others – you can’t see it from the main drag) – it seemed the newest and brightest and more like where we are used to shopping at home, but a couple of people have said the others may have better prices. In general, we did not find the prices at the grocery store to be too crazy. I’d think of it as shopping downtown in a big city like Chicago. And the bottled water we thought we’d go to Pricesmart for is less than $1 each at the supermarket so we didn’t bother with Pricesmart, a trip we would have had to coordinate with our wedding planner. (Pricesmart is a members only shopping club like Costco.)

I was reading some wedding budget suggestions when I saw a reminder to not forget about tips! Good point I thought, but then realized I don’t really know who to tip. I came across one etiquette article that suggests you tip just about everyone involved from the chef to the banquet captain to the wedding planners and entertainers, and of course wait staff and bartenders. You can imagine how much that could add up! But then we have prices that are already inflated with the 19% service fee that the Marriott adds on top of everything – does that cover tips? When and where might an additional tip be acceptable and / or expected? Totally confused I emailed their wedding planner who did not reply to that email. Maybe its an uncomfortable question for her? A couple weeks later I went ahead and emailed the manager that we’ve been working with and really appreciated her reply!

Wedding Tipping:

Of course she says any tips are totally up to our discretion if we receive excellent service. But as a rule:

• Wait Staff and Bartenders – Yes
• Chef and Pastry Chef – No
• Banquet Captain / Manager – No
• Wedding Planner – No
• Entertainers (Steel Pan Drummer & DJs) – No
• Event Manager – No
• Restaurant Manager (where we’re holding welcome party) – No
• Hair Stylist – No (Mandara Spa adds a 20% service charge)

She also agreed with something I had read on my own – that you aren’t expect to tip the ‘owner of a company’. For example, if your photographer, independent wedding planner, entertainer, etc, works for him / herself they do not expect a tip. And Marriott managers are not allowed to accept tips. They are allowed to accept gifts, however if the value of the gift exceeds $50, it needs to be ‘reported’ (to corporate management maybe?).

Here are Martha Stewart’s thoughts on Wedding Tipping»

Restaurant Tipping:

I’m told in Marriott’s restaurants, a 15% gratuity will be automatically added to groups of 6 or more, but somehow I seem to remember a service charge being added to our breakfast for two when we were there (I’ll find out for sure in less than 2 weeks!). 

Outside of the hotel, I think restaurant service changes are a bit controversial in Aruba. Some restaurants will add in a ’service charge’ and its often unclear as to what that service charge is for. Who gets what? Its easy to think, “If they are going to add in a service charge, then I don’t have to leave a tip”. But does the money from this service charge get shared with the wait staff? The policies are different from restaurant to restaurant. I remember reading some TripAdvisor reviews from frustrated visitors, irritated by wait personnel that pushed the ‘extra tip’ line when there was already the service charge added in. Maybe this service charge is shared but maybe not (my guess is probably not much of it is shared)…  And how well are waiters, waitresses and bartenders compensated in Aruba? Are they dependent on tips like those there in the US? Or are they paid well and the tip is just a bonus? (Aruba is a Dutch island and some countries in Europe pay these people really well so tipping is not customary.) Really, I think its a poor policy to have that service charge there, especially if it is not shared with the wait staff. It confuses people. I think it would be better all around if they just raised their prices 15%. I guess maybe they want to be able to show a reasonably priced menu, but I think its pretty shady to add 15% after the fact. 

Anyway – the ‘take-away’ for me is to go ahead and tip if you are truly impressed with the service and don’t let yourself feel obligated to tip if the service is just ‘ok’. So, I think we’ll tuck away some cash in envelopes to have one hand for the bartenders and wait staff – and maybe have a couple of extra envelopes on hand ‘just in case’. In the end it looks like tipping will be a token instead of the considerable expense I had suddenly feared.

Well I think this is the week things are really going to start coming together. As expected, I am now getting LOTS of emails from our independent wedding planner — she rocks! One thing she has is a stylist who will come to your room and do your hair and make-up. Her up-dos cost much less than the Mandara Spa. Still – I wanted to see photos which I have just received and have to say the work is very nice. Looks like she can probably do as elaborate of a style as you want. Also — one thing I really appreciated – she shared a couple of photos and wanted me to assure her I would not share them with anyone else. I promised her I would keep them to myself and really like the fact that she protects the privacy of her brides. She is a lady of integrity. We had a good feeling from the moment we met her and have not had a single second thought since making the decision to hire her. Also, this is a good example of how an independent planner can save you money.

After several emails with the manager of the Mandara Spa, I now have ‘tentative’ appointments for Saturday for me, my girls (bridesmaids) and my mom. I had to secure the appointment with my credit card but am told it will not be charged until the appointment. (You can cancel up to 24 hours before the appointment. If you cancel less than 24 hours before you will be charged for the appointment.) The only frustrating thing is I don’t have pricing. She says they don’t really know until your ‘consultation’ and the actual appointment. They need to see the hairstyle desired and see the hair type of the person. I pushed for a ‘price range’ (an average), because I’ll be having my hair done no matter what, but for my bridesmaids and mother the price could definitely make a difference.

On one hand, the Marriott’s wedding package pricing tells you $150 for a bridal updo. I’m wondering is a bridesmaid updo the same? Even if its a simple french twist or bun? Finally I’m told that any updo ’starts at $75′. That’s definitely better than a guaranteed $150, so I’m expecting it to fall somewhere in the middle. She says you can help control your cost by showing up with your hair freshly washed and blow dried.

Make-up starts at $85, whether you are a bride or member of the wedding party.

So, I was thinking maybe the salon visit would be something I will treat my bridesmaids to (I only have two) and treat my mother to hair and makeup. But that would really add up. I would expect those three hairstyles and makeup could easily reach $400 by the time service fees are added in. (You still have a service fee with the spa, but by booking your appointment directly, don’t also have a service fee from Marriott.) And of course I’m counting on my hair and make-up running about $250. So now, what to do? If I’m going to spend $100 on each of the girls, I have to wonder if there is something they’d like more than a hairdo. Like a J Crew gift certificate or spa treatment?

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