Our Aruba Wedding

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

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.)

We now have a menu for the Welcome Party we will have at the Marriott’s La Vista Restaurant. The manager has been a HUGE help. She worked with her catering staff to try to customize the menu to include some Indian appetizers since we will feature Mehndi and bhangra music. In the end, only one of the Indian inspired selections remains on the menu but I’m thinking the food looks pretty good!

• Curried pumpkin seed crusted shrimp with papaya relish
• Seared beef medallions with pineapple relish and red thai curry
• Tandoori Chicken Kabobs
• Spinach Puffs
• Fruit & Cheese Montage & a Tropical Fruit Display with Yogurt Honey Dip
• Tamarind Margaritas
• Non-Alcoholic Mango Margaritas

They are letting us use the bar / lounge area of the restaurant. The party will be a sort of meet and greet where guests will have a chance to say hello to us and get to know each other. La Vista is kind enough to let us play our own music as background music and will be making some special arrangements for our henna artist to work – in particular, they will provide extra lighting for her. We will also be meeting with the manager when we arrive in Aruba so she can tell us about some decorating ideas she has. Also, while we will only be paying for items on the list above, guests will be able to order whatever food and drinks they want off the regular La Vista menu. Took away some of the pressure of trying to please everyone.

Just today, our “Henna Hand” personalized chocolate bars arrived! Our henna artist is going to look into bringing some bangles and bindis we didn’t get around to ordering. And best of all, my fiancé’s family brought me a lehenga from Bombay and its beautiful! I know they put a lot of work into finding it for me and can’t wait to wear it.

I arrived back home today to have my 50 can koozies waiting for me; both the custom and plain ones. How cute are the custom ones all packages up and tied with a ribbon?!? And Stacey really got these put together and in the mail fast! They are pink and orange and an assortment of patterns. My photo is bad since its just an iPhone photo.

So now the question though – is my need for better insulating foam koozies going to haunt me? Should I have purchased flat? (I don’t think so.) Or should I have purchased them down there? Maybe… we’ll see. For now I’m really happy with them because they are SO cute! As it is now, I think what you see on the table will fit in the one duffel. At least I hope… I should found out soon. And it shouldn’t be too heavy.

I also finally unpacked the box of lanterns I have. Luckily none are broken. Pictured is 10 of the 25 we will be bringing with us. If all goes well, the hubby can pack those.

As you may have read, I’m nearing the end of what I can bring from home for the welcome bags. “Extra Baggage” and “Overweight Baggage” charges are so outrageous that I don’t want to take any chances – its just not worth it. So, now I have to again think through want I can buy down there.

At the moment the items I plan to include for sure are:

• Freshly baked Dutch cookies (our wedding planner is going to get these for us from someone who will have made them fresh that day)
• Postcards: We’re going to include 1 or 2 postcards guests can send home as well as another postcard stamped and addressed to us with a note asking them to please jot down their favorite memory from the weekend and drop it in the mail. We will later include these in a scrapbook of the wedding
• Bottled Water: Planning to include 2 bottles of water (Awa) per person
• Beer / Wine / Liquor: I plan to include some sort of ‘libation’ for my closest friends that love to party!

I thought there were a couple more items on the above list so I’ll update this post when I remember them! I want to make sure I have some sweet and some salty snacks and am hoping to figure that out at PriceSmart. Its the worst when you are in the room late at night, hungry and confronted by that minibar!

Items that are on the “maybe” list:

• Cheese and Crackers: I’m hoping to maybe find some mini cheeses and crackers from the grocery store – one big benefit of the Marriott is that there are refrigerators in all the rooms
• Aruba Aloe: I actually have a decent amount of money budgeted to purchase some Aruba Aloe products. The plan is a full size After Sun lotion in each bag (30) and probably some lip balm with SPF. (I had purchase some lip balm from Drugstore.com but our guest list has since grown.) I was also planning to buy maybe 6-8 assorted ‘burn’ products like their Aloe Gel since I can already name like 4 or 5 people that I know are going to get sunburned! I was going to place my order though the factory store and have them deliver it to the hotel but am having second thoughts so stay tuned on that one.
• Cigars: thinking about maybe including some cigars for some of my boys since I have other extras for the ladies

One thing I wondered is if Aruba has a Costco. (My fiancé and I are Costco junkies!) Well they don’t have Costco but they do have something similar called PriceSmart. I had looked into it months ago and read something that said non-members could shop there but would pay like 10% more. I just revisited the site though and it is saying you have to be a member. OR – be with a member! Yet another benefit to having a local wedding planner or be friends with a local. If you don’t have either, membership is only $31 though I do not know if you need to be a resident to get a membership. Like Costco they have things like electronics but they also have some food items. Here is their current flyer (that is current as of the date of this post). I have a feeling we’ll be buying the Oreo’s for the welcome bags!

Well, I didn’t get the CDs done today. I was out running around all day and would you believe I forgot to buy CDs? (Or maybe it was subconscious procrastination.) BUT, I did do one thing I think is important! I started thinking through packing for Aruba. I laid out some of the goodies I intend to bring with me. Talk about a wake-up call!

My initial plan: 2 checked bags (large duffels), one for welcome bag items and one for my clothes etc – enough for a week! Then there is the carry-on bag and the personal item. The personal item is (hopefully) going to be my dress and then in the carry-on will be my purse, computer, bridal accessories, shoes, make-up and the most important clothing like my welcome party outfit. We also have 25 small lanterns for the tables that will take up much of my fiancé’s checked bag space, so I’m not really going to be able to count on him for my overflow. So, now I’m trying to take inventory and figure out how practical this plan is and see if I need to do any ‘editing’. (At the moment, the charge for a third bag is $200!)

The Welcome Bags – all along I’ve been planning that I’ll bring some of the items for the welcome bags with me and purchase other items in Aruba. We make it to Aruba only 24 hours before our guests so I figure the more I can bring with me the better. Also, there’s that neurotic part of me that want to know exactly what I’m getting — I want to see it, touch it… Well, it looks like I may just have to let go of some more control. While its amazing how much you can stuff into those big duffels, you have to be mindful of weight (go over 50 by even 1lb and pay and additional $150!).

Here’s what I have so far:

• The bags themselves - 30 totes; they are pretty small but 30 does add up
• 27 packable straw visors for the ladies
• 40 CD cases (though they don’t have CDs in them yet and could take up more space if I decide to embellish them)

As you can see in the picture I’m sure my duffel is at least half full by now. And there are still a few of things I want to add:

• Paper Items - luckily this stuff shouldn’t take up too much space: favor labels, welcome bag hang tags, welcome letters, itinerary
• Can koozies – In total I’ll have around 50 koozies. I just recieved an email today that the custom koozies are on their way. Also, I expect to receive the plain ones early this week. Thing is, I wanted the foam koozies that aren’t going to fold up. I just don’t like those folding ones. They seem cheap to me and don’t insulate as well. In the picture is one – multiply that by 50!
• Fudge – one thing I want to bring is a treat from Michigan since there will be people coming from all over and what’s more perfect than Mackinac Island Fudge?! Also, this is a favorite treat of one of my finacé’s sons, so its kind of like adding something that’s ‘from him’. And I just found out that fudge doesn’t melt! I didn’t know that! The plan was around 1/2 lb per bag, (1/4 lb each of two different flavors), but that means 15 lbs. So, its really important that I get to packing to find out if I need to scale back the quantity. I plan to purchase fresh fudge the day before we leave but am going out their next weekend to see the packaging and figure out how much space I’ll really need.

At the moment, it looks like I should be able to pack what I have so far but I have to be really careful with any add-ons. Like I’m thinking bridesmaid gifts may have to be gift certificates or spa treatments! I don’t have much time to make my Aruba purchases, but that’s another advantage to having the help of a wedding planner! They can help collect items for you and have them ready and waiting.

I once went to a seminar (Dale Carnegie I think it was), that gave the advice, “swallow the big frogs first”. By that she meant tackle the tasks you’re dreading the most. The rest will seem easier without the dreaded task(s) looming. Good advice I thought, but can’t say I’m good about following it. I am a major procrastinator! (Like last night I spent hours just looking for Trash the Dress inspiration even though there are much more important things I should have been working on.) So what looming tasks am I dreading?

Well one will be the making of the wedding CDs! I still love the idea and have a nice little collection of music going. I need to pick the songs that will go on the CD and still am wishing I had some more Aruba inspired music. The DJ gave me a few ideas that will hopefully help. I have this memory of walking downtown and there was all this fun fun music pouring out of the clubs! Reggaetone and other latin and blended music. You just wanted to start dancing! And I’m wondering what kind of music they play on the sailing excursion. The Mi Dushi sells a CD (called Mi Dushi I think). I would have loved to have been able to get a copy of the CD or even the list of songs, but don’t think that’s going to happen. I may ask one more time for the list, but really, I need to get to work on this (I asked for a list last weekend). All I reallly want is maybe 2 songs that will take people back to that sail! And what is the ‘Aruba Carnival’ music like? Maybe there’s some samba? Where would I even begin without being there.

Once the songs are selected, I need to do some more work on the CD label. What I have will work if I need it to, but I still think I can do better. And then there is designing the CD case. I found some cute plain white cardboard CD sleeves for like 40¢ each. Its one of those things that could be a fun project but getting started is hard. I’m just not terribly creative. (There’s a very good reason my career transitioned from graphic design to web development!)

Finally, along with the CD cases, I should go ahead and do the favor tags and stickers. Another one of those things that should be easy but like almost everything else, I make it more complicated than it needs to be!

Another thing I really need to get done is selecting my fruity ’signature cocktails’. Unfortunately we didn’t get to party in Aruba so I didn’t get to find out of there are any great local drinks. So, I just need to focus on finding something fruity and tropical (and not too heavy on the booze). If you have ideas, please share! They will be served for our cocktail hour on the beach.

– Oh, and that reminds me! One thing we are bummed out about for the reception — all glasses have to be PLASTIC! Even your champagne toast is done in a plastic glass. How tacky is that? But I guess it does make sense — guests walk around there barefoot. If something breaks they’d have a heck of a time getting all the pieces. And if the party is good enough you can pretty much bet at least one glass will get broken. So yes, I totally understand, but what a bummer. I don’t know yet if these are super cheap disposble plastic glasses or at least nicer reusable acrylic picnic glasses.

Anyway – I’m going to head out and buy the CDs as well as a couple of other errands. Shout out to the new brides I met this week! In particular the one who has not yet decided on Aruba (but hopefully will after visiting in January). Don’t let anything in my rants scare you off — please know that I’m super fussy and a little high strung and a bit of a control freak. As I said – I make everything harder than it has to be – just my personality. And my guy even KNOWS about this tendency! Anyway — my best advice is to try to just relax and have fun with it. Pick good vendors and then trust them to do a good job for you. And try to not get caught up in what you can’t have because there is plenty that you can have! I know I have a couple of emails to get to and promise to do so after I swallow at least one frog!

Yesterday we had a pretty long and thorough conference call trying to wrap up the details. We’re getting close. One the agenda: menu, decorating, ceremony details, cocktail hour, lighting.

The Menu – We did decide to scale back on the cocktail hour a bit. Instead of the individual appetizers, we’re going with a couple of displays. The tropical display with the yogurt honey sauce and a fruit and cheese montage. We’ll also server a pre-determined amount of a festive ’signature cocktail’ (still to be determined), beer, and non-alcoholic beverages.

For dinner, We’re going with the Marriott’s Four Corners Buffet. The ‘corners’ are Asian, Middle Eastern, Aruban and Mexican. We decided early on that we wanted to substitute one of the corners for Indian. Problem is that all four of them look so good that we’re having a hard time deciding which to eliminate. To complicate things further, I finally realized how many ‘meat and potatoes’ guests I have that will be a little lost surrounded by so much ethnic food. So we’ve asked for an ‘American’ corner. We’re really happy that they are very accommodating with menu customization. While the American corner won’t be exotic like the others, at least I know my family will eat! (How strange that I crave all kinds of exotic food when I was raised in a family that could live on hamburger helper, mac and cheesa and pizza!) We are supposed to have our menu selections submitted by today, but they are being gracious enough to give us until Saturday.

The Cake and Ice Cream – Each of the buffet corners does have a desert with it so we won’t serve cake for a while. When we enter the reception we will get the formalities out of the way. They will introduce us, we’ll do our dance, we’ll cut the cake, do the champagne toast and then eat! Halfway through the reception, around 9:30-10pm (as guests are hopefully hot from dancing and getting a little hungry), we’ll be surprising the guests by bringing out an ice cream sundae station! We figure that’s when we’ll also serve the cake. The picture here is the one they are supposed to be creating. My groom is kind of funny sometimes. A two tier cake should be more than adequate to feed our guests. However even he agrees that it looks nicer as three tiers so he’s the one insisting on getting way more cake than we need because it ‘looks prettier’! Each tier will be a different flavor combination. There is no extra charge for that. The base will be white cake with strawberry filling, the middle will be chocolate cake with chocolate filling and the top will be carrot cake with a cream cheese filling. Keep in mind with cakes – forget about buttercreme frosting – they have to be fondant (assuming your reception will be outdoors). Anything other than fondant will totally melt in the heat. And all that extra cake? We’ll have them box it up and send the guests with an extra slice at the end of the night.

Cocktail Hour: As mentioned, we scaled back the appetizers, added tiki torches and have asked that some seating be available for the older guests.

Ceremony Details: I think we have an arch selected. I STILL can’t decide between a carpet runner or rose petals. I’ve seen really pretty rose petaled aisles where they are laid out in an ombre pattern, blending from one color to another. I like the idea of starting with dark pink to medium pink to orange. But with the wind, will the rose petals just blow away? And I kind of feel like there should be some sort of decoration, but can’t bring myself to spend much decorating what will be a 20 minute ceremony. So, the ceremony is pretty weak.

Lighting: the latest challenge. I wrote plenty in “Lighting – No floodlights Please“.

Other details: Once upon a time I was told we would see some sort of computer illustration of the layout of our event. Well, the most important area I want to see is the pool deck where the lounge will be. Guess what is not in their software? The pool deck. The lawn is but I have never been sent any sort of illustration. I wonder, how much space will the tables / canopy take? Where should the bar be placed? etc. So, I’m afraid that stuff will just be decided when we get there. That’s not all bad, but this ‘computer rendering’ I was excited about is a mystery to us. Does it really exist? I was hoping it would help me see just how much of the lawn the tables take up, help me figure out how many tiki torches I might want, visualize the flow of things better. At least we’re getting down there three days before the wedding.

I’m glad to say that the custom koozies I wanted for the welcome bags has survived the latest round of ‘budget review’. We did have to make a compromise though. Since our guest list has grown from 30-35 to what may now be 50, we decided on custom koozies for the ladies and the guys will just get a plain foam koozie – sorry guys. They also have custom sippy cups so I’m getting the little girls sippy cups that will match their mom’s koozie. (I wish I had it in the budget to do some of these monogrammed zebra koozies for me and the bridesmaids – how cute are they!?! I hope they don’t mind me using their picture, left.)

Stacey of Pink Gasoline, has been wonderful at accommodating us at this late date! I contacted her over the weekend, finally ready to move forward and she already has the koozies ready to ship! We’ll be getting an assortment of patterns that fit with our orange and pink theme.

I wish I had more money to spend right now because they also have some other really cute items that would make great bridesmaid gifts. Check out this super cute black and white damask bag with pink lining and this fun colorful beach tote.

They made it! Our Ailana Kai Lauhala Totes are here! I sent in the order on Tuesday, October 6th. Wednesday they verified the order and sent me the delivery confirmation number. They were shipped USPS Priority and are here this morning, all the way from Honolulu! If you can get past the fact that the website is dated and doesn’t take online payment, they are great to work with.