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. =)

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 just received an email from another Aruba bride-to-be asking when did we arrive in Aruba? How early do you need to be down there?

Really, the answer depends on you — are you someone who is laid back, trusting in your wedding planner to handle everything for you? Or do you need to review every detail and meet with each vendor in person? Is your wedding pretty standard or are you asking them to do things they don’t normally do? As you can imagine, the more input and control you want, the earlier you need to be down there.

Since we were wanting many things that are a little different than what they typically do, we needed to be down there before our guests, most of whom would be arriving two days before the wedding. Unfortunately though, Delta doesn’t fly into Aruba on Tuesdays, so our choices were either get there on Monday or Wednesday (guests were arriving Thursday). We chose to take our chances and arrive on Wednesday so we could stay a couple of extra days after the wedding. I do think it was the right choice but it was hectic!

Our schedule was something like:
Wednesday

• Land in Aruba around 2:00pm, arrive at the hotel around 3:30pm
• Run to the grocery store for some bottled water
• 5:00pm: Meetings with Marriott Wedding planner and La Vista Restaurant Manager where we would have the welcome party. Food and drink tasting with La Vista at 5:00pm followed by  planning session with Desiree
• 7:30pm: Meeting with Mark Benson & DJ Randolph about entertainment
• 8:15pm: Meeting with Mark about lighting
• 10:00pm: Finally ordered some room service and had dinner on the balcony
• 10:30pm: Henna artist came to the room to do my bridal Mehndi which would take 2.5 hours

Thursday

• 9:30am – breakfast
• 10:00: errands including a trip to Ling & Sons and Oduber Agencies
• 12:00pm – Meeting with Edwina (independent wedding planner), florist, Marriott Wedding planner. Should have been a simple meeting, maybe 1-1.5 hours, however I had a melt-down with something that wasn’t going as expected and meeting too closer to 3 hours
• 3:15-5:30 – hair / make-up trial - went badly – didn’t get to make-up so had to make another appt. for following day
• 3:30 – guests start arriving creating lots of distraction and leaving me to assemble bags on my own as my fiance was dealing with little emergencies…
• 5:30 – assemble welcome bags (took 3 hours!) – we wanted the bags waiting in the guests rooms when they returned from the party
• 8:00-10:00pm – Welcome Party (arrived an hour late since my fiance wasn’t able to help me assemble welcome bags – guests were also arriving after little sleep so I didn’t want to ask anyone else for help.)

Friday

• 9:00am – breakfast
• 10:00am – rescheduled make-up trial since Thursday appt. went so bad
• 12:00 – meeting with Reverend Gibson
• Had something here that I can’t remember right now…
• 2:45 – meet guests in lobby before sailing excursion
• 3:30 – arrive at pier for excursion – finally we get 3 hours where we cannot work on anything!
• 7:30 – back to the hotel and finally have a couple of hours to relax!

Saturday

• 11:00am – hair and make-up
• 2:30 – photography starts – ‘getting ready photos’
• 3:00 – photos – our ‘first meeting’ followed by wedding party photos
• 4:30 – ceremony
• 5:30 – cocktail reception for guests while we take more photos
• 6:30 – Guests move to reception while we change clothes, take a few more photos and have a much needed cocktail!
• 6:45 – Back down to reception, first dance, cut cake
• 7:00 – Dinner!
• 7:30-10:30 – Party!

So, this list should just give you an idea. There will be things here you don’t have to worry about, but you may also have things like a civil ceremony that we didn’t have to worry about.

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!

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.

Here’s a nice Trash the Dress photo I just ran across on ProjectWedding.com

Ok, we’re doin’ it! Trashing my dress. At least I hope I have the guts to do it. So, instead of going to my fiancé’s tonight (dad seems to have come down with the flu so he wants me to stay away tonight), I’m looking for inspiration. I’ll share some of my favorites here in this post.

• Here are some really beautiful images taken in Aruba by Jennifer Leatherwood. (Sorry, she lives in Rhode Island, not Aruba.)  Tracey (pictured left), Jay & Jodie’s Wedding Day, Jay & Jodie (post-wedding / TTD)
• JParker: Lily & Lars Bucuti Wedding & Trash the Dress shoot includes some cool underwater photos
• Neil van Niekerk photographed Desha & Kyle in Aruba. There are a couple cool cool desert photos.
• Photos from a couple of Renaissance Island Weddings: Chris & Jess’ May Wedding, another May Renaissance Island Wedding and Alicia and Rob on Ren Island in July (teal seems to be a really popular color for weddings on this private island!)
• Another May Wedding! Jamison Wexler photographs Kelli & Chris’ at the Hyatt Regency Aruba Part 1, Parts 2
• Really cool water photo taken by Dreamtime Images (don’t think its taken in Aruba but its awesome and could be replicated! Wonder kind of lens is used?)
• Scott Hayne’s blog has a fun Trash the Dress post featuring Brian & Rachel (I found this post cool even though its not in Aruba – the photos are cute and kind of different.)

I just want to share with you another set of links to some STUNNING photos taken in Aruba. Please know I have not met or hired this photographer – that this is just a link another bride shared with me. These are pictures of “Khoi and Kristine” taken by Scott Hayne Photography. (Again – this is a photographer from the states. If you have seen online examples of photos like this taken by someone in Aruba, please share!) Here’s the pre-wedding shots at the ruins, some photos from their Bucuti wedding, and the slideshow (WOW!) Congratulations to “K&K” and thanks for sharing your beautiful and inspiring photos.

Thank you so much to the wonderful bride that resent the ‘Ruins’ photo link I love so much. These photos are so gorgeous! The album of “Joel & Katrin” is featured in the SOTA Dzine / SOTA Weddings portfolio. Here is the album: “Aruba Wedding Photos” Here are two entries from their blog: one and two. Unfortunately, these brilliant young edgy photographers are not located in Aruba – they live here in the USA. I have not yet found an online Aruban portfolio in this sort of style. If you do know of an Aruban photographer that showcases photos like this, please let us know! Congratulations to this beautiful couple and thank you for sharing your stunning photos.