Our Aruba Wedding

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 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.

I am happy, happy to announce that our favorite lanterns will soon be available in Aruba. By mid-August our independent wedding planner will have these in her possession! One of my ‘must-haves’ is candlelight for dinner, however the wind in Aruba makes that a challenge! We got excited about the prospect of lanterns but were not liking what we were finding on Aruba. While the ones we were able to find do have a ‘rustic charm’, we want our personality reflected in something that’s more contemporary. We think the lanterns pictured here are a chic way to carry through the ‘island’ theme while still suiting the personalities of us and the hotel. Thank you thank you to our wedding planner for making this happen! We really appreciate the investment she is making on our behalf.

If you want to know where you can find these, just send an email to info@ourarubawedding.com and I’ll pass along her contact info.

Suddenly in the last week I’ve been having trouble sleeping. It seems that as I crawl into bed I suddenly start thinking about all of the wedding stuff I haven’t done yet! The day before yesterday I realized there is less than 4 months to go and I hadn’t even started looking at invitations, didn’t know what our budget is going to be and therefore don’t know how much I can spend on a Welcome Party, don’t have bridesmaid dresses picked out, didn’t have a proposal from an independent wedding planner, was giving up hope that I’ll be able to find the kind of decor I want…

This last weekend we were ready to take at least one matter into our own hands – We were shopping and we found some lanterns we love on sale at Restoration Hardware and almost bought them on the spot. We figured we’d have them shipped to Aruba. Well, RH doesn’t ship to Aruba. Turns out shipping items like that isn’t easy thanks to customs. I’m told we would need to ship to an ‘exporter’ in a ‘port city’. Then they handle the product and customs and get your shipment to the island. So, lots of extra time and cost. Our other idea was to have the large floor lanterns made in India and shipped from there, but again, expensive and shipping hassle and what would we do with them afterward (except try to sell them to the wedding planner)?

Well today there may be a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve maybe found a wedding invitation – not one I’m totally in love with but one that will probably be close enough. My maid of honor is coming into town this weekend to look at wedding dresses. And most important, it looks like the independent wedding planner we adore may pull through for us! She has put in a lot of work trying to find solutions for us. Today she gave me options of TWO different kinds of canopies which she is going to invest in for us. She has also received her folding chairs and priced their rental, AND a big bonus, she may have found the lanterns we want! So, it looks like by the end of the week we may have a budget put together!

So now I get to take a breather for a couple of days while I wait for the wedding invite sample to arrive and enjoy some time with my maid-of-honor, bridesmaid and flower girl. My fiance is going to work on the budget and I’ll try to be a good sport when reality sets in and he needs to reign me in. =) But for not at least, a small ‘lanterned light’ at the end of the tunnel…

Well unfortunately there hasn’t been much progress in the last couple of weeks. I’m still waiting on proposals for decorating (using outside vendors) and still have a lot of unanswered questions. The latest issue is trying to sort out the Welcome Party. The Marriott says they don’t really start planning the wedding details until about three months out which I understand, but we have to get our budget inline. The big wildcards out there are the wedding decor that the Marriott does not provide and how much it will cost us to throw a nice welcome function. (The woman that would be able to answer questions about one of our Welcome Party options is out of the office until August!)

Decor that the Marriott is not able to supply includes the canopy we’d like over our dinner area and the ‘lounge area’ we’d like to have in the reception. If these things are prohibitively expensive with an outside vendor, then we might as well allocate the funds to the Welcome Party. However if they can be done, we may have to trim other areas of our budget. We are now less than 4 months away and I don’t think its unreasonable to expect these questions to be answered by now. Still, I’m trying to be patient.

Of course the easy answer would be to just let Marriott handle all the outside vendors. Will it be worth it to hire my own services? I have absolutely no idea. Of course this is a small island I have to wonder if the same vendors will provide the services whether they are hired by me or the Marriott. Maybe they would rather just work with the hotel? If that’s the case, I wish someone would just say so.

Well its the end of the night on the 30th. Still no wedding decorating proposals have come in and the hotel’s planner has been out of the office. (You’d think by now they would at least be kind enough to let me know if they were uninterested or unable to help with our event. It’s a lot easier to move on when you have answers, even if they are the ones you don’t want, vs just feeling like you’ve been forgotten about or you are being ignored.) So, I think I’m just going to have to forget about the draping and try to move on.

Also, looks like using a suite for a welcome party is not going to happen. (Our travel wedding planner thought we might be able to get use of the suite for free or a greatly reduced cost if we committed to a certain amount of catering. But, 30% off is the best they’ll offer even though its off season and those suites are so expensive you won’t convince me they’ll all sell out on a Thursday night in the off-season.) Seems like the hotel is a little less helpful now that the contract is signed and we are locked in. Hopefully that’s not really the case – we may have found exactly the same thing if we tried to negotiate before signing the contract, but now we won’t know. Emails are certainly a lot shorter and to the point and being answered slower.

So, trying to focus on other ideas for decor and the welcome party. I’ve managed to go from really excited to figuring out how to make do. Feeling like we were taking two steps forward followed by one step back change to standing in place and now slowly sliding backwards. Is this just normal? If there are any other Aruban brides that can offer some support I’d could really use a note of encouragement. =)

Well its near the end of business on Friday and I am still waiting for three proposals from independent wedding planners…

Wedding Planner 1 is the one we met with when we visited Aruba. She’s pretty busy right now and told me she would get me a formal proposal by the 30th of June, so she’s cool. I’m certain she’ll follow through.

Then there is Wedding Planner 2, who was recommended to us by the Aruba Marriott. I emailed her on the 12th of June. She didn’t reply to the email but did finally call me on the 19th of June, a week later, explaining that she had been busy. I was busy at the moment that she called but told her that I would like to talk more, maybe on Monday. I admit she called at kind of a bad time so I wonder if I seemed hassled at all. Anyway – I followed up with an email Sunday night, the 21st, thanking her for the call and letting her know that I did still want to talk to her. I also mentioned that I was pretty anxious to find out if she would be able to do the draping and what the cost might be. (If its going to remain out of our budget I’d rather know now and move on to other ideas. If it is in the budget its going to really restrict what else I can do so I’d like to know that too since I am trying to figure out what kind of budget I may have available for a welcome party.)

Well now end of business on Friday and I still have no word. No more calls and no reply to my email. The previous week she did say that she had been busy that week as they had just moved, so I’m trying to give the benefit of the doubt here. Still, a quick note saying ‘I haven’t forgotten about you’ would be nice. I can’t help but wonder – does she not want the business since this wedding might not be as lucrative for her given that its at the Marriott?

And then wedding / event planner 3 recommended from the Aruba forum. We exchanged a few emails on June 15/16 and he wasn’t sure yet if he would have our date available but said he would let me know. I also sent him a follow up email on the 21st inquiring if at least the canopy might be available and what its pricing might be but haven’t heard back.

I have to admit I’m feeling a little down as I cannot get these answers. I guess that’s part of the ‘planning from afar’ and choosing such a small island. This isn’t one of those cases where you can just move on to another vendor. Particularly for something like the canopy draping. So I’m feeling there is a pretty good chance it won’t be available (or affordable). Its not that its THAT urgent – the wedding is still 4 months away.

This is all quite an exercise in patience and flexibility. I guess its probably good for me. =) I’ll wait through the weekend and email the Marriott planner on Monday to see if she’s heard anything.

So just before our trip, I find myself thinking I could end up with THREE ‘wedding planners’ for one wedding of 35 people. Makes me sound like quite the diva, don’t you think? Luckily I’m not an obnoxious bridezilla.

We learned there are different types of ‘planners’ for different parts of the process or different types of weddings. Many of the resorts will provide you with an in-house wedding planner that has experience with weddings at their location. (In particular your ‘branded’ hotels often have this – Renaissance, Marriott, Hyatt, Westin etc.) There may be a fee for their services or the services may be included as part of a package. They know their hotel well and what the hotel can and can’t do and will handle the outside vendors like the florist, officiant, entertainment. Some hotels are really strict about what vendors they allow letting you choose only from a list of their approved vendors. The Hyatt was by far the most restrictive. If you want something their pre-selected vendors can’t provide you may be stuck.

There are also independent wedding planners. Since we were also wanted to check out the ’boutique-y’ low rise area, we arranged to meet with an independent planner. These independent planners have experience with lot of different types of weddings at different locations. They know the island inside and out and may be able to help guide you in selecting the best location for you and your budget. Even though we chose the Marriott and they will provide us with a planner, we are also still considering working with the independent planner. With the Marriott, they are really flexible in allowing you to use outside vendors. One thing that bothered me about the Marriott was that they charge a 19% service fee on top of everything, even services they don’t provide. So, we’re hoping an indepent planner may help us get more for our money.

Then there is the ‘travel wedding planners‘. Shortly before our trip an acquaintance insisted we contact a woman he just met – someone that is a destination wedding planner. At first I’m thinking we could already be working with two planners, why would be need a third? Well the value in them is that they know these locations well and have seen how they have handled many different weddings. What this particular organization really does is help you pick resorts to consider and then helps you in organizing travel arrangements and negotiating the room contract (if you choose to go into a contract). She was actually the one that insisted we re-consider the Aruba Marriott, (we had ruled it out early on), and sure enough – she was right. That was the location that suited us best.

This particular destination wedding company is commission based. They’re basically travel agents that specialize in weddings. Sometimes their ‘buying power’ will help you negotiate a better deal, sometimes you can work out a better deal on your own when the resort doesn’t have to pay that commission. In this case she helped us negotiate our contract and we believe she got us a better rate than we could have gotten on our own.

So – we had the travel planner help with contract negotiation, have the hotel’s wedding planner ready to help us, and may still work with an independent wedding planner / decorator. In fact we’re waiting for proposals from three independent planners. I have to admit I’m getting pretty anxious for these proposals but I’m trying to keep in mind they are on “Aruba Time”. I’m also telling myself that the fact that they are taking a while to get back could mean they are busy and in demand.

In the end, can you go it alone? Sure… For me it wouldn’t be worth the headache and the unknowns. For the simplest wedding a high-rise hotel with an in-house wedding planner is probably your best bet. However if you want something really personal that reflects your style an independent planner is worth talking to.

Initially when we decided on a destination wedding, we hoped to find a local travel agent to help us through the process. Whether right or wrong, we quickly came to the conclusion that a local agent wasn’t going to be of much help. They’ll block rooms and arrange flights (and charge a per person fee for their service) but don’t really want to get involved with weddings. Now there could be good local resources but our meeting was so bad we decided we’d just ‘go it alone’.

I was still feeling a little discouraged expecting Aruba to be way out of our budget. Its definitely beyond a Mexico budget. My fiancé now takes the lead and starts looking while I pout (just a little). He connects with someone at the Renaissance and it seems the Renaissance may just have potential! While Aruba is still expensive, we may be able to get more for our money at the Renaissance than we could at any of the hotels in Naples, so we set up a meeting. Actually two – one to discuss wedding options and the second to see their “Private Island”, the only private beach in Aruba. Now I get back in the game…

I start doing my research leading me to Westin. I just love Westins but assumed they’d be priced totally out of our league.  At first they were but then the room rate dropped over $100 per night and I finally took a serious look at their wedding packages and catering. While not cheap (we’re talking upscale hotel here), not nearly as bad as I expected. So, another meeting is set up…

Then we get to work trying to pick maybe two other resorts to interview. We happened upon the Marriott Aruba and Stellaris Casino… We exchange a couple of emails but ruled them out when they wouldn’t have a planner that could meet us on the weekend. (That later changed…)

So now what? The rest looked so similar to us. Also, some early advice from a friend – don’t rule out the “low-rise” / Eagle Beach locations. From what I understand, the ‘low-rise’ district has somewhat older hotels but a beautiful beach. I’m trying to research them and pick a couple of back-up locations when I finally decided its time to meet with an independent wedding planner. So – I send an email to one in particular. She replies quickly and shares a wealth of information! She is just wonderful and seems to really love her work.

With her help, I’m trying to consider more ‘practical’ and potentially less expense options on Eagle Beach (though we expected we’d book our rooms at a hotel in Palm Beach). She sent lots of pictures and ideas. The Manchebo Beach and Pavilion looked like they might have potential as well as the terrace at Tiera del Sol. I kept looking at pictures and am afraid I still wasn’t feeling it. While very nice, I wanted a more ‘upscale look’ and have started drooling over the Hyatt Regency (especially since I had just seen it featured on the travel channel as one of the 10 Best Resorts in the Caribbean). I’m expecting this will definitely be WAY out of our league, but my fiance takes the initiative and makes the call, so the following week we start getting to know the Hyatt via email.

So now – in addition to the Renaissance meetings we have a meeting to explore ‘low-rise’ / Eagle Beach options with an independent planner and three ‘high-rises’ we want to see.