Official Aruba Community Forum - View Single Post - Just starting our 2011 Aruba Wedding planning!

christene · 01-04-2010, 08:17 AM

Congratulations Katy! My husband and I were just married at the Marriott in October. We looked at Marriott, Hyatt, Westin, Bucuti, Manchebo and Renaissance before choosing Marriott. I believe most hotels provide you with a wedding planner / coordinator. We did still hire additional help outside the hotel though. The Marriott's planner Desiree did the most amazing job for us and we hired Edwina Werleman for some decorating and rentals that the Marriott does not have. They worked great together. Edwina did a fantastic job with rentals and Desiree was on site the entire time making sure everything ran smoothly. She also arranged meetings for us with all of our vendors before the wedding so by the time of the wedding we didn't have a single concern. We had our wedding on the beach, a cocktail hour with steel pan player also on the beach, dinner on the lawn and then dancing and a 'lounge area' poolside.

I have to admit we may have prematurely ruled out the Radission. We're kind of hotels snobs that didn't want "Radisson" on our invitations -- our experience is their properties not being very nice. We did walk through their property the weekend we were there for our wedding and I have to say their property is gorgeous! If you want a poolside reception you should definitely check it out. We didn't get to see the rooms but their pool area is amazing. I probably still would have chosen Marriott though, because Radisson's section of beach is busier. (Marriott is furthest north.)

However if you really care about privacy, the only place to get that is Ren Island since all other beaches are public. Like you though, we didn't want our feet in the sand all night (and while the Ren Ocean Suites pool is awesome, we felt the rooms of both the Marina hotel and Ocean Suites were dated and the bathroom on the island is rough). For the wedding the island would great, but I wanted to be back to solid ground (and my Jimmy Choos) after dinner and wanted a clean place to change into my reception dress.

If you want a compromise between busy Palm Beach and private Renaissance Island, Eagle Beach is another place you might want to check out. Its probably prettier than palm beach and not very many people. We had considered having the wedding at Eagle Beach before our Marriott reception though our concern was the lack of 'facilities'... no restrooms or concession available on Eagle Beach (at least the location we were shown) and we didn't want the hassle of transporting people.

In the end, we found we cared most about convenience for us and our guests and having a beautiful property to invite our guests to stay at. Many of our guests do not get opportunities to travel so we were very considerate of them in making our choice. Then Marriott exceeded our expectations in more ways than I can list! It was all a dream come true.

Best of luck!

Christene

01-04-2010, 08:17 AM	#7 (permalink)
christene Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 190	Congratulations Katy! My husband and I were just married at the Marriott in October. We looked at Marriott, Hyatt, Westin, Bucuti, Manchebo and Renaissance before choosing Marriott. I believe most hotels provide you with a wedding planner / coordinator. We did still hire additional help outside the hotel though. The Marriott's planner Desiree did the most amazing job for us and we hired Edwina Werleman for some decorating and rentals that the Marriott does not have. They worked great together. Edwina did a fantastic job with rentals and Desiree was on site the entire time making sure everything ran smoothly. She also arranged meetings for us with all of our vendors before the wedding so by the time of the wedding we didn't have a single concern. We had our wedding on the beach, a cocktail hour with steel pan player also on the beach, dinner on the lawn and then dancing and a 'lounge area' poolside. I have to admit we may have prematurely ruled out the Radission. We're kind of hotels snobs that didn't want "Radisson" on our invitations -- our experience is their properties not being very nice. We did walk through their property the weekend we were there for our wedding and I have to say their property is gorgeous! If you want a poolside reception you should definitely check it out. We didn't get to see the rooms but their pool area is amazing. I probably still would have chosen Marriott though, because Radisson's section of beach is busier. (Marriott is furthest north.) However if you really care about privacy, the only place to get that is Ren Island since all other beaches are public. Like you though, we didn't want our feet in the sand all night (and while the Ren Ocean Suites pool is awesome, we felt the rooms of both the Marina hotel and Ocean Suites were dated and the bathroom on the island is rough). For the wedding the island would great, but I wanted to be back to solid ground (and my Jimmy Choos) after dinner and wanted a clean place to change into my reception dress. If you want a compromise between busy Palm Beach and private Renaissance Island, Eagle Beach is another place you might want to check out. Its probably prettier than palm beach and not very many people. We had considered having the wedding at Eagle Beach before our Marriott reception though our concern was the lack of 'facilities'... no restrooms or concession available on Eagle Beach (at least the location we were shown) and we didn't want the hassle of transporting people. In the end, we found we cared most about convenience for us and our guests and having a beautiful property to invite our guests to stay at. Many of our guests do not get opportunities to travel so we were very considerate of them in making our choice. Then Marriott exceeded our expectations in more ways than I can list! It was all a dream come true. Best of luck! Christene Last edited by christene; 01-04-2010 at 08:20 AM.