Arriving soon

[bert109]

Hi all,
My wife and I are arriving in Aruba on February 4th for seven glorious nights to celebrate our belated 25th wedding anniversary. Our 25th actually occurred in September of 2010 but due to college costs for the kids along with work commitments we were unable to travel earlier. I had some health issues late last year which I believe was God's way of saying life is too short and don't put off important milestones. So here we come and we cannot wait. I first want to thank the moderators for a wonderful resource. I have been reading for a few months and booked our vacation at the beautiful RIU Palace. As per recommendations on this site I have been communicating with Bully who will be waiting for us when we arrive. As far as plans we basically have none once we arrive. We plan on applying plenty of sunscreen and are hoping for great weather to relax on the beautiful beaches as well as the hotel's beautiful pool. Other than this we are looking to possibly rent an SUV and drive around the island stopping often to take photos. I am also thinking of taking my wife for a romantic dinner at Passions. One question I did have though was does anyone have a ballpark cost of renewing our vows and having a few photos taken? We are very informal and I would love to to do it if it wasn't cost prohibitive. I was really amazed at the number of couples arriving in the past few months celebrating their anniversaries. I know we made a great choice of island. Thanks again for this invaluable resource.

Bob

[bgmouse]

My husband and I, by the way we are in our 60's, renewed our vows on the beach at the Radisson in July. I will remember it the rest of my life. It was just beautful at sunset. The wedding coordinator at the Radisson is just the most caring and heart warming person you will ever meet. Her name is Lisa Dammerman. If I remember it cost me about $900 which included, flowers for both of us, ceremony,pictures done by BellaAruba photograph, Angela was her name, champagne. I did all the arrangements with Lisa via email months before we arrived and she was always very prompt on email getting back to me. By the way I surprised my husband with the renewal of vows. Upon arriving in Aruba we did then meet with Lisa to get everything set for the day. We also,immediately after the ceremony had a wonderful Torchlight dinner right at the waters edge at sunset. It is done by the Radisson and is called Dinner by Torchlight. Lisa can make all of these plans. I did absolutely nothing, this wonderful woman did it all. If you do get in touch with her tell her Richard and Barb said hi and that we will see her in July. Good luck with you wonderful idea for you and you wife.

[cindyo]

Originally Posted by bert109

Hi all,
My wife and I are arriving in Aruba on February 4th for seven glorious nights to celebrate our belated 25th wedding anniversary. Our 25th actually occurred in September of 2010 but due to college costs for the kids along with work commitments we were unable to travel earlier. One question I did have though was does anyone have a ballpark cost of renewing our vows and having a few photos taken? We are very informal and I would love to to do it if it wasn't cost prohibitive. I was really amazed at the number of couples arriving in the past few months celebrating their anniversaries. I know we made a great choice of island. Thanks again for this invaluable resource.

Bob

Here's a few tips...
We renewed vows on the beach at Divi Phoenix
We hired Bob Gibson( reverend) to do the vows
I will give you a ballpark figure of around $300, could be more, could be less.
Contact him for info...google his name...
Anyway, we had contacted Aruba Today or one of the other newspapers and I believe Rosalie Klien, who works for one of the papers, did the photos. Again, google her.
My DH and I can't remember what she charged us but we did end up with some fabulous photos on a CD.
Both were fabulous.
As for the location we did it at the Divi Sunset Bistro area at sunset. We did a cocktail only type of reception and one of the guests was kind enuf to pay for it. It was a low key event. If you check out the gallery here I bet you can find some of the photos we downloaded. PM me if you have more questions.
The location is on a public beach at the Divi.
cindy