Getting Married in Aruba 2012- Any tips/advice?

[JenniferLeigh]

Hello All!

My fiance and I are getting married on the beautiful island of Aruba September 2012 at the Hyatt. We are going there this September to check out the resort and give our deposit (yikes). Does anyone have any tips or advice for planning a destination wedding? We have been working with the Romance Planner at the Hyatt- but we get nervous only communicating through email. Are there certain things we should be asking our planner, what should we accomplish at the visit, etc? This is the only visit we will have to Aruba before our wedding so we want to make sure we cover as much as possible during our short visit there.

[Andrea J.]

welcome to the aruba.com community forum.

make your list of points of discussion and post them here for other brides/grooms to comment and that way you can have some comments/questions from the experienced.

one of the big points of concern is frequent (or lack thereof) communications with the planner.

are u planning a big wedding or a small intimate group?
doing the civil ceremony on aruba or at home?

[JenniferLeigh]

Yeah- I have read that communication with the planner can be slow- we have been experiencing that as well. We also have not given our deposit yet so I figured the planner is busy with couples that have already paid. I'm hoping once we give our deposit that communication will pick up.

We are having about 25-30 people at our wedding and will be getting legally married in Aruba (not the US). Is it difficult using an Aruba Marriage Certificate to get my name changed in the US?

To be honest- I am not the type to be worried about flowers and wedding cakes because I know having our wedding on the beach will be absolutely beautiful. I am more concerned with entertainment (DJ or live band) and I have had trouble researching this online. Any recommedations for DJs?

We are doing the steel drum solo for the ceremony, which we are so excited for! Anyone have one at their wedding?

The planner is supposed to be setting up meetings with the florist, officiant, food tasting etc. Does anyone know if lighting is usually included in the hotel packages?

And can I jsut say that this forum has been very informative, not only about weddings but about the island as well. I have been getting a lot of ideas off of here so thank you to everyone who shares their experience!!

[richandliz]

Jennifer,

Welcome!! I got married earlier this month at the Marriott. Long story, but we did not schedule too much in advance.

In addition to emails, I had two lengthy phone calls with my wedding planner (after I was transferred from sales--the intitial contract). The emails and two phone calls and personal meeting when we arrived worked well!

There were 16 in total for our wedding--so a little less than you. I have my wedding certificate sitting in my office. I am going to change my name after our honeymoon in October and will post on the ease or not so ease of changing my name then.

The steel drum is great! "Here comes the bride," "endless love" and "hot, hot hot" will always stand out in my mind. I would suggest watching weddings on nights before yours--not just to get a feel of things but also to enjoy.. . .. your senses are on overload and the day of your ceremony you may miss a few things. . . . watching a head of time allows you to enjoy some of the ambience that you may be too busy to enjoy on your wedding day.

Lighting was not an issue for us. The wedding started about 6:15, we were at our reception at about 7:15. The photographer was gaging everything. The photos were great and our ability to see was great. The bride and the groom (and attendants) are facing away from the sun. ie. no sun glasses. The guests and the minister face the sun. We advised our guests to feel free to wear sunglasses, sunscreen etc. Some did, some didn't.

[JenniferLeigh]

Thanks for the info! We are actually going to visit the hotel this weekend and I am really hoping there will be a wedding going on so we can start to get excited. So much stress is involved with planning and trying to figure everything out that I think the big picture can sometimes get lost. This trip will really makes us realize we are getting married and have a lot to look forward to!

[bradrick1971]

Jennifer,

I think you'll notice that the wind does not cooperate when you are here, and it won't care that it's your wedding day so make sure the hair person does a good job with your hair. In hindsight my dress was way to big for a beach wedding in Aruba, I was smiling all night while the rest of my body felt like I was walking around in a portable sauna. Make sure to meet with all the people working at your wedding personally, the hotel will call them vendors. And take notes as they speak and repeat the notes to them, this will help in case anything goes wrong you'll have a back-up of what you were promised; It got us out of paying our bill at the RIU when they ruined our wedding day. From speaking to other brides while we were there, I heard that DJ Tino is supposedly the best, and when it comes to lights we had to pay separately for ours, so expect it to be extra. Our photographer lived up to the hype of being the best on Aruba, so ask for jason margarita by name, he is amazing and does anything to make sure your wedding is perfect. The only problem with him, is booking him my sister in law is getting married in October of 2012 and she had to change her date because he was already booked on her day. When you go for the food tasting, ask for fish! My husband and I had never had better fish in our lives, everywhere we went we ordered fish and it was amazing. And don't do the barefoot thing on the beach, one of my bridesmaids cut her foot on broken glass while walking on the beach, so wear flip flops. And above all things have fun!!!

[Karen Lutzker]

Hello,

Let us know how your visit to Aruba went and your visit with the Hyatt Wedding Planner (Romance Planner) My only advice is whether your wedding is big or small is that you get it all in writing on your contract so there are no misunderstandings. Also, since your wedding is a year away, it may be difficult for you to receive immediate answers to your questions or concerns. However, as your wedding date gets closer your responses should be more prompt and you should have had at least a couple telephone conversations with your wedding planner. Hyatt is a beautiful resort with beautiful grounds to take your wedding photos. Theif renovation took place a couple of years ago and understand that the rooms are beautiful. You made a good choice .

[om2011]

richandliz---do you have any suggestions for the Marriott? I am getting married there is Dec and was looking to see if anyone who was married there had any suggestions, ideas, things that went really well that you can pass on to me. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

[Andrea J.]

if you look back in this category "weddings"

a bride CHRISTENE had numerous postings about her OCT 2009 wedding at marriott.

she was quite pleased with it all.

[JenniferLeigh]

Karen- Our visit with the Hyatt went great and they were very accommodating! The Romance Planner was awesome- she gave us a tour of the property, where the reception options were, answered our 5 million questions and was just overall really nice. We also met with the florist, photographer and officiant (Rev Sydney Jacob- I could not find any feedback about him on this forum).
The Hyatt property really is beautiful- I love the pond they have set up with coy fish and the black swans (which we have never seen before!). We were also taken back by the amount of lizards and iguanas running around- def. not used to that being from Mass lol.

We got to watch a wedding take place at the Hyatt while we were there which was awesome. It really helped us get an idea of how our wedding would be and it was very exciting. I def. recommend visiting (if your budget allows) to see the property and how things will be set up before your actual wedding. It's hard to just look at pictures online because it can feel totally different in person. We also learned the vibe is completely different at night. The Hyatt has torches all along their property which makes it feel very romantic.
We are in the process of getting the contact put together now