Just starting our 2011 Aruba Wedding planning!

[katym]

Hi! I have been reading a lot of these posts for a couple weeks now and finally decided to post my own with some questions i am hoping someone can help me with!...we just got engaged and know we want to get married in Aruba early 2011! We have been to Aruba once and know a destination wedding here is for us! We are from Boston and a lot of our family and friends are already so excited for the vacation! Looking at pictures and reading comments, so far thinking Marriott, Radisson or Renaissance Island. Beach ceremony right before sunset and reception same place right on the beach or poolside (just thinking we might not want to be on sand all night). I also want to be near different hotels so our guests have choices of where they want to stay depending on cost. I dont want people to have to rent cars or take taxis to the wedding or reheasal / welcome dinner...(im not really sure where the hotels are in relation to each other). Also, do most use a wedding planner or only the event coordinator at the hotel? After reading everyone's posts, it's just hard to know where to start the planning but I would assume picking the place is 1st! Any advice or comments would help! Thanks!

[cindyo]

I have posted lots of pictures of the Renn island. Take a look. The Rennaissance suites and Marina towers offers both location, private island, a wedding planner( Juny), DJ, photographer, etc.
The suites, are thus suites and can hold 4 people. The Marina tower is geared for adults only. Both located downtown, walking distance to shopping and lots of fine dining, fine shops, etc.
I really only know the Renn, so I can't comment on the others. We have been 14 times for the past 12 years, and are owners there.

[katym]

thanks for the info - ill check out your photos! So is the only place to get married at the Renaissance on the private island? how long is the boat ride there and how many does the boat fit? At the time of our wedding, we will have a 1 year old, so we will need a kid friendly atmosphere! Oh and are the Renaissance Suites related to the Marriott? Are there rooms that just hold 2 people? Thanks so much!

[Andrea J.]

folks can also get married at the man made lagoon beach area at the renaissance suites resort, but as far as i know there is no wedding reception venue in that location.
renaissance island has the facilities to cook/serve dinner or buffet, where as i think the renaissance suites resort lagoon area does not.

renaissance is a marriott corporation property.


the boat ride is about 10 minutes, maybe less.

the resaissance suites hold 4 people.
there is a bedroom with a king bed.
there is a living room with a pullout sleeper sofa.

the renaissance marina tower allows only 2 per room and is not kid friendly.
i am not sure whether they come right out and tell folks this, but it appears to be the case.

is the renaissance your only choice or are you looking into other places as well?

Originally Posted by katym

thanks for the info - ill check out your photos! So is the only place to get married at the Renaissance on the private island? how long is the boat ride there and how many does the boat fit? At the time of our wedding, we will have a 1 year old, so we will need a kid friendly atmosphere! Oh and are the Renaissance Suites related to the Marriott? Are there rooms that just hold 2 people? Thanks so much!

[Andrea J.]

one of our members, karen lutzker is a wedding planner for aruba and has TONS and many years of experience.

private message her.

i think her website is cayennaweddings.com
google it first to be sure

andrea

Originally Posted by katym

Hi! I have been reading a lot of these posts for a couple weeks now and finally decided to post my own with some questions i am hoping someone can help me with!...we just got engaged and know we want to get married in Aruba early 2011! We have been to Aruba once and know a destination wedding here is for us! We are from Boston and a lot of our family and friends are already so excited for the vacation! Looking at pictures and reading comments, so far thinking Marriott, Radisson or Renaissance Island. Beach ceremony right before sunset and reception same place right on the beach or poolside (just thinking we might not want to be on sand all night). I also want to be near different hotels so our guests have choices of where they want to stay depending on cost. I dont want people to have to rent cars or take taxis to the wedding or reheasal / welcome dinner...(im not really sure where the hotels are in relation to each other). Also, do most use a wedding planner or only the event coordinator at the hotel? After reading everyone's posts, it's just hard to know where to start the planning but I would assume picking the place is 1st! Any advice or comments would help! Thanks!

[Andrea J.]

found it__________________
http://www.cayenaweddingsandevents.com
Aruba's First Destination Wedding Planner

[christene]

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

[Karen Lutzker]

Yes, there are many beautiful locations and resorts to have your destination wedding in Aruba. If you are planning to invite some guests, make sure that the chosen hotel for your ceremony and reception is affordable for most guests. For the guests that are on a tight budget, I recommend that you do some research to find a back up resort or two that has reasonably priced hotel accomodations.

[soxgirl]

Congratulations! I'm from Boston as well. This forum is a great resource, the other brides are extremely helpful. With my planning once the location and the date was picked everything else seemed to fall in place. We're getting married at the Divi as we wanted an all inclusive resort. The wedding coordinators from Aruba Weddings for You have been amazing. They do everything which is fantastic! Good luck!

[katym]

thanks - you all are very helpful!
Christine - what you did for your wedding seems exactly what we are looking for - from the beach, lawn and poolside area! what did you have to hire Edwina Werleman for? what extra decorating and rentals did you need that Marriott didnt have?

Thanks!