Wedding Review - Divi All Inclusive (AWFY) - 10/25/10

[ArubaLovers25]

So after a year and a half of planning, I am finally a married woman! As this board has helped me out with many questions, I wanted to be sure to give a full review of our experience (the good, the bad, and the perfect).

Wedding Coordinators:
We were married at the Divi All Inclusive (Divi Rocks) on 10/25/10 and our wedding was planned with Aruba Weddings For You. I read some really good reviews so I was excited about working with them. I’m not sure if they’ve made a lot of changes this year but throughout the process, I was passed around to three different people (first Lorraine, then Marjorie and then Caroline) so there was a lot of repeating and digging through old e-mails. Also, a lot of reconfirming over and over what the last person did or did not do. I expected delays for e-mails but it was harder for me then I realized it would be to get answers on some things. When we arrived there, Caroline told me the wedding was set for 5:30, which was not the time I was originally sent by the first person I worked with. All our guests were given 4:30 and there was no way to get a hold of them all the day before to change it. Thankfully, all of the vendors were able to change the time back to what it was suppose to be. However, I was not pleased with the miscommunication due to being switched around so many times. Also, they lost our cake cutters. First I was told that the wedding at the other resort was USING THEM and then I was told that they weren’t using them after all and that they must have just fallen out of a box. I was then told that they looked everywhere and that they just can’t find them. My dad bought these and had them customized for us and they are now no longer for sale so there is no replacing our set nor did we even get to use them on our wedding day. The ones we used for the wedding were theirs so they have the ones we actually used. We also had a fruit basket delivered to us on the beach but were then told that it was for the other beach wedding and it was taken back from one of our guests that was about to open it to eat it. Awkward.

Photographer:
Our photographer came with the AWFY package. Our first coordinator gave me the name of one person but we were actually given someone else the day of. Could have just been a planning miscommunication again but the photographer we did have did an amazing job so it worked out for the best! I have attached a link below that has photos from the wedding (mixed in are some just taken with other’s cameras as well). He really went out of his way to get good angles and was very patient with all of our families’ requests for photos. He was also able to get the photos to us in less than two days so that we could bring them home with us.

Hair:
We had two ladies from the Tamarijn salon come to our room to do our hair before the beach ceremony. My hairdresser at home did my hair as I wanted and then took pictures to bring to them. I have really thin hair so I had extensions to add in which they were at a complete loss about so it didn’t come out exactly like the photos, however; they still did a really nice job on all of our hair. Also, your hair WILL NOT MOVE in the Aruba wind!!!! They use so much hairspray and it works like a charm! My hair stayed put throughout the entire ceremony and after dinner. Yay! They also did my makeup as well, which I loved! Highly recommend.

Videographer:
We were not given the name of the Videographer that was used, however; he did a great job as well. He was included in the AWFY package and was able to provide us with our edited wedding video in less than two days. Throughout the wedding, I didn’t even notice he was there and he did a great job with not being evasive but still capturing every moment. He was even nice enough to edit out the conversations me and my husband were having up there (I didn’t realize he had a mic on!! lol)

After Dinner:
We took our guests to Moomba Beach. They were extremely accommodating to our guests and us and worked out a catering package for us that fit within our budget. We were under the palpala and guests were able to watch as all of their food was being cooked. I would highly suggest Moomba Beach if you are looking for something a little more laid back for you and your guests. We are having a reception back home next week so we wanted to keep this casual and it worked out great for us.

Civil Ceremony:
We considered just doing all the paper work and getting married at our court house before we went to Aruba... I am so glad we didn't! The paperwork was nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be, in fact, it was pretty easy. The civil ceremony was really nice as well as the court house in Aruba. Don't let the papers scare you away! It's worth it, I promise

Aside from the problems with our coordinator everything for our wedding really was perfect for us and the location was gorgeous. The day was so wonderful that anything that went wrong wasn’t even thought about until after the day because my only focus was on my husband during the wedding. If I had to do it again, I probably would have done it all the same just to have the location and vendors we did but just with a different coordinator.

Also, as we had about twenty people with us, below are some other things we did as groups that were a lot of fun:

- Jet skiing at Eagle Beach
- Smokey Joes Restaurant
- Texas de Brazil Restaurant
- Senor Frogs the night before the wedding (they pretty much threw us another bachelor/ette party!)
- Jolly Pirates Snorkel/Sail

If anyone has any questions at all, please feel free to message me either here or at jquilesdesign@gmail.com. I’d love to help!


Photos from our wedding:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...7864.652827456

[Arubalisa]

Thank you for taking the time to write a review of your big day. All of the photos were beautiful. I wish you both a long and happy life together. Congratulations.

[Andrea J.]

terrific and beautiful

[ArubaLovers25]

Thanks! Also, I just got the information for the videographer and photographer in case anyone is interested:

Videographer - George Jacobs
Photographer - Marc Croes (http://www.croozephotography.com/)

[Andrea J.]

marc croes has some great photos!!!
very talented indeed.

[queenkim]

Your pics are beautiful!!!! Good luck and best wishes to you and your husband!!!

[Terry Joz]

Beautiful pictures! Congrat's to you both

[Karen Lutzker]

Glad all worked out in the long run and that you had a wonderful time in Aruba. Moomba beach was a good choice for your wedding reception. It is also a great location for a welcome dinner. Congratulations.