I feel so overwhelmed

We had 'stay-tuned' on our wedding website for 3-4 months while we researched Florida, Costa Rica, Mexico and finally Aruba! =) Then after we had selected a resort it took another 3 weeks to get the contract sorted out and were finally able to post the hotel link with the group code...

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Originally Posted by goNDmay9 thanks cjaruba! aruba is on our list too - but then again everything seems to be on our list ha! i just keep telling myself to keep looking and the right venue will hit me and everything will work out. we have already been telling people it is a destination wedding too - just not sure where. I have already alerted most people to go ahead and get or renew their passports because we are going somewhere!!   are you getting married on the resort?

Yes' date=' we're getting married at the Aruba Marriott. I have to say they are terrible to communicate with but I do think they'll do a good job. Because we're getting married in the fall we don't have a lot of options thanks to hurricane season, hence our choice of Aruba. Our first choice was Puerto Vallarta but then swine flu hit as we were getting ready to visit and we decided we didn't want to take any chances with the wedding only 6 months away. QUOTE']

 

The Aruba Marriott and the RIU were the ones that we were looking at. Although I just found out some news that has just CRUSHED me. Actually, i am not going to say that - i am going to say that it is allowing me to cross countries off of my list (which is fab at this point!). My FI and I want to have a chapel cermony (preferably catholic) and I found out that A - they do not do weddings at Alto Vista (that would have been perfect and was my original plan) and B - Aruba does not allow church weddings at all. You have to get married at City Hall and they only do beach cermonies.

 

Are you all getting married at the Aruba City Hall first too? I was just curious to see if you heard the same thing before i ruled out Aruba.

 

Yours is coming up soon! Sooooo exciting. Love ya!

Your right -- the actual wedding part is a downer. ALL legal weddings do need to take place at the city hall. When we were researching Mexico we heard a few horror stories of unreliable officiants so we decided we were going to get the 'legal stuff' out of the way with a magistrate ceremony at first. While Aruba is a lot more reliable, we had already gotten comfortable with doing the legal part at home the week before and it saves a bunch of money when you're not paying for document translation. As far as our guests and family will know, they will be witnessing the real ceremony on the beach. I have to say I was REALLY surprised they don't have church weddings there. Given we were stuck on our date in October, the weather had crossed most places off the list. Good luck finding the perfect place for you!

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Originally Posted by goNDmay9 The Aruba Marriott and the RIU were the ones that we were looking at. Although I just found out some news that has just CRUSHED me. Actually, i am not going to say that - i am going to say that it is allowing me to cross countries off of my list (which is fab at this point!). My FI and I want to have a chapel cermony (preferably catholic) and I found out that A - they do not do weddings at Alto Vista (that would have been perfect and was my original plan) and B - Aruba does not allow church weddings at all. You have to get married at City Hall and they only do beach cermonies.   Are you all getting married at the Aruba City Hall first too? I was just curious to see if you heard the same thing before i ruled out Aruba.   Yours is coming up soon! Sooooo exciting. Love ya!

I used DW too (Susan)... Ended up saving me $50 per room per night!

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Originally Posted by goNDmay9 I may give them a try. I am currently using weddingdayaway.com, but i really need someone who is going to take the reins on this a little. I have found more from this forum then i have found from my person right now!   There are two options we are looking at for Jamiaca. The Sandals Montego Bay has a chapel on the resort, and my weddingdayaway person just said that she is finding info out on a offsite church as well. i have never been to ANY of these countires though so it is good to know that it is hard to go wrong! ahhhhhhhh. But at least i am starting to cross things off the list.   i will keep you all posted if i do not go insane first.

YIKES CJ! you may have just convinced me to rule out mexico - that is scary!! not to mention, my moon palace contract said something about catholic ceremonies not being legally recognized. this whole civil cermony thing is starting to get really complicated. hello! my next project is the cayman islands! ha!

I have a total of 4.5mths to plan whole wedding YIKES!!! I am overwhelmed! but it is what you make of it. Good luck and you will find lots of ifo on here

so as soon as i read your post i was somewhat relieved because at least i knew i wasn't the only one that felt that way! i have been spending every second i have to research and try to pick a resort, i feel like i have no life anymore!? i have (sort of) narrowed it down to dreams cabo or the royal playa del carmen. its still a major toss up...so many pros and a few cons about them both! ughh doesn't help i am such an indecisive person to begin with!? ( so good luck on your decision!!! i hope i can figure mine out soon!

Well please don't rule out Mexico based on my post. Ask the brides that have been there! My hairdresser was telling me about his sister's wedding and the officiant didn't show... didn't show for 2 days! (Their wedding was going to be on the beach.) They finally gave up, started partying and sure enough when she was loaded on margaritas they got the call that he would be there in an hour! He had to try to sober up his heart-broken sister and get her dressed for the wedding. I've heard a couple other things though not as severe. And I don't know how long ago Jeffrey's sister was married so times may have changed. We were planning on Puerto Vallarta before swine flu hit two weeks before our site visit. I think Mexico would still be a fantastic destination and I'm sure you can get a LOT for your money now.

We're excited about Aruba but it is so expensive! I had wanted to ship some stuff down to my wedding planner - a 20lb box worth $100 and it was going to cost me over $200 to ship it (via UPS)! Needless to say we are instead just packing an extra bag, but still... And some of their decorations seem outdated to me which makes sense since it costs them so much to import things. At first I was frustrated by the lack of contemporary decor I wanted but had a much better appreciation after trying to ship my simple package of wedding favors. Aruba will turn out well I'm sure but I think PV would have been so much fun!

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Originally Posted by goNDmay9 YIKES CJ! you may have just convinced me to rule out mexico - that is scary!! not to mention, my moon palace contract said something about catholic ceremonies not being legally recognized. this whole civil cermony thing is starting to get really complicated. hello! my next project is the cayman islands! ha!