katie2012

Nicole, Congratulations on your engagement! I had a great experience with our photographer in Aruba, Crooze Photography. PM me if you want to chat about it. Katie

We met on chemistry.com. I was trying to cancel my membership because I was tired of meeting guys that weren't true to their profile. He emailed me the day after I thought I had cancelled it, and I decided to give this one last guy a try. On our first real date I had decided to relocate to 2 hrs away for work. He helped me move, and kept coming to visit. Four years later (one year ago) he proposed. We're now happy newlyweds!

20 people is a great size wedding! And you'll be so happy with not skimping on your photographer. If everyone gets along and its likely you will be eating other meals as large groups, you might be okay skipping the rehearsal dinner. If your side or his side is likely to split off an do their own thing, or get into fights about how to split a bill, you might be better of having that other time where everyone is together and you don't have to decide who you are going to split off with. I found that my parents were ready to go off an do their own thing and I had to remind them that my brother might want to eat with them since his girlfriend wasn't there. Or my brother came with us when we ate with my husband's dad's side of the family. Or one night we ate out with all the parents (his parents are divorced).

The actual cost of my wedding... Legal and Beach ceremony with Celebrations and Ceremonies (Lissy Lampe) on Eagle Beach $3314 Reception at Passions on the beach (20 people) $2207 Photographer (8 hrs including TTD + all images on a DVD) $2850 Printing photo books (Mypublisher.com) $500 Wedding favors (Rum Palmera) $105 Wedding attire (950 my dresses + 120 alterations + 500 jewelry + 300 his attire) $1870 Rings $1500 Rehearsal dinner at Pinchos $1695 Sunset cruise with Red Sail sports (16 people) $900 Hotel (Amsterdam Manor) 1 bedroom suite for 10 nights $2346 Air (round trip first class) $2226 NO AHR due to too much stress trying to plan a second event! So we splurged on a few things (rings, jewelry air, photographer) and you could certainly have a very nice wedding for less than $19,533.... we were very fortunate to start out with a budget goal (not including rehearsal dinner, sunset cruise, air or hotel) of 15k, which we were under. We had a great time.

Jenny Yoo Talia #110B On the model and me on my wedding day(with my dad) and during our TTD shoot (with my husband). (IMHO the model is too skinny. Thanks to Crooze photography for the photos of me.)

I wore this jcrew dress (Macie, style #65118) at my legal ceremony. I wound up wearing flat sandals with it because I broke a toe and couldn't bear wearing heels. I loved having two different dresses, and my husband had two different shirts/ties for our two ceremonies (legal & beach).

Hi Donna, Congratulations on your engagement. We've now been to Aruba twice (once on vacation, once to get married). If you want the fully island experience we had a great all day jeep tour with ABC Tours http://abc-aruba.com/. We also enjoyed snorkeling with the jolly pirates and sailing with red sail sports. I don't know if you've ridden the busses on the island before, but they're not air conditioned. And most of them from the resorts stop at a bus depot downtown. It's a good half mile hike from there to the town house unless you transfer busses. We waited over half an hour for a bus a few times too. I dare say that on your wedding day you might want to take a cab ($10-15) there and if you're really dedicated to riding the bus, taking it home. We worked with Cassandra and Marc Crooze as our photographers and couldn't have been happier with their work. http://www.croozephotography.com/ The only pitfall I can think of is that it took over 2 months to receive our actual marriage certificate (it gets translated and an aposophille) so I'm constantly explaining to people why my name hasn't changed. I'm still waiting for social security to send me a new card... Katie

I bought this without reading the "white" part from ruelala earlier this year and did not wind up wearing it for my wedding, since my gown was ivory. Paid $70 (expensive mistake on my part), just looking to make some of it back. I didn't wear it so these photos are the designer's.