*The official Aruba Brides CHAT thread*

[JENBRAND]

Hello All Aruba Brides!
 

Okay to clear up some confusion for all of you (as I almost went insane trying to figure this out) .... If you want to have a beach wedding ceremony you can, however, it is not legal. They consider it a blessing.  Your guests would never know the difference, which leaves you with 2 options.

 

Option #1: You can get married in your home town (at city hall or something) and bring your wedding certificate with you to Aruba.  The beach ceremony will still be EXACTLY the same, vows, ring exchange, tears, for better or worse...yada yada yada

 

Option #2: You can get married at the Town Hall in Aruba PRIOR to your beach ceremony.  You and your financee (and guests if you want) can all go to Aruba Town Hall - do the legal wedding - and then head to the beach ceremony.  You can also get married at town hall the day before if you wish.

All the wedding planners that I have talked to have strongly advised getting married in your home town first...and here's why.  To get married in Aruba you need to provide (2 months prior) several documentations - stamped and specially sealed from your home town Government - you also need witness information, passport copies, letter stating you are both single and so-on-and-so-on.  The biggest problem with getting married at Aruba Town Hall is as follows: If for any reason you end up divorced or widowed (knock on wood) - you need to go to Aruba with the paperwork.  There have been several instances of certain states/provinces not allowing the Arubian Wedding Licence as a legal document for the name change.

 

Obviously this decision is up to you - it took me about a month to figure it all out and understand it all!!! I hope it helps.

 

We are getting married on February 8th 2012 and the Occidental Grand Aruba Palm Beach.  I have not seen ANY posts on here about anyone who has been married or stayed at the Occidental so if people can post some feedback that would be greatly appreciated!

 

Also - for you past Aruba brides - survey: Did you get married in your home state - or in Aruba Town Hall?

 

Thanks everyone - happy planning and I hope this helps

Jen.

[traceysteve]

thanks Jen, for clearing that up. Very interesting. The Westin, Divi and independent wedding planner did not mention anything to that effect. Hmmmm....now, what to do??

[Kathie]

Hi ladies. I am getting married at the Westin Aruba on October 20, 2011. We are legally getting married at home at town hall. We will celebrate the date of the ceremony in Aruba. It is much easier and cheaper too. I think it costs another $500 for the legal wedding.

[AnnCam2011]

Hi All -

 

We got legally married here in MN 2 weeks before we went to Aruba. We decided to do it here because it was 1) cheaper - didnt want to pay to have it translated to English. I hear it is in Dutch and 2) convienience. We didnt want to waste time going to the town hall to get married in Aruba since we had an afternoon planned going around the island with the photographer. We also got married on Carnivale Monday - meaning everything (EVERYTHING!) was closed. We didnt want to mess around with getting the marriage recognized here in the States, so we just took the easy route. My advice - go the easy route and don't make yourself crazy! DW's are supposed to be fun, easy, and stress free. Why add more to it than necessary?

 

We got the marriage lic here at home and just had to set up a time to meet the judge. We got legally married on a Thursday after work, and it literally took 10 minutes. Easy-peasy. Our wedding coordinator said he needed a copy of our marriage certificate, but in the end he never asked for it. May have just forgot, seeing he became a new Dad 2 days prior! In the end, it worked out. We didnt care what our parents thought - my mom was irked she "wasnt included" in our legal wedding, but there was nothing to it. We didnt say anything to each other, just had to swear in front of the judge and have her sign the paper with our witnesses. Our anniversary date is the day we got married in Aruba, not when we got paperwork done at home.

 

Good Luck! Hope this helps

[AnnCam2011]

Hi - yes we got married on the beach (see my post above). Have you looked into the Hayatt? It is another hotel I liked but we went with the Ren because it came so highly recommended to us (and lived up to our expectations!). We walked thru the Hayatt on our way to one of our snorkel trips. Lobby and pool area were nice. Right on the beach which could be good and bad. Have you looked into the Renaissance at all? We liked the fact it was more private, etc. and the island was heaven. just sayin'

 

Thought I would also mention: I have 40 aqua blue chair sashes I need to get rid of. They are brand new, still in the package. I bought them not knowing sashes were included in our wedding package. Der. So, I would like to sell them. If you want picts I can email you. Looking for $40 for all.

[kfady529]

Thank you ladies all these post are so helpful AnnCam congrats on your resent wedding and to the rest congrats and happy planning.I am getting married 4/12 and was looking in to the Divi phenox any feed back for those who have been? I just started looking into other ones as well and the Renaissance was one of them I emailed them a week ago and haven't hared back is that like them?

[kfady529]

I actually just read that the other day. CONGRATS!!! Sounds like you and your guest had an amazing time, so happy it was perfect for you!!
 

Originally Posted by AnnCam2011 

Yes! Just got married March 7. We stayed at the Renaissance Aruba Resort and couldn't have been happier with our decision. It was perfect. Look back a few pages in this forum - I posted something right when we got back. Loved every bit of it, no issues with the service and the WC was awesome!

 

 

[kfady529]

sorry and see post above.

 

[kfady529]

Thank you for sharing amazing pictures I love the ones on the rocks/cliffs absolutely beautiful!

Originally Posted by AnnCam2011 

Nevermind - here's one better: Our photographer just posted our preview. www.vickphotography.com wedding date 3/7/11. View the slideshow - it's better

 

 

[traceysteve]

Actually, I'm at a toss up right now between Divi Phoenix and the Westin..funny though, just waiting for someone to send me the secured payment form so I can guarantee my day, and maybe send some invites out. But I have found that they are all pretty slow at getting back to you, I guess it's the island mentality..

 

Originally Posted by kfady529 

Thank you ladies all these post are so helpful AnnCam congrats on your resent wedding and to the rest congrats and happy planning.I am getting married 4/12 and was looking in to the Divi phenox any feed back for those who have been? I just started looking into other ones as well and the Renaissance was one of them I emailed them a week ago and haven't hared back is that like them?