Stressed Aruba "newbie"

[Aruba Bride]

@jmastr - Thanks for sharinf your tips! They are great!

[MelissaBorge]

Sheree,

 

Congrats on your wedding!! How was it? How was Aruba? Do you have any pictures of the wedding that you could share? I am also getting married in Aruba in October of 2012. I loved the idea of the Renaissance but we are stuck with the idea of an all-inclusive and the Renaissance's all-inclusive is a little pricey for our guests, so I am waiting on a quote from the Riu.

[jnlynnde]

Hi Ron Soliman,

 

Could you expain to me what photo journalism is?

 

Thanks!

Jen

[traceysteve]

Aruba is AMAZING!! I can't rave enough about it. The majority of our group stayed at the RIU, but we had the wedding at the Westin, which is right next door. The Westin is awesome...they treated us like gold. They arranged for transportation for us to and from the airport. We did see 2 weddings at the RIU, they were small, but nice. It was definitely worth the money.
 

Originally Posted by MelissaBorge 

Sheree,

 

Congrats on your wedding!! How was it? How was Aruba? Do you have any pictures of the wedding that you could share? I am also getting married in Aruba in October of 2012. I loved the idea of the Renaissance but we are stuck with the idea of an all-inclusive and the Renaissance's all-inclusive is a little pricey for our guests, so I am waiting on a quote from the Riu.

 

[monique2011]

Everyone's comments are so helpful.   I am actually getting married on Renaissance Island on August 18th, 2012.  Very excited to finally get married.  However, I am having some difficulties finding a place for a rehearsal/welcome dinner. 

[katie2012]

I stayed at the Ren last may and we had so many delicious dinners while we were there. I would highly recommend Que Pasa (a short walk from the back of your hotel) http://www.quepasaaruba.com/. It's the only place we went back to for two dinners, the food was THAT good. On our last night we ate at Pinchos (short cab ride from hotel) http://www.arubarestaurants.com/international/pinchos-grill-bar/. AMAZING view of sunset. 

 

For a more casual gathering, Wednesday nights were all-you-can-eat ribs at the paddock. http://www.paddock-aruba.com/

 

All are on my list for possible group dinners when we are there in July. 

 

 

[AshleyBrooke]

Hello!

 

We am looking into getting married at the Divi in October 2012.  Where did you have your reception? which location did you stay at?  I"m so curious and can't seem to find too much about the Divi on this site.  Thank you!!!!

 

Originally Posted by jmastr05 

This thread started out with a question about how to save on a wedding at Aruba. Here are some of the things that I did to keep control of my budget.

• I wore flip flops instead of heels. The ceremony was on the sand and the whole island has a beech vibe. (We also chose flip flops as our wedding theme). The options for flip flops are limitless and much less expensive than a regular shoe. (Same thing for my husband).
• I didn't wear a veil. It's so windy in Aruba that my wedding planner advised against a veil. I wasn't planning on wearing one anyway. Instead I bought a flower hair pin that I ordered from Amazon. I think it cost $30.
• We used the bridesmaid bouquets as the center pieces. We had vases with water and clear marbles at each table. Right after we all had our grand entrances at the reception, the bridesmaids walked to a table and dropped their bouquet in. So the centerpieces essentially cost us the $10 rental fee per vase.
• We went light on flowers and decoration in general. Aruba is so beautiful that you really don't need to dress it up. No corsages. No boutonnieres. No throwing bouquet. The arch for the ceremony only had a white drape on it (no flowers). We ended up having fewer guests come than we expected, so we did "splurge" on a colored sash for every chair at the ceremony. However, originally, we were only going to have sashes on the chairs that line the aisle. At the reception, we opted for a colored overlay on each table instead of sashes on each chair, which ended up being less expensive for us.
• I bought my pearl jewelry from topearl.com. I was a little worried that this site would not be legit, but figured I was willing to gamble the $50 I was about to spend. The jewelry was really nice! The $50 included 2 necklaces (wasn't sure which length to get), 2 pairs of earrings (wasn't sure of which style I preferred), AND shipping! I think the delivery time is a little long though, so take that into account.
• I ordered the welcome bag items from minimus.biz, soap.com, and orientaltrading.com. These sites have pretty good prices! Soap.com offers free shipping on orders over a certain amount. Even if you don't buy that much for your wedding, it's an on-line drug store. Everyone can use shampoo, tissues, moisturizer, etc.
• I'm not very crafty, but I made my own save-the-dates. Many on-line stationary sites will give you a certain number of free business cards, and you only pay the shipping. They have tons of designs, some of which are really attractive and colorful. Instead of your contact information, enter your wedding information. Vistaprint.com is the most popular of these sites. Staples sells magnets that are business card sized and have a sticky side. So all you need to do it peel the back off the magnet (like a sticker) and apply the business card.
• I chose a in invitation that is simple, but one that I really liked. Most people are going to throw it away anyway, so I didn't feel the need to spend a lot of money on the invitation. Also, instead of adding all of the additional inserts (reception card, directions, etc), I directed everyone to my wedding website. So the shipping was the standard amount for a letter. (Shipping adds up!) Here's a link to my invitation, which can be customized with many different icons and font colors: http://www.invitationsbydawn.com/Wedding-Invitations/Destination-and-Beach-Wedding-Invitations/2660-DRWA04945-By-Design--Invitation.pro.
• If you have the time to wait before making certain purchases, then sign up for e-mail notifications form the company where you plan on making these purchases. They'll send e-mails about upcoming sales that you can take advantage of. But this means starting to shop around early.
• I did without a lot of the non-essentials. No toasting flutes. No cake topper. No cake cutters. Another benefit of this is that you will have fewer wedding supplies to transport to Aruba and back.

 

Hope some these suggestions help!

 

[debrose59]

I am thinking of getting married at the Westin Aruba in Jan. 2013. Did you like it?