Our Aruba Wedding

[myarubawedding]

We just got back from wonderful Aruba for our destination wedding.

 

We had our wedding at the Renaissance island with 67 guests from all over the US and even from Australia and South Africa. We have been searching for a while to get the best vendors to make our wedding day the most special of all and it paid off. After reading many reviews online of most of the local Aruba wedding professionals, we decided for the Renaissance Island to be our private island for one day.
 

Juney the wedding planner was absolutely amazing, very professional and did know all the details for a special wedding in Aruba. Too bad he was leaving to Holland soon. He was on top of it at all times and responded very quickly and prompt. We had our rehearsal (welcome) dinner at Madame Jeanette and this place is and will be one of our favorite

 

The ceremony was performed by Geofrey Banfield. He had most of us crying during the ceremony. With a twist of humor yet very beautiful words he really made our day and not to forget the big hug! Me and my bridesmaids did a rehearsal hair and makeup with Jeniveve and within a few hours (5 bridesmaids) she had us ready just the way we wanted and on the wedding day she did it again and flawless. I was a little concerned about the strong breeze on the Renaissance Island and she took care of business with an extra hairspray.

 

We had Elnathan Hijmering as our photographer and met with him a few days prior to the wedding to go over the details. We booked him for the entire wedding day and he arrived like 20 minutes earlier for the getting ready photos in the room. He was very nice, helped with moving things around for the perfect shots and had a whole bunch of nice ideas. After that he left to the island to setup his lights and start taking some pictures of arrival of our guests. Our photo session covered all the guests we had on the shot list we provided Elnathan. He timed the sunset perfectly and by the time we were ready with pictures, our guests were enjoying the cocktail hour and hors d’oeuvres. We did not really mind missing cocktail hour, after all we got married in Aruba for the spectacular sunset and gosh we had a perfect one. This guy does not stop taking pictures, the only time he had a break was during our dinner since his policy is not to take pictures of guests eating. Can’t wait to get my pictures. I’ll keep you all posted on how they turned out.

 

Besides photo coverage we also wanted our wedding to be filmed and streamed for the guests that could not make it to Aruba. The Renaissance recommended Ingmar Maduro and he did a very professional job. We met with him a day before the wedding to make sure he would have the video streamed in time and finalize some details of the filming. He was also booked for the entire wedding celebration and had a second cameraman taking shots on the Renaissance Island while he was in my room getting the getting ready shots. He left after a while to the private island and even had the getting ready streamed right before me and my girls arrived. Too bad it took a little long for the firsts guests to arrive since the sea was a little rough and as they say, better late than wet. I was a little concerned with the quality of the sound during the ceremony, as with one of my friend’s wedding the wind was so hard you could barely hear anything. Ingmar had me, my hubby and the officiant Geofrey wired with wireless microphones. Ingmar really made us look like celebrities in Hollywood, with lights, multiple cameras and he even filmed several guests giving best wishes. Can’t wait for the DVD’s to be ready.

 

The night itself concluded at 11 pm and everybody had a wonderful night filled with good food, drinks and good service by everybody including the boat driver George. Tino Daal did a spectacular job as our DJ, we did provide him with a list of what NOT to play and gave him Carte Blanche to entertain the wedding like never before and he rocked the place. He even got my82 years old granny dancing for a while. Still my guests are bragging on how an amazing time they all had on Aruba.

 

Xoxo L.M.