*The official Aruba Brides CHAT thread*

[alisonu22]

Hey everybody,

It's all set. I'm getting married April 18th, 2011!!!! We chose to have the ceremony and dinner reception at the Aruba Surfside Marina. It looks beautiful in the pictures and very private. It is a great off the beach site. Their prices are also great. Ianthe, the coordinator there, has been so great and responds very quickly to your emails. If anybody is looking for a private, off the beach site, check out their website arubasurfsidemarina.com. I'm so excited, and relieved to have the majority of our wedding planning done!!!! Now it's time to focus on the details.

[Jessica&Adam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VA_Bride Based on what I saw when I was there this is definitely a concern. I think it will all work out, but there were a LOT of people on the beach right near the area watching the sun set. From what I have heard from others there will be a number of people watching the wedding, but they usually seem to be respectful and stay off to the side. One night there was a family throwing the football at the water's edge and it would have been very disruptive had a wedding been going on, but then again, I bet they wouldn't be doing it if there was a wedding going on. Long and short of it, there probably will be people who watch, but they will also most likely be polite and stay off to the side and out of your way. It would take a real jerk to knowingly bust into someones moment.

I got married in Mexico, but it was still on the beach, and my experience was that passerby's will always move. Not to mention that even if there are people watching from the side - you will never notice. You and everyone around you will be so focused on your ceremony and mainly watching YOU that you will have absolutely no concept of anyone who might be around you. Ahh, ignorance is bliss. So I would say definitely don't stress about it. Also, you can always mention to your resort WC that if they see people around to find a subtle way to get them to move w/o disrupting the ceremony. Hope this helps!!

[hat0112]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alisonu22 Hey everybody, It's all set. I'm getting married April 18th, 2011!!!! We chose to have the ceremony and dinner reception at the Aruba Surfside Marina. It looks beautiful in the pictures and very private. It is a great off the beach site. Their prices are also great. Ianthe, the coordinator there, has been so great and responds very quickly to your emails. If anybody is looking for a private, off the beach site, check out their website arubasurfsidemarina.com. I'm so excited, and relieved to have the majority of our wedding planning done!!!! Now it's time to focus on the details.

Congrats! That's great you have the big decisions out of the way. I am finding that the little stuff and details are fun (but there is A LOT).

[hat0112]

Does anyone know anything about the public busses in Aruba? I heard that for $2.30pp you can get a round trip ticket and it will take you from the Palm beach area to Oranjestad and around the island. I am trying to find out all the stops the busses make and when and how often they run, but I can’t seem to find it online (I’m not very good at Google and I didn’t see it on Aruba.com).

[hat0112]

I did see that site but I didn’t know if it was the right one since the bus to the hotels (line 10) only goes to Arashi Beach, Malmok Beach and the Marriot from Oranjestad according to the schedule online. I would have thought it stopped more frequently at other hotels.

 

Thanks!

[hat0112]

Oh ok! That's great! I figured it would have.

[MDLady]

This is a question for the other Aruba brides.. Are we expected to tip photographers, videographers, etc - those services that we hire directly and not through the hotel? The charges are not cheap but I also don't want to be rude and not tip when that is the custom. Any advice?

[hat0112]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDLady This is a question for the other Aruba brides.. Are we expected to tip photographers, videographers, etc - those services that we hire directly and not through the hotel? The charges are not cheap but I also don't want to be rude and not tip when that is the custom. Any advice?

Hmm... that is a good question. We are going with vendors through our WC for things. I know that we will tip the WC even though everything includes tip in the price. I think you might have to tip something, but you need to find out if your vendors included tip in their price our not. Can you have the vendors send you a break out of their costs and it should list the tip on there if they include it.

[A_J_Mitchell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDLady This is a question for the other Aruba brides.. Are we expected to tip photographers, videographers, etc - those services that we hire directly and not through the hotel? The charges are not cheap but I also don't want to be rude and not tip when that is the custom. Any advice?

Good question, but I do know that if the service is provided by the owner of the company we do not tip them!! I ended up getting a lot of vendors so I'm curious about this too..

[unki]

hullo!

after finding this site, I have finally decided on aruba for our DW...now i need to narrow it down to which hotel/resort....hurts my head when i try to decide...lol....

 

can anyone tell me if there's any difference between renaissance, westin, or bucuti in terms of getting to restaurants, shopping, etc.? i'm trying to think of our guests and the ease of accessing these things...