*The official Aruba Brides CHAT thread*

[h4baine]

I have a girlfriend who went to a wedding at Tamarijn/Divi and LOVED it.

[aruba2008]

It's been a little bit over a year since our wedding, and I still have ill feelings towards The Westin. I loved my wedding because of my family, friends, and the beautiful atmosphere, but hated it because I had to work with the people that I was dealt with at The Westin. The people working there at the time weren't as committed to helping me as much as I thought I deserved (and I was not a demanding bride). I still recommend other future Aruba brides out there to avoid The Westin, unless they revamped their buisness department and hired new associates.

[soxgirl]

Anyone have updated photos from the Divi/Tamarijn. I hear they have done renovations but can't find any photos.

 

So far they seem the most reasonable for our guests and the wedding coordinator Lorriane has been very responsive to my hundreds of questions daily.

 

I've looked at other resorts but our guests really want an all inclusive package.

[Sheree10]

Another Aruban Bride passing by to say hello... counting down till our big day next July 2010 at the Renaissance. Time is really going by soooo fast.

 

Soxgirl, maybe you can try www.tripadvisor.com to see if there are any pictures of the renovations.

[Sheree10]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjaruba Congratulations Aruba brides! I'm getting married in Aruba too and don't remember seeing this thread before. Our wedding is in less than 12 weeks now - yikes! I'm getting pretty excited and am finally checking some things off the list. After a site visit in May we chose the Aruba Marriott but also liked the Hyatt, Westin and Manchebo Pavillion. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or find any great resources you'd like to share!

Don't you wonder where all the time went? I hope things have been getting a little easier with your planning.

[cjaruba]

Thanks! Yes, finally falling in to place. Just planned the welcome party last week. If only the 5lbs I'm desperate to lose would go so well. =)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheree10 Don't you wonder where all the time went? I hope things have been getting a little easier with your planning.

[arubarobinson]

Fellow Aruban Bride happy to find this!!!

 

I thought ARUBA might have been left out. My fiance and I are getting married in ARUBA 8/2010. I was wondering does anyone have opinions, reviews or photos of the Occidental or the RIU Palace Resorts.

 

My Fiance and I have narrowed it down to these two locations based on the All Inclusive offer.

 

Thanks!!

[cjaruba]

For some reason I don't hear too much about those two. Seems a lot of people go to the Divi all inclusive.

 

The place to check out will be the aruba.com forum:

Official Aruba Community Forum

 

Its been my best resource. There have been a couple of people on there that bug me but overall its really helpful. My next best resource has been TripAdvisor.com.

 

We didn't like the fact that RIU is a monstrosity that doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the hotels but we did drop in one night. (We were in Aruba for a site visit in May.) It looked pretty good. Huge pool! Looked like people were having fun and I could totally see myself bellied up to the pool bar. We stopped in around 10pm and people were still mingling around the pool.

 

I've heard the 'included' food is 'ok' but there is some a-la-carte food that's really good. We had been considering the Occidental but ruled it out early on because of expense. We don't have enough people that party that would make good use of the All-Inclusive. Occidental seems to have a great location. RIU is down by the Westin near the end of the Palm Beach strip. There really isn't a bad location though. You can walk one end of the beach to the other in less than 20 minutes. Its only about a mile of resort after resort. There is an outdoor shopping center that the Occidental may be closer to, but really, I don't think either are more than a 10 minute walk.

 

Good luck!

[arubarobinson]

Thanks cjaruba, I will definitely take your advise into consideration.

 

I keep being told to just do a low rise like the Divi Divi and save my guest some cash. Any feedback on this I do not want to trade quality for a few bucks savings?

 

Thanks,

[soxgirl]

We were in the same situation that you are in trying to save our guests some money while still having a beautiful beach wedding. After discussions with our friends and family we've opted for the Divi Divi. It's a beach resort and we've had a bunch of friends stay there for their honeymoon. Our friends and family agreed with our decision. The Divi also gave me a group rate that I couldn't pass up, and Lorriane the WC has been amazing!

 

We decided to spend the money in other places (reception, activities for our guests, honeymoon).

 

When is your wedding? We're booked for May 7th.

 

Good luck!

Suzanne