Aruba Wedding Testimonials
"Start to finish, our wedding at the Aruba Marriott was amazing"
Jasper and I wanted to share our experience planning our wedding at the Aruba Marriott. I began by doing extensive research online about the various options. We knew we wanted to work through a Marriott, as my parents, and now ourselves, are vacation club owners. We felt confident that if we went with a Marriott it would be a first class experience. I then spent time reading reviews online from brides about the various locations. One place in particular stood out: Aruba. In several weeks of reading all sorts of on-line forums and review sites, not one bride has a bad experience with the Aruba Marriott. Not one. This was the deciding factor for me, as I knew I would have to rely on the staff for many details since I was planning from Washington DC. After making contact with the sales staff, they guided us through the deposit process and reserving the date. We were fortunate enough to make a site visit trip early on and were delighted to meet with Verna, the wedding coordinator that took care of us throughout the process. During that initial meeting, Verna showed us specific sites on the beach for the ceremony and walked us through options of flowers, cakes, colors and all varieties of food. Since, as many soon-to-be married couples do, we had a pretty firm budget, Verna took our initials plans and choices and worked up a detailed estimate for the ceremony and dinner. This was instrumental for us in planning. As the big day got closer, we emailed often with Verna and spoke on the phone as necessary. We refined our numbers, finalized our choices, and discussed last minute details. Verna was amazing through out this process. I particularly appreciated her help setting up my hair appointment and making suggestions about the reception/dinner based on her knowledge. I felt completely comfortable that she understood what we wanted and could make it happen without me needing to manage every detail.
On the day itself, Verna and the Marriott event staff truly outdid themselves. She provided a timetable so we all knew where to be at what time, organized our guests in air conditioned comfort and then got them seated, and sent a car for me, my father, and my sister, the matron-of-honor, so we wouldn’t “wilt” in the heat going from the Ocean Club to the hotel. When I arrived at the staging area, everything was taken care of for me. The flowers were ready and distributed to those who needed them, the music was ready to go, and Verna instructed us on how to walk down the isle and take it slow. The ceremony site looked fantastic and the flowers were exactly what I had envisioned. It took a lot of trust on my part to not see exactly what things were going to look like ahead of time, but the Marriott did a fantastic job. After the ceremony Verna guided us through the certificate signing process and made sure the bar was ready, the food was on time, and that generally the whole set up was right. We were especially delighted with our bartender, who created a delicious drink especially for our wedding. Our guests enjoyed it so much they are still trying to reproduce the recipe! We also can’t say enough about the food. We had several guests comment that it was one of the best steaks they had ever had.
Start to finish, our wedding at the Aruba Marriott was amazing. Looking back on it, there isn’t a thing we would change. I thought it was interesting when the lady doing my hair on the wedding day commented that I was the most relaxed bride she had ever worked with. I know that was due in no small part to the confidence I had in Verna and the Event Staff to take care of everything. Our wedding was truly perfect, and we appreciate the opportunity to start our lives together in such a special place!
Virginia and Jasper
------ We recently got married at the Marriott Stellaris on October 10th of this year, and we just wanted to commend your staff on the absolutely incredible job they did with our event. The event staff was phenomenal!
Verna was absolutely amazing!!! It was truly a pleasure planning our wedding with Verna. She made everything we asked for happen in ways that we could not even imagine. We came to Aruba to meet with Verna in May and she was so helpful while we were there. She scheduled appointments for us to meet with DJ’s, officiates, photographers, the florist, and Dufy. She drove us around the island to meet with the florist so that we could pick out in person the exact flowers that we wanted for our special day. Verna had every single detail of our special day covered; everything from the color of the linens to the appointments for the bridal party to the very last dance was perfect and went smoothly! We had 4 small children who attended our wedding and late in the day they were becoming cranky and Verna even managed to get them settled by having their dinners come out earlier! My sister-in-law was so happy with such a small thoughtful detail because she got to enjoy her meal since her children had already eaten! I’ve heard from so many of my girlfriends that they didn’t enjoy their wedding days because they were stressed over the minor details. Well, I cannot say the same thing about myself. Both Shawn and I enjoyed every single second of our very special day and we owe that all to Verna. I cannot express enough how grateful we are to Verna and how amazing she was!!!
All 35 of our guests are still talking about how wonderful our wedding was. And a large part of what made our special day so amazing was Dufy. He treated each and every one of our guests as if they were a long time friend of his. My mom is still telling everyone about how he was flipping the bottles! Dufy even made a special drink to go with the color we chose to accent our wedding which was green and managed to incorporate my favorite rum, Bacardi, in the drink. All of our guests were impressed with the service Dufy provided, he remembered everyone’s drink and was even sending drinks out to the tables when he saw our guests were running low! One of my favorite memories of our very special day will always be of Dufy out on the dance floor with our friends and families!!! Having someone so personable and friendly behind the bar at our wedding was wonderful!
We cannot express enough our gratitude towards Verna, Dufy and the rest of the staff that made our special day happen. The day was more than we ever could have hoped for! The Stellaris will forever hold a special place in our hearts because of the wonderful service that was provided to us on such a special day in our lives. We have already planned our return trip to celebrate our 1 year anniversary at the Stellaris and we are looking forward to seeing Verna and Dufy again!
Whether you are planning a romantic vacation for two, a family vacation, or a special event the Marriott Stellaris is the place to go in Aruba! We have been to Aruba 3 times now and have stayed at 5 resorts on the island and this is by far our favorite!!! We have already reserved our room for our 1 year wedding anniversary in October of 2011!
Thank you,
Shawn & Susan LaRue
------ Our Memorial Day 2010 Wedding
My husband and I were married at the beautiful Aruba Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino on Friday, May 28th. I would be remiss if I did not express pleased were were with how everything turned out. For months, we worked with first Desiree Bikker then Verna Dijkoff and her dream team (Abigail, Helen, and Simone), and we couldn't be happier with how all of their hard work paid off. I know these ladies had to truly go above and beyond for our wedding. Not only am I as far from the cookie cutter destination bride as possible, but the unthinkable happened when the entire island of Aruba lost power half an hour before our ceremony! Verna and her team were not only able to accommodate my special requests (read: excessive attention to detail) but they also worked miracles in making our wedding go off without a hitch despite the power outage.
I worked very closely with Verna and Edwina Werleman of E2 Events to create our dream wedding. As I mentioned, I was not one of those awesome destination brides that can pick a package and go with it. Instead, I had every single detail custom tailored and outlined, down to precisely how the napkins were to be folded and placed atop my chargers, with our wedding menu tucked just right inside. When I showed up to our first face-to-face meeting with my extremely over-sized, packed to the seams bag o' wedding trimmings, I can only imagine what was going through Verna's head. She was so great the whole time, and together with Edwina, she was really able to pull my vision together. Every sash was tied just right, every decoration and flower was presented perfectly, and once I saw the video (shot by George Jacobs of AUA Events) and pictures (by our photographer, Angela Munzenhofer of Bella Aruba Photography), I noticed some details that they'd added on their own that fit perfectly in to my beachy, champagne colored dream. Thanks to their hard work and eye for putting a beautiful event together, many of my guests still talk about how I should do this for a living because it was so beautiful! The front desk staff were also very accommodating and distributing our welcome buckets to our guests.
As I previously mentioned, circumstances weren't exactly ideal, and Verna and the staff of the Marriott truly worked magic to execute our wedding when a breaker exploded in the plant and the entire island (every home, store, restaurant, and resort) including the Marriott lost power. Now this may seem like more than a bride can handle on her wedding day, but when Verna came up to my gorgeous upgraded (thanks again to her) room to bring my wedding party and I down to the ceremony and told us their was no power, she was so calm about it that I was, too, and we laughed and joked as we walked down seven stories of stairs in the dark with our wedding caravan. My husband and I were married on the West Lawn outside at 6pm, so the power outage didn't affect our ceremony at all (we had a steel drum band through Edwina and natural light). Of course right after the ceremony, I was worried about not having electricity at our cocktail hour, but thanks to what I'm sure was quite the scurry for Verna and the Marriott staff, they had a generator up and running for our cocktail hour and reception on the La Vista patio just in time. Everything went great! The food was really delicious and impressive- we had passed hors d'ouevres for the cocktail hour and the seated filet mignon and Caribbean lobster tail dinner. I sent Verna a few pictures of wedding cakes that I like, explained what I liked about each, and got a hybrid of them as my cake. We're foodies and were pleased with all of the food, and we received a ton of comments on how great it all was from our guests, as well. It wasn't until the next day that we learned how hard they had to work to make it all happen. Everything was so smooth that I never stopped to think about it, but even though our reception site was given priority for a generator, the restaurants were still without power... how then, did they put out such wonderful food for our wedding? Again, the hard work and professionalism of Verna and the staff at the Marriott made it all happen without a hiccup for us or our 56 guests.
Being that my ideas were a bit beyond regular destination wedding resort packages, I did outsource some things and hired outside vendors to supplement all that the Marriott had to offer us. Our photographer and videographer were great. George's DVD was way better than expected. Angela was more like another bridesmaid to me than a photographer, and I was able to customize a much larger package than what was offered in the Marriott's packages. I planned a lot of wedding trimmings through Edwina. I used her florist (everything was perfect- just how I explained it, without ever seeing anything prior); her steel drum band and DJ (Mark Benson and the Cool Pro team; and rented other things (ceremony chairs, chargers, tiki torches, baskets for some other things I brought, etc). Our officiant was Geffery Banfield, who I arranged through Arlette Oduber of LETZ Services. Arlette also came to my room a few days prior and steamed my dress. I also brought my own table overlays and chair sashes from the U.S. (I wanted to see the linens ahead of time to make sure everything matched and was to my liking). My bridal party and I went to Knipoong for our hair and makeup, and we were all very happy with how everything turned out there. Outsourcing and bringing my own of some of these things also made it a bit less costly in the end. Verna and her staff worked incredibly well with all of my outside vendors.
The Marriott not only served as a perfect backdrop for our Carribbean wedding, but the wonderful staff there overcame unforeseen circumstances and made our wedding day all that we ever could have hoped for and more. Verna and her team are so good at what they do and are so amazingly nice that we really missed them when we got back home to reality! I would be remiss if I did not express my heartfelt gratitude for all that they did for months to bring what my husband would call my 'over-the-top' vision to life on our big day.
Neely (& Michael)
------ Our 11/12 /09 Marriott Wedding...we had a blast!!!!
On November 12th we got married at the Aruba Marriott and Stellaris Casino. We had a blast It far exceeded our expectations.!!!!! It was more than we could of ever imagined.. First I have to start by thanking the wedding planner Desiree Bikker and her associates Helen and Corinne..They made it happen.... everything went so smoothly . I worked with Desiree for 6 months over the phone and through email. I sent her fabric swatches for the color of the runner and pictures of how I wanted the table set with lanterns and the flowers.. She got every detail down perfect... She knew exactly what I wanted. She was a pleasure to work with as well as Corinne and Helen.. I trusted Desiree from the DJ to the florist, steel drum, etc......
First I used Knipoog for my hair and makeup.. They did an excellent job.. Rubia (hair )and Elene (make up )came to the room . They were so sweet and had great energy... As soon as I showed them pictures they knew exactly what I wanted... They were done in an hour an only charge 150.00 I was so happy with the way it turned out.
We had Reverend Gibson who was very moving, everyone loved the ceremony.... Victor Winklaar was our photographer he was so nice and he gave us the pictures before we left with the cd.. I loved his modern flair to them.
We held the ceremony and reception on the beach we had 22 guests and one long table...It made it feel very cozy and dancing in the sand was a lot of fun.... The food was superb we had a sit down dinner with filet mignon and lobster tail. The lobster was like butter.. At the cocktail hour I have never seen such big shrimp...they were delicious. The DJ Marc Benson and Steel drum Tico and were excellent. All the staff was wonderful. We had excellent service and the bartender Dufy was so much fun!!!We had such a good time dancing that I went into the water at the end wedding dress and all. And to top it off so did the 22 guests.. The memories are priceless. If any brides are on the fence about a destination wedding I would say go for it you will make wonderful memories that will last a lifetime....
I can have a very type A personality but once I arrived in Aruba and handed out the gift bags it was free sailing... I was so relaxed and enjoyed every minute before during and after the wedding...when do you get the chance to enjoy some many close friends and family .And one last thank you you to Desiree and the staff for doing and Amazing job!!!
Serena & Jaime
Our October 31st Aruba Marriott Wedding
As we are nearing the end of our Aruba visit, I thought I'd take a moment to tell you how awesome our wedding and reception were. Our original estimate of 20 people grew to 43 which included people coming from as far away as India!
While there were a few bumps along the way, the final outcome exceeded our expectations. From the minute we got here the Marriott went above and beyond for us. While I will elaborate in more detail later on the blog, for the moment I just want to acknowledge the people that helped us so much. Desiree and Chela were in the lobby to greet us the moment we arrived. We were given a gorgeous suite and were incredibly grateful for the extra space. They have both been awesome to us throughout the process.
Desiree and Eveline helped us throw a wonderful welcome party complete with bhangra music and the best tamarind margaritas. The food was great and they even packaged up and held the extra fruit and cheese for us to take on the sailing excursion the next day.
We privately chartered Mi Dushi for our guests on Friday and everyone has a really great time! The crew was fun without being 'in our faces'.
The wedding itself was awesome! Luckily we weren't too bothered the tourists and laughed off the Speedos that seemed to try to get in the portrait photos. The reception was outstanding! No one could believe how good the food was! It far exceeded our expectations! Among other things, the Indian food they made for us (something that isn't on their menu) blew us away!
Edwina did an awesome job with our decor which included a tent she invested in on our behalf. She and has crew worked SO hard for us. Mark Benson and DJ Randolph did a phenomenal job with the music. Our group was dancing until the end! Yesterday we did a trash the dress shoot at the ruins and at Eagle Beach which was a lot of fun! Weather has been perfect the whole time and I think out guests had the time of their lives. Now we have 2 more days to relax and enjoy Aruba!
Thanks to everyone here on the forum for your help and support!
Christine
Our event planner, Desiree Bikker was exceptionally helpful and sweet, with her kindness and help Sal & I had a beautiful wedding..She is TOP NOTCH!!! We also had a very nice time with Ms. Hermina Whyte at the towel & Palapa hut..She was nice to us and always made sure that we were having a great time..
Elizabeth
------ Perfect wedding at the Aruba Marriott
"We had our wedding for 55 people at the Marriott in July 2009, and it was wonderful. The wedding coordination team was great. I would recommend the hotel to anyone interested in a no-fuss beach wedding!
For vacation, it was definitely a typical big-hotel experience, which is not necessarily our style, but it was so easy for our guests. No problems. Plus, the Marriott is the last hotel on Palm Beach so not alot of random crowds."
Debra
Hi everyone!
"We got married at sunset on May 11th on the beach in front of the Marriott Stellaris Casino & Resort and it was amazing! Our reception was there as well on the La Vista patio on the beach. Our 39 guests are still talking about it and everyone had such an awesome time! We are so grateful for everyone who had a part in making our special day and evening perfect for us in Aruba. We have nothing but wonderful things to tell you about all of them and really wanted to share this with you. :-)
Here are some details....Our wedding coordinator was Desiree Bikker at the Marriott and she did an excellent job satisfying all our expectations and going above and beyond for us overall. The ceremony & reception set up was perfect for us and everyone's feedback has been nothing but positive of course! As part of our ceremony we had a sand mixing ceremony, cut our cake on the beach, and did the signing of the certificates. My long bouquet of calla lillies for myself and my 2 bridesmaids were exactly what I pictured & always hoped for. The cake we cut on the beach was decorated with the lillies too...so beautiful. For our reception, we had a cocktail hour with butlered hors d'oeuvres. After cocktail hour, we did our introductions, first dances, and toasts. For our dinner, we had heavy hors d'oeuvres on cocktail tables and a few long tables so people could eat and dance continuously. We had slices of cheesecake and slices of pineapple cake delivered to each seat after dinner for dessert. Our wedding cake we cut on the beach was brought up to our room after we cut it, but it was much bigger than we thought so we were able to share it with our guests the rest of the week! We thought all the food we selected worked out great...it was all delicious!! Doing heavy hors d'oeuvres made it a little more difficult to figure out how much food we needed so I think we had a lot that was not eaten. I am glad we decided on doing it this way though... we are just sorry that we didn't take all of our left over food with us after the reception.
Victor Winklaar was our photographer and he did a wonderful job. He is so professional and such a nice guy. He just went with the flow and was very flexible with his time with us as well. We are currently in the process of picking our photos from the proofs he sent us and it is quite a challenge since he took so many great ones. We had him take pictures 2 hours before the wedding as well so we didn't have to take so many after the ceremony, and we could head to our cocktail party soon after. I strongly recommend this if you don't mind seeing your bride or groom before the wedding. It provided us with many more pictures. Us, our parents, and our wedding party even were able to hang out at the bar in La Vista for 30 minutes when we were finished with the pre-wedding pictures, & we all relaxed before the ceremony. One thing we did forget to do is make a list of picture requests for our photographer. I was so focused on other things that I forgot to do this and overlooked it. I would recommend doing this if you have specific pictures that you want.
Reverend Robert Gibson was superb! Our guests couldn't stop saying how great of a job he did and how it was the most beautiful ceremony they have ever attended. He is such a great guy and we are so happy that he could perform our wedding ceremony.
George Jacobs was our videographer and we are thrilled that we hired him. Before we left the island, he brought over our finished video so we were able to take it home with us. We gave him a cd with 5 songs on it and he set it to those. It was great because after we returned home from our honeymoon in Ireland, we had an At Home Reception in our town in Virginia and we showed the video for all our friends. Everyone loved it!! He did a really good job.
We went through the Marriott for the steel pan drummer and he was awesome! Very pleased. We were so excited to have him play at our ceremony and for our cocktail hour. I'm not sure what his name is but can definitely get it for you if you need it.
Also, we thought the DJ that Desiree had selected for us was awesome & all of our guests thought so as well! He worked for DJ Cool Pro. He played most of our songs on our list, and the songs he played were so our style. He knew just what kind of songs we loved and since most of our guests were in our 30's, we danced and partied all night long. Even the hotel guests were dancing on their balconies! There were 2 guys there DJing...and I apologize for not having their names on hand, but if you are interested, I can always ask Desiree. :-)
Our bartender Dufi was a big hit at our wedding reception. He was so much fun and provided fantastic service to us and our guests! All of the staff that worked the wedding and cleared our plates for us were so pleasant and so friendly! What can we say...the Marriott did a fantastic job!!
A few things in addition, we had our Welcome Reception the night before at Moomba's and they did an awesome job!! We also did a Post-Wedding Brunch at La Vista. Their brunch buffet is delicious!! Also, the Mandara spa at the Marriott did a fantastic job with my updo & manicure and we got our dresses and men's outfits steamed by Arlette (she has her own company, which I can get you info about through the Marriott). The night after the wedding, we all did the Kukoo Kunuko Party Bus....a must!! Needless to say, we had a blast with all of our wedding events and would do it all over again if we could!!
We do have one bit of advice that we wish we would have been more mindful of during the planning and which we would love to pass on to you. We booked some of our services directly, instead of through our resort...which still worked out fine. However, most can only accept cash when you arrive on the island. The credit card doesn't go through in time and they can't cash checks. Our advice is to either take care of it through pay pal before you leave, or bring lots and lots of cash. We wish we would have had this taken care of before we arrived."
George and Lisa
Jasper and I wanted to share our experience planning our wedding at the Aruba Marriott. I began by doing extensive research online about the various options. We knew we wanted to work through a Marriott, as my parents, and now ourselves, are vacation club owners. We felt confident that if we went with a Marriott it would be a first class experience. I then spent time reading reviews online from brides about the various locations. One place in particular stood out: Aruba. In several weeks of reading all sorts of on-line forums and review sites, not one bride has a bad experience with the Aruba Marriott. Not one. This was the deciding factor for me, as I knew I would have to rely on the staff for many details since I was planning from Washington DC. After making contact with the sales staff, they guided us through the deposit process and reserving the date. We were fortunate enough to make a site visit trip early on and were delighted to meet with Verna, the wedding coordinator that took care of us throughout the process. During that initial meeting, Verna showed us specific sites on the beach for the ceremony and walked us through options of flowers, cakes, colors and all varieties of food. Since, as many soon-to-be married couples do, we had a pretty firm budget, Verna took our initials plans and choices and worked up a detailed estimate for the ceremony and dinner. This was instrumental for us in planning. As the big day got closer, we emailed often with Verna and spoke on the phone as necessary. We refined our numbers, finalized our choices, and discussed last minute details. Verna was amazing through out this process. I particularly appreciated her help setting up my hair appointment and making suggestions about the reception/dinner based on her knowledge. I felt completely comfortable that she understood what we wanted and could make it happen without me needing to manage every detail.
On the day itself, Verna and the Marriott event staff truly outdid themselves. She provided a timetable so we all knew where to be at what time, organized our guests in air conditioned comfort and then got them seated, and sent a car for me, my father, and my sister, the matron-of-honor, so we wouldn’t “wilt” in the heat going from the Ocean Club to the hotel. When I arrived at the staging area, everything was taken care of for me. The flowers were ready and distributed to those who needed them, the music was ready to go, and Verna instructed us on how to walk down the isle and take it slow. The ceremony site looked fantastic and the flowers were exactly what I had envisioned. It took a lot of trust on my part to not see exactly what things were going to look like ahead of time, but the Marriott did a fantastic job. After the ceremony Verna guided us through the certificate signing process and made sure the bar was ready, the food was on time, and that generally the whole set up was right. We were especially delighted with our bartender, who created a delicious drink especially for our wedding. Our guests enjoyed it so much they are still trying to reproduce the recipe! We also can’t say enough about the food. We had several guests comment that it was one of the best steaks they had ever had.
Start to finish, our wedding at the Aruba Marriott was amazing. Looking back on it, there isn’t a thing we would change. I thought it was interesting when the lady doing my hair on the wedding day commented that I was the most relaxed bride she had ever worked with. I know that was due in no small part to the confidence I had in Verna and the Event Staff to take care of everything. Our wedding was truly perfect, and we appreciate the opportunity to start our lives together in such a special place!
Virginia and Jasper
------ We recently got married at the Marriott Stellaris on October 10th of this year, and we just wanted to commend your staff on the absolutely incredible job they did with our event. The event staff was phenomenal!
Verna was absolutely amazing!!! It was truly a pleasure planning our wedding with Verna. She made everything we asked for happen in ways that we could not even imagine. We came to Aruba to meet with Verna in May and she was so helpful while we were there. She scheduled appointments for us to meet with DJ’s, officiates, photographers, the florist, and Dufy. She drove us around the island to meet with the florist so that we could pick out in person the exact flowers that we wanted for our special day. Verna had every single detail of our special day covered; everything from the color of the linens to the appointments for the bridal party to the very last dance was perfect and went smoothly! We had 4 small children who attended our wedding and late in the day they were becoming cranky and Verna even managed to get them settled by having their dinners come out earlier! My sister-in-law was so happy with such a small thoughtful detail because she got to enjoy her meal since her children had already eaten! I’ve heard from so many of my girlfriends that they didn’t enjoy their wedding days because they were stressed over the minor details. Well, I cannot say the same thing about myself. Both Shawn and I enjoyed every single second of our very special day and we owe that all to Verna. I cannot express enough how grateful we are to Verna and how amazing she was!!!
All 35 of our guests are still talking about how wonderful our wedding was. And a large part of what made our special day so amazing was Dufy. He treated each and every one of our guests as if they were a long time friend of his. My mom is still telling everyone about how he was flipping the bottles! Dufy even made a special drink to go with the color we chose to accent our wedding which was green and managed to incorporate my favorite rum, Bacardi, in the drink. All of our guests were impressed with the service Dufy provided, he remembered everyone’s drink and was even sending drinks out to the tables when he saw our guests were running low! One of my favorite memories of our very special day will always be of Dufy out on the dance floor with our friends and families!!! Having someone so personable and friendly behind the bar at our wedding was wonderful!
We cannot express enough our gratitude towards Verna, Dufy and the rest of the staff that made our special day happen. The day was more than we ever could have hoped for! The Stellaris will forever hold a special place in our hearts because of the wonderful service that was provided to us on such a special day in our lives. We have already planned our return trip to celebrate our 1 year anniversary at the Stellaris and we are looking forward to seeing Verna and Dufy again!
Whether you are planning a romantic vacation for two, a family vacation, or a special event the Marriott Stellaris is the place to go in Aruba! We have been to Aruba 3 times now and have stayed at 5 resorts on the island and this is by far our favorite!!! We have already reserved our room for our 1 year wedding anniversary in October of 2011!
Thank you,
Shawn & Susan LaRue
------ Our Memorial Day 2010 Wedding
My husband and I were married at the beautiful Aruba Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino on Friday, May 28th. I would be remiss if I did not express pleased were were with how everything turned out. For months, we worked with first Desiree Bikker then Verna Dijkoff and her dream team (Abigail, Helen, and Simone), and we couldn't be happier with how all of their hard work paid off. I know these ladies had to truly go above and beyond for our wedding. Not only am I as far from the cookie cutter destination bride as possible, but the unthinkable happened when the entire island of Aruba lost power half an hour before our ceremony! Verna and her team were not only able to accommodate my special requests (read: excessive attention to detail) but they also worked miracles in making our wedding go off without a hitch despite the power outage.
I worked very closely with Verna and Edwina Werleman of E2 Events to create our dream wedding. As I mentioned, I was not one of those awesome destination brides that can pick a package and go with it. Instead, I had every single detail custom tailored and outlined, down to precisely how the napkins were to be folded and placed atop my chargers, with our wedding menu tucked just right inside. When I showed up to our first face-to-face meeting with my extremely over-sized, packed to the seams bag o' wedding trimmings, I can only imagine what was going through Verna's head. She was so great the whole time, and together with Edwina, she was really able to pull my vision together. Every sash was tied just right, every decoration and flower was presented perfectly, and once I saw the video (shot by George Jacobs of AUA Events) and pictures (by our photographer, Angela Munzenhofer of Bella Aruba Photography), I noticed some details that they'd added on their own that fit perfectly in to my beachy, champagne colored dream. Thanks to their hard work and eye for putting a beautiful event together, many of my guests still talk about how I should do this for a living because it was so beautiful! The front desk staff were also very accommodating and distributing our welcome buckets to our guests.
As I previously mentioned, circumstances weren't exactly ideal, and Verna and the staff of the Marriott truly worked magic to execute our wedding when a breaker exploded in the plant and the entire island (every home, store, restaurant, and resort) including the Marriott lost power. Now this may seem like more than a bride can handle on her wedding day, but when Verna came up to my gorgeous upgraded (thanks again to her) room to bring my wedding party and I down to the ceremony and told us their was no power, she was so calm about it that I was, too, and we laughed and joked as we walked down seven stories of stairs in the dark with our wedding caravan. My husband and I were married on the West Lawn outside at 6pm, so the power outage didn't affect our ceremony at all (we had a steel drum band through Edwina and natural light). Of course right after the ceremony, I was worried about not having electricity at our cocktail hour, but thanks to what I'm sure was quite the scurry for Verna and the Marriott staff, they had a generator up and running for our cocktail hour and reception on the La Vista patio just in time. Everything went great! The food was really delicious and impressive- we had passed hors d'ouevres for the cocktail hour and the seated filet mignon and Caribbean lobster tail dinner. I sent Verna a few pictures of wedding cakes that I like, explained what I liked about each, and got a hybrid of them as my cake. We're foodies and were pleased with all of the food, and we received a ton of comments on how great it all was from our guests, as well. It wasn't until the next day that we learned how hard they had to work to make it all happen. Everything was so smooth that I never stopped to think about it, but even though our reception site was given priority for a generator, the restaurants were still without power... how then, did they put out such wonderful food for our wedding? Again, the hard work and professionalism of Verna and the staff at the Marriott made it all happen without a hiccup for us or our 56 guests.
Being that my ideas were a bit beyond regular destination wedding resort packages, I did outsource some things and hired outside vendors to supplement all that the Marriott had to offer us. Our photographer and videographer were great. George's DVD was way better than expected. Angela was more like another bridesmaid to me than a photographer, and I was able to customize a much larger package than what was offered in the Marriott's packages. I planned a lot of wedding trimmings through Edwina. I used her florist (everything was perfect- just how I explained it, without ever seeing anything prior); her steel drum band and DJ (Mark Benson and the Cool Pro team; and rented other things (ceremony chairs, chargers, tiki torches, baskets for some other things I brought, etc). Our officiant was Geffery Banfield, who I arranged through Arlette Oduber of LETZ Services. Arlette also came to my room a few days prior and steamed my dress. I also brought my own table overlays and chair sashes from the U.S. (I wanted to see the linens ahead of time to make sure everything matched and was to my liking). My bridal party and I went to Knipoong for our hair and makeup, and we were all very happy with how everything turned out there. Outsourcing and bringing my own of some of these things also made it a bit less costly in the end. Verna and her staff worked incredibly well with all of my outside vendors.
The Marriott not only served as a perfect backdrop for our Carribbean wedding, but the wonderful staff there overcame unforeseen circumstances and made our wedding day all that we ever could have hoped for and more. Verna and her team are so good at what they do and are so amazingly nice that we really missed them when we got back home to reality! I would be remiss if I did not express my heartfelt gratitude for all that they did for months to bring what my husband would call my 'over-the-top' vision to life on our big day.
Neely (& Michael)
------ Our 11/12 /09 Marriott Wedding...we had a blast!!!!
On November 12th we got married at the Aruba Marriott and Stellaris Casino. We had a blast It far exceeded our expectations.!!!!! It was more than we could of ever imagined.. First I have to start by thanking the wedding planner Desiree Bikker and her associates Helen and Corinne..They made it happen.... everything went so smoothly . I worked with Desiree for 6 months over the phone and through email. I sent her fabric swatches for the color of the runner and pictures of how I wanted the table set with lanterns and the flowers.. She got every detail down perfect... She knew exactly what I wanted. She was a pleasure to work with as well as Corinne and Helen.. I trusted Desiree from the DJ to the florist, steel drum, etc......
First I used Knipoog for my hair and makeup.. They did an excellent job.. Rubia (hair )and Elene (make up )came to the room . They were so sweet and had great energy... As soon as I showed them pictures they knew exactly what I wanted... They were done in an hour an only charge 150.00 I was so happy with the way it turned out.
We had Reverend Gibson who was very moving, everyone loved the ceremony.... Victor Winklaar was our photographer he was so nice and he gave us the pictures before we left with the cd.. I loved his modern flair to them.
We held the ceremony and reception on the beach we had 22 guests and one long table...It made it feel very cozy and dancing in the sand was a lot of fun.... The food was superb we had a sit down dinner with filet mignon and lobster tail. The lobster was like butter.. At the cocktail hour I have never seen such big shrimp...they were delicious. The DJ Marc Benson and Steel drum Tico and were excellent. All the staff was wonderful. We had excellent service and the bartender Dufy was so much fun!!!We had such a good time dancing that I went into the water at the end wedding dress and all. And to top it off so did the 22 guests.. The memories are priceless. If any brides are on the fence about a destination wedding I would say go for it you will make wonderful memories that will last a lifetime....
I can have a very type A personality but once I arrived in Aruba and handed out the gift bags it was free sailing... I was so relaxed and enjoyed every minute before during and after the wedding...when do you get the chance to enjoy some many close friends and family .And one last thank you you to Desiree and the staff for doing and Amazing job!!!
Serena & Jaime
Our October 31st Aruba Marriott Wedding
As we are nearing the end of our Aruba visit, I thought I'd take a moment to tell you how awesome our wedding and reception were. Our original estimate of 20 people grew to 43 which included people coming from as far away as India!
While there were a few bumps along the way, the final outcome exceeded our expectations. From the minute we got here the Marriott went above and beyond for us. While I will elaborate in more detail later on the blog, for the moment I just want to acknowledge the people that helped us so much. Desiree and Chela were in the lobby to greet us the moment we arrived. We were given a gorgeous suite and were incredibly grateful for the extra space. They have both been awesome to us throughout the process.
Desiree and Eveline helped us throw a wonderful welcome party complete with bhangra music and the best tamarind margaritas. The food was great and they even packaged up and held the extra fruit and cheese for us to take on the sailing excursion the next day.
We privately chartered Mi Dushi for our guests on Friday and everyone has a really great time! The crew was fun without being 'in our faces'.
The wedding itself was awesome! Luckily we weren't too bothered the tourists and laughed off the Speedos that seemed to try to get in the portrait photos. The reception was outstanding! No one could believe how good the food was! It far exceeded our expectations! Among other things, the Indian food they made for us (something that isn't on their menu) blew us away!
Edwina did an awesome job with our decor which included a tent she invested in on our behalf. She and has crew worked SO hard for us. Mark Benson and DJ Randolph did a phenomenal job with the music. Our group was dancing until the end! Yesterday we did a trash the dress shoot at the ruins and at Eagle Beach which was a lot of fun! Weather has been perfect the whole time and I think out guests had the time of their lives. Now we have 2 more days to relax and enjoy Aruba!
Thanks to everyone here on the forum for your help and support!
Christine
Our event planner, Desiree Bikker was exceptionally helpful and sweet, with her kindness and help Sal & I had a beautiful wedding..She is TOP NOTCH!!! We also had a very nice time with Ms. Hermina Whyte at the towel & Palapa hut..She was nice to us and always made sure that we were having a great time..
Elizabeth
------ Perfect wedding at the Aruba Marriott
"We had our wedding for 55 people at the Marriott in July 2009, and it was wonderful. The wedding coordination team was great. I would recommend the hotel to anyone interested in a no-fuss beach wedding!
For vacation, it was definitely a typical big-hotel experience, which is not necessarily our style, but it was so easy for our guests. No problems. Plus, the Marriott is the last hotel on Palm Beach so not alot of random crowds."
Debra
Hi everyone!
"We got married at sunset on May 11th on the beach in front of the Marriott Stellaris Casino & Resort and it was amazing! Our reception was there as well on the La Vista patio on the beach. Our 39 guests are still talking about it and everyone had such an awesome time! We are so grateful for everyone who had a part in making our special day and evening perfect for us in Aruba. We have nothing but wonderful things to tell you about all of them and really wanted to share this with you. :-)
Here are some details....Our wedding coordinator was Desiree Bikker at the Marriott and she did an excellent job satisfying all our expectations and going above and beyond for us overall. The ceremony & reception set up was perfect for us and everyone's feedback has been nothing but positive of course! As part of our ceremony we had a sand mixing ceremony, cut our cake on the beach, and did the signing of the certificates. My long bouquet of calla lillies for myself and my 2 bridesmaids were exactly what I pictured & always hoped for. The cake we cut on the beach was decorated with the lillies too...so beautiful. For our reception, we had a cocktail hour with butlered hors d'oeuvres. After cocktail hour, we did our introductions, first dances, and toasts. For our dinner, we had heavy hors d'oeuvres on cocktail tables and a few long tables so people could eat and dance continuously. We had slices of cheesecake and slices of pineapple cake delivered to each seat after dinner for dessert. Our wedding cake we cut on the beach was brought up to our room after we cut it, but it was much bigger than we thought so we were able to share it with our guests the rest of the week! We thought all the food we selected worked out great...it was all delicious!! Doing heavy hors d'oeuvres made it a little more difficult to figure out how much food we needed so I think we had a lot that was not eaten. I am glad we decided on doing it this way though... we are just sorry that we didn't take all of our left over food with us after the reception.
Victor Winklaar was our photographer and he did a wonderful job. He is so professional and such a nice guy. He just went with the flow and was very flexible with his time with us as well. We are currently in the process of picking our photos from the proofs he sent us and it is quite a challenge since he took so many great ones. We had him take pictures 2 hours before the wedding as well so we didn't have to take so many after the ceremony, and we could head to our cocktail party soon after. I strongly recommend this if you don't mind seeing your bride or groom before the wedding. It provided us with many more pictures. Us, our parents, and our wedding party even were able to hang out at the bar in La Vista for 30 minutes when we were finished with the pre-wedding pictures, & we all relaxed before the ceremony. One thing we did forget to do is make a list of picture requests for our photographer. I was so focused on other things that I forgot to do this and overlooked it. I would recommend doing this if you have specific pictures that you want.
Reverend Robert Gibson was superb! Our guests couldn't stop saying how great of a job he did and how it was the most beautiful ceremony they have ever attended. He is such a great guy and we are so happy that he could perform our wedding ceremony.
George Jacobs was our videographer and we are thrilled that we hired him. Before we left the island, he brought over our finished video so we were able to take it home with us. We gave him a cd with 5 songs on it and he set it to those. It was great because after we returned home from our honeymoon in Ireland, we had an At Home Reception in our town in Virginia and we showed the video for all our friends. Everyone loved it!! He did a really good job.
We went through the Marriott for the steel pan drummer and he was awesome! Very pleased. We were so excited to have him play at our ceremony and for our cocktail hour. I'm not sure what his name is but can definitely get it for you if you need it.
Also, we thought the DJ that Desiree had selected for us was awesome & all of our guests thought so as well! He worked for DJ Cool Pro. He played most of our songs on our list, and the songs he played were so our style. He knew just what kind of songs we loved and since most of our guests were in our 30's, we danced and partied all night long. Even the hotel guests were dancing on their balconies! There were 2 guys there DJing...and I apologize for not having their names on hand, but if you are interested, I can always ask Desiree. :-)
Our bartender Dufi was a big hit at our wedding reception. He was so much fun and provided fantastic service to us and our guests! All of the staff that worked the wedding and cleared our plates for us were so pleasant and so friendly! What can we say...the Marriott did a fantastic job!!
A few things in addition, we had our Welcome Reception the night before at Moomba's and they did an awesome job!! We also did a Post-Wedding Brunch at La Vista. Their brunch buffet is delicious!! Also, the Mandara spa at the Marriott did a fantastic job with my updo & manicure and we got our dresses and men's outfits steamed by Arlette (she has her own company, which I can get you info about through the Marriott). The night after the wedding, we all did the Kukoo Kunuko Party Bus....a must!! Needless to say, we had a blast with all of our wedding events and would do it all over again if we could!!
We do have one bit of advice that we wish we would have been more mindful of during the planning and which we would love to pass on to you. We booked some of our services directly, instead of through our resort...which still worked out fine. However, most can only accept cash when you arrive on the island. The credit card doesn't go through in time and they can't cash checks. Our advice is to either take care of it through pay pal before you leave, or bring lots and lots of cash. We wish we would have had this taken care of before we arrived."
George and Lisa