🥂CHEERS TO ANOTHER HAPPY BRIDE 🥂
DESTINATION- Aruba at Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino
Hi everyone, I got married last week Sep.4th and wanted to do a review to share all our amazing vendors! The day (actually week) was absolutely magical and perfect in every way! We celebrated with 85 of our closest friends and family 💕
Stay- Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris® Casino this was our venue and where all our guest stayed. For the stay I would say no one beats the hospitality of the Marriott. Everyone knew who we were and treated us like royalty before and after the wedding. All our guest were happy with accommodatings as well. The lobby bar was perfect for gathering before and after dinners and the casino was perfect for late night drinks. We did a few pool days and a few beach days and even worked with the hotel to rent out 10-15 palapas all near each other one day for a fun filled beach day.
Venue - Aruba Marriott Stellaris- for venue this was a dream.
Ceremony was on the beach
cocktail hour on La Vista patio
reception on south beach
After party in the grand ballroom
We worked coordinator and travel agent Sara Grimm and I can’t put into words how wonderful she was. She literally took care of everything and made sure our vision came to life. We had a large and crazy bridal party of 20 people and she somehow managed to wrangle them all during the rehearsal and the wedding (not an easy task). Aside from day of, I had worked with her for 8 months prior planning and she was always on her A game. She made sure we had everything we wanted and never got frustrated with our many changes leading up to it. She executed the day of perfectly 👌🏻
The food at cocktail hour and the reception was AMAZING! Possibly the best meal I’ve had! Everyone of our gust raves about how amazing the food was 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Decor - Perfect Team Event Planners
We used Rossety from team perfect for all our decor needs and when I say she made my vision come to life, I mean it! I had a very specific vision in my head of how I wanted everything to look, from the doors down the aisle to the shape of the lanterns hanging at reception and the floral arrangements, she made it all come together in the most magical way. The night before the wedding they started the build out of our dance floor and all the trusses, it was crazy to see how much hard work went into building my dream wedding. There’s a reason why they are all called Perfect team events!
I know a few ladies in the group mentioned having a hard time getting a hold of her while planning and while I do agree I will say this… first off Island time, if you’re from the states just remember the culture difference, 2nd they are busy working on events that are currently happening (large installations and build outs) and making brides dreams come true. When its your day, you will thank your lucky stars for all the effort they put in to make your day magical. Trust me they are a must !
Photography - Demian Gibbs
I’ll start off by saying that photography was always the most important part of my wedding and I knew I needed the best of the best. Even back in December when we visited, my husband asked if I wanted to do a make up or hair trial, I said no, I want a photographer trial 🤣. At the end of the day when all the planning is over and you’ve danced the night away, pictures are all you will be left with. Believe me when I say this is not something you want to cheap out on!
We did an engagement shoot with Demian back in December and knew right then and there we needed to have him for our wedding! Him and his wife have an amazing ability to make anyone feel comfortable in front of the camera and are beyond professional and creative in their work. We did an adventure shoot before the wedding with them and our videographer and WOW do they know what they are doing! It was so much fun and while I didn’t get to see all the pictures yet, the few I saw are absolutely breathtaking. Mary Ann (Demian wife and partner ) was incredible, she had a vision for the shoot and I could see the creative wheels turning in her head during the shoot. 1000% recommend ! We can’t wait to go back to Aruba and hire them again for family shoots or really just to see them because they were so awesome!
Videographer - Little Island Stories
While I think the video attached speaks for itself, I’ll still leave a review because Sebastian was absolutely AMAZING! We came across Sebastian through our photographer Demian and let me tell you, these two work together like an absolute dream team! We got to know Sebastian in the months and weeks leading up to the wedding, he really took the time to get to know us as a couple and what’s important for us to be to captured. Similar to photography, video is not something we wanted to cheap out on, again it’s all we have left once the wedding is over and I’ll be honest, I’ve probably watched our teaser over 100000 times in the last week. pure perfection! Sebastian joined us on the adventure shoot, a group excursion and then the wedding. We wanted him to capture all the fun we had that week and not just wedding and we’re so happy with the outcome! We choose Sebastian because of his creativity, we didn’t want the typical mushy wedding video everyone has, we wanted something that was more us and having only viewed the teaser so far, I will say he 1000% nailed it.
Make up and Hair - Marta Collell
After stalking this group for weeks I knew right away I needed to have Marta as my make up artist. She was one of the 1st vendors I booked and I’m so happy I did (she gets booked out pretty far in advance). I did a trial with her a few days before the wedding and while I loved the look, it came out even more perfect the day of! As someone who doesn’t wear a lot of make up on an everyday basis I wanted a soft look but still bridal and she absolutely killed it! I felt like an actual princess.
Hair - I had Marta’s team do my hair. I did the hair trial a few days before the wedding as well. For the trial I did an updo ( everyone kept telling me I had to do an updo because of the heat and humidity) and while it came out beautiful it just wasn’t me. I decided the day before the wedding I wanted side swept hair (that way it’s still down). I was very nervous not having done this style in the trial and risking it for the wedding. What if I hated it? But it came out perfect! Exactly what I wanted! And yes the curls fell (it was an extremely hot day) but even fallen my hair still looked great.
Music - all booked though Rika and the Marriott
Ceremony - violinist, this gave the perfect romantic touch walking down the aisle. I honestly don’t remember much of it but heard so many great things from our guest! I walked down to “can’t help falling in love with you” and the bridal party walked down to “La Vie En Rose”. We booked the violinist for a full hour so she played music as gust arrived to the ceremony and took their seats as well.
Cocktail hour- saxophonist, again I don’t remember much of this and only walked by cocktail hour, but my guest said it was beautiful.
Reception- DJ Tino
Tino was great! We gave him a play and do not play list and told him to feel out the crowd. I don’t think anyone sat in their seat for the entire reception and after party! He killed it!
Excursion- Jolly Pirates
We rented out Jolly Pirates for our group, we had about 55 people come on the boat and it was WAY more fun than I expected! it was a great way to kick off the weekend and for everyone to get to know each other. Everyone was drinking and had a blast! Even our parents jumped off the rope swing 🙈
We brought some of our own liquor as we wanted a few very specific drinks, but other than that everything was included and perfect! The crew was amazing and the food delicious 😋
Rehearsal dinner - Azzurro
We picked Azzurro because it’s one of favorite restaurants when we go to Aruba and wanted to share with all our family and friends. We invited the whole wedding to the rehearsal dinner not just the wedding party and it was perfect! We were seated for sunset and had a whole section of the restaurant just for our party.
Day of food for bridal party- Picnics by Aimy
So happy we found this vendor! We got several boards for the bridal and grooms suite with homemade sangria. Everything was delicious and just the right amount to keep us satisfied before the big day!
Dress - Maggie Sottero
Bridal shop - Park Avenue Bridal
Bridesmaid Dresses - Azazie
Groomsmen - Indochino
All in all the wedding week was PERFECTION!
-Moriah E.