Aruba Weddings

How to Plan a stress-free destination wedding in Aruba:

	Aruba is one Happy Island !  Famous for it’s breathtaking sunsets, beautiful beaches, and crystal clear tranquil waters.  Not only is it a perfect location for a  beautiful beach wedding, but the Island is located OUTSIDE OF THE HURRICAN BELT, which makes it worry free when planning your wedding date.  It’s pretty safe to assume that the weather in Aruba with be perfect year round.   Why not enjoy the celebration of taking your vows and celebrating your aruba wedding as and enjoy the honeymoon all on the island! Here are some tips from my wedding experience to help provide you with a stress & worry free wedding, reception and honeymoon experience.  Things to consider before selecting your destination: Marriage laws       If you're planning a tropical island style beach wedding you can now get married in Aruba .   Some of the requirements are:   You must be at least 18 years old, you can say, "I do" on the island You must submit documentation (see list below) 30 days prior to the date of the ceremony.   If you want to have a civil ceremony in Aruba , it must take place at the Civil Town House.    Couples can arrange a religious blessing or romantic celebration (after being legally married in your own country)   The following are the guidelines for the various ceremonies. CIVIL Legal Requirements for Bride & Groom:   All Civil/Legal Ceremonies must take place in the Civil Town House Documents required for Civil ceremony:   * Certified copy of your birth certificate *Passport or valid state issued picture I.D..  * Witnesses' passport picture page or valid state issued picture I.D. (minimum 2 witnesses) *Certificate of no impediment for bride and groom (also referred to as a “single status report” and in some states called a “negative statement of marriage”). This certificate of no impediment is obtained at the bureau of vital statistics which is located in the department of health.  *  If either party has been divorced you will need to send a copy of the 1st and last page of the divorce decree(s).  * If either party is a widow(er) we need to receive a copy of the death certificate. Ceremony can take place on Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays Saturdays are sometimes available in the late mornings at an additional $150 surcharge.   All documents are to be faxed for review and then submitted by courier (i.e. FedEx) at least one (1) month prior to desired wedding date. Your wedding coordinator or resort wedding planner should offer to help you with this process (it was included in our wedding package, however, we decided to make our wedding official in our home country.  For those Aruba brides that are adamant about having the civil courthouse ceremony, I strongly having your legal ceremony & marriage certificate/license completed in your own country to avoid the extra tasks of meeting Aruba rules & regulations, etc.   In our situation, we faxed a copy of our marriage license over to our resort wedding coordinator a month before our arrival.  Securing Your Location:    Most of the resort properties in Aruba have beautiful beachfront, garden and gazebo locations to hold your outdoor ceremony.  When deciding on a location, be sure to inquire about privacy, surroundings, and whether there are other weddings scheduled on your desired date.  The last thing you want is to be hustled in and out of your ceremony.  All the beaches in Aruba are public property…translation:  you can draw an additional crowd of bikini/trunk or speedo clad onlookers that weren’t necessarily invited!  When deciding on a property or location to host your ceremony, keep your guests in mind.  While your friends & family will be going great distances and significant costs to attend your affair, try to source a location that will be comfortable and affordable for your guests.  Most all inclusive resorts offer great package deals and include water sports, entertainment, etc. making it impossible for your guests to have a dull trip or lack of entertainment.  We booked an economical all inclusive resort (Holiday Inn Sunspree) and also offered a mid-range hotel recommendation as well as a luxury property alternative for those guests that opted not to take advantage of the all inclusive 7 day package.  Once you have confirmed your wedding location & accommodations, inform your guests so that they can block off the necessary date(s) and plan for vacation time, start making their own flight/travel arrangements, etc.  Don’t Sweat the Details:  Now that you have confirmed your wedding destination and ceremony/reception location, relax, the tough work is done.  While it is second nature for the type-A bridezillas to want to plan and finalize any detail possible months in advance, it won’t necessarily be a simple process due to the long-distance relationship between you and your destination planner/coordinator.      I recommend writing a summary or story of how you see your special day unfolding and include specific requirements that you may want in addition to what is offered in the wedding package available at the selected resort.  For example:  following beach ceremony, we would like to have a steel drum band entertain our guests on the beach for a cocktail reception while the wedding party takes photos.  Following the 1 hours cocktail reception on the beach we will proceed to reception location for seated dinner and start of DJ entertainment.   (Our wedding package included handling of the civil paperwork, an on site coordinator, minister, brides’ bouquet, grooms boutinnere, small wedding cake, bottle of champagne, entertainment for 1 hour (dj or steel drum band), and photography services for 2 hours. )  I emailed our coordinator specific explanation of the timing and how I wanted the wedding to unfold.   Once your coordinator has in writing your expectations, they will be able to schedule/price out additional requests and services and do the planning on their end.  This may be the easiest way to plan a wedding, but it will add to your cost. For example, they may charge a flat fee for their wedding package, or a surcharge on the cost of all services which they contract for you.  Plan to arrive in aruba a few days ahead of time to take care of the details.  Our coordinator was able to set up meetings for us with the chef, florist, baker, dj, photographer, minister, etc. in the mornings of the first 2 days we arrived and we found it easy to make all the decisions and plans for the ceremony later in the week.  After a few hours of planning with the various vendors, we headed out to the beach to join the rest of our family and friends in soaking up the amazing aruba sunshine!  Aruba weddings are amazing, have the best destination wedding in aruba you could ever dream of. Aruba wedding planners are very helpful.