Hi Brides!!
I wanted to take a minute to share my wedding experience with all of you! First let me start off by saying, anyone who has any doubts about a destination wedding, let it go! It was the most amazing experience of my entire life (thus far!). My husband and I just returned from our wedding/honeymoon on Monday morning. We were married May 21, 2010 at the Radisson Resort with 80 of our closest friends and family. I can't even put into words how much we enjoyed ourselves! Our guests are still talking about the wedding, the food, the photographer, the vacation etc. EVERYONE said it was the best wedding they have ever been to! Obviously, as the bride that is exactly what you want to hear after planning your dream day!

Run down of our wedding week:

We arrived on Sunday, May 16th ready to party...

Monday, May 17th Matt and I hosted a welcome cocktail reception at the Radisson. Gilligans restaurant catered the event on the pool deck - it was awesome! By the bar bill, everyone enjoyed themselves, ha!

Tuesday, May 18th - we filled an entire Kukoo Kunuku Bus with our guests and had the time of our lives! It was soo much fun, I would highly recommend it!

Wednesday, May 19th - About 40 of our guests got on board the De Palm Tours Sunset Sail, $50 for open bar, appetizers and 2 hours of sailing the coast of Aruba....beautiful!

Thursday, May 20th - We held our rehearsal dinner for all 80 of our guests at Hostaria DaVittorio. I'm not going to lie trying to plan this dinner from Boston was not easy - as most of you know dealing with Arubans you have to be prepared for "Aruba Time" - however, once we arrived in Aruba, Maurizio one of the co-owners had everything laid out perfectly and put my mind at ease! The food/wine, ambiance, etc was amazing! It was the perfect night to kickoff the wedding!

Friday, May 21st - THE WEDDING DAY!!! We held our ceremony on the Radisson Beach and the cocktail hour and reception were held on the pool deck. Everything from the decor, the DJ, the Photographer, Videographer, Flowers, and food was absolutely more perfect than I had ever imagined! It was the best day of my life!

We ended our wedding extravaganza with a brunch the next morning at the Sunset Grille. They did a fantastic job!!

To be quite honest, without the help of my fantastic wedding planner, Lisa Dammerman (Radissons, wedding coordinator) and my amazing photographer, Angela Munzenhofer (from Bella Aruba Photography) - I don't think our wedding would have happened! These two women mean the absolute world to me! We could not have done it without them!

As many of you destination brides know it can be extremely stressful trying to plan a wedding from miles and miles away. However, when Lisa became the wedding coordinator for the Radisson last June ALL of my worries faded away! She was the BEST!! She will answer EVERY detailed question you ask with the same attention to detail in her response. She makes you feel apart of everything, she will have conference calls between you and your vendors, she sends pictures ALL the time (I LOVED THIS!) She makes sure that you are happy with every decision and keeps you informed about every step of the process. Once we arrived, Lisa made sure that all our questions about the week, and the wedding were answered, she made sure that everything went exactly as we had wanted it and kept a smile on our face for the two weeks we were there! I could not have got through the planning without her help and expertise. She is such a kind and caring person that we can't not do her justice in words on a blog. Word of advice to any Aruba bride that has not yet picked their location...I would choose the Radisson all over again just to get to work with Lisa! We love her =)

To continue my blog of love....let me talk about my photographer, Angela Munzenhofer from Bella Aruba Photography. I actually found Angela almost two years ago searching this exact forum. From day one we formed a bond that only became stronger through constant communication. When you think of the pictures of your dream day, you HAVE to picture them taken by Angela. She is AMAZING!!! To be honest, pictures were the most important part of my wedding day (the memories that are going to last forever!), I was a little afraid at the beginning that perhaps an Aruban photographer wouldn't be as good as one in the States, or they wouldn't listen to what I wanted out of my pictures etc. And then I met Angela...she put my mind at ease right away, AND she informed me that she is originally from Michigan ( she married an Aruban and has been on the island ever since!) I automatically felt better and our bond began! Another great thing about Angela is that she will answer any questions you have, she will send you pictures upon pictures to figure out "your style" and she really listens to what you want. She is such an incredible person and we would have been lost without her. The day of the wedding, she made sure every shot we wanted, we got. She made sure that we kept a good pace so that we could actually enjoy our cocktail hour...and that we did! Part of our package included an island excursion. Angela came to pick us up the Monday after our wedding to head to the other side of the island for a photo shoot! I had my hair redid, put the gown back on and it was by far the best decision we ever made! She spent 2.5 hours with us that day making sure we got every shot we wanted and from what we have seen so far it was EXACTLY what I had envisioned and more! For anyone that would like to take a look at some of her work - a few photos from our wedding were published on www.arubatoday.com - just scroll to the bottom! =)
We would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend Angela! My friends already asked if she would fly to Boston for their weddings, haha!

Last but certainly not least was our Videographer, George Jacobs. George was amazing, we didn't even know he was there half the time! George gave us our finsihed wedding video before we even came home from Aruba! He works fast, he does an amazing job and he far exceeded our expectations for our video!

So all in all - our entire experience with vendors, the hotel, the wedding planner, and Aruba was absolutely beyond our wildest dreams. We truly did have the time of our lives! If anyone has any questions I would be more than happy to talk to you!

xoxo - Kerri

congrats to you and matt!

first, the pics in aruba today are awesome. second, it sounds like the perfect wedding. now do us a big favor and make it the perfect marriage, lol. we wish you happiness and continued love for at least the next 60 or 70 years with return visits to aruba frequently.

Congratulations Kerri and Matt, and thank you so much for sharing your wedding with us!!

I'm one of those people who love reading about the marriages on Aruba, and love seeing the pictures. Yours are wonderful.

Why do I think you're now a member of the Arubaholic's Club??? lol

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Thanks Sherry!!! Elaine - "Arubaholics" haha I love it! Once I receive all of our professional photos I'll be sure to post them!! I'm so anxious to see =)

I was there for 2 weeks and I already miss it! Time to plan the next trip haha

How wonderful! Congratulations to you both! I had tears in my eyes when I was reading your wedding story That is just amazing that your photographer went so far out of her way to do the extra photo shoot with you. Fabulous!

I love the Radisson - it's one of my favorite Aruba hotels!