The hubby and I are so glad we chose the Westin to host our wedding extravaganza.  They truly went above and beyond for us and we can't thank them enough!  Our wedding coordinator, Patrick, did an amazing job.  He was always on point with communication through email, answering all our questions in a timely manner (even to say he received our email and he'll get back to us shortly).  I often here of brides in Aruba having communication problems with wedding coordinators or planners, but that was NEVER the case for us!
     As soon as we arrived in Aruba, we were greeted by our driver, Patrick set up car service to pick us up (& drop us off) from the airport (another Westin perk).  Soon after, the hubby and I checked in, we were hooked up with a Suite (living area and bedroom, shower & separate tub, 2 oceanfront balconies, & a king size Heavenly Bed).  We were also upgraded to free breakfast every morning (another perk added by the Westin).  After checking our our living situation for a week, a nice gift was delivered to our room... champagne and a beautiful card from Inge & Patrick, how thoughtful!  A nice way to start of vacay!
     Jeff & I met with Patrick for our pre-wedding meeting, where we discussed details of the ceremony & reception and any other last minute details.  I had given him my DIY projects (escort cards, programs, flip flop basket, menus, table names, etc) and instructions of where and how to place them.  We walked around the property and did a quick run through of all that would happen on our big day!  The meeting was very helpful and reassuring for Jeff & myself, so we enjoyed the rest of our days prior to the wedding in the sun! 
      The big day finally arrived and it was PERFECT with a little bump but nothing that ruined the day!  A crazy thing happened as my girls and I were about to take the elevator down to the beach for the ceremony....the POWER went out on the whole island...eekkss!!!  I have to be honest, I did freak out for a minute, but luckily the generators kicked in, I was able to take the elevator down and walk down the sandy aisle!  Unfortunately the microphones didn't work on the beach, but it didn't stop us from saying our vows!
     Patrick, was the hero of the day, making sure everything was being taking care of with having no power.  I must say, he rocked it out!  I'm sure he was stressed, but he didn't show it or let me know it which relieved a lot of stress on my part. 
     After the ceremony, the bridal party took pictures while our guests enjoyed the sunset cocktail hour with the sounds of the steel pan player.  It was a gorgeous night, not too hot and the wind wasn't crazy (for those brides worried about the wind, it was fine-my veil stayed in place!)
     The reception was the best part of the night!  Patrick made sure everything was in place before the guests arrived.  He even got security to buy some citronella candles and OFF spray for our guests (we never noticed the mosquitos until that evening, must have been because of the power outage).  That was a sweet gesture, even our photographers captured the moment when our guests sprayed repellent on themselves! 
     The reception setup was perfect, Patrick did the setup as asked and everything was in place! He stayed for the whole wedding party just to make sure everything was going as planned!  We are so thankful to have worked with Patrick and we couldn't have asked for anyone better!  So Patrick, if your reading this...THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!!  YOU ROCK!! 



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