I always speak about a first look with our couples but never realized how awesome it is until I experienced it myself. Nick and I had our first look at Arashi Beach. We took some alone photos and then had our wedding party and immediate family come for photographs before the ceremony and reception. This was the best idea I have ever had and will recommend this to all future brides and grooms. We were able to get all of the 'posed' photos out of the way and have every single photo from the ceremony to the cocktail hour and the reception candid and in the moment. 

Whenever Nick and I go to Aruba we LOVE to sip on fresh coconuts. We knew our guests would love this too! So we incorporated a coconut stand into our cocktail hour. Guests were able to enjoy freshly hacked coconuts! The adults got to add coconut rum to theirs - which was absolutely delicious! Incorporate something that you as a couple enjoy into your wedding! This allows guests to know a little bit more about you!

A preview of our gorgeous beach setup before guests arrived. We wanted every guest to feel important (as they traveled to be there for us on our special day!) We did this by angling tables so that all guests were facing the dance floor with a perfect view. All tables were under canopies with string lighting that added romance to our beach setup! Our centerpieces were Hydrangeas, garden roses, and spray roses with a gorgeous large lantern to light up the center. Adding votive candles made the setting even more romantic at night!

A closer look at our centerpieces from one of our guests's instagram posts!

DNCE says it best ' cake by the ocean '. I did not miss a single detail when it came to flow and surprises at our wedding. I am blessed that I am able to see and be a part of tons of weddings so thank you to our past brides and grooms for your awesome ideas / experiences that I was able to incorporate into my wedding. For our cake cutting we played 'cake by the ocean'. For my father daughter dance we preformed a surprise family dance at the end which I will share the entirety of with you all once it is up on youtube, I dedicated a song to my God father to dance to "I turn to you" by Christina Aguilera, we had an anniversary dance to 'From the Ground Up' by Dan and Shay for our family members who have been married for a very long time, DJ Tino called up each of our 16 cousins in attendance by name to dance to 'We are Family' by Sister Sledge, and my absolute favorite was that we launched paper lanterns at the end of our reception to the Disney fireworks song 'Wishes'.  DJ Tino was able to smoothly incorporate all of these awesome ideas and make my dream a perfect reality!  

Our sweetheart table allowed us to view everyone from the center! We had a beautiful centerpiece just like the other tables and then my bridesmaids placed their bouquets on our table as well. We were able to sit and enjoy each other and our dinner at our wedding. The best part of a destination wedding is that we were with our friends and family for a week so we were able to enjoy our wedding reception as well and not worry about running around and saying hi to everyone for one night only - we enjoyed them all for a week!

Earlier in the week we organized a trip to the natural pool on ATVs and UTVs. Being that we have made this trip many times Nick and I prefer a non guided tour. Lucky for us we also got to have our partners in Aruba join in and Jeff was able to guide us whenever we lost our way. I can not tell you how perfect it was to take 40 quads through the Aruba desert and show our friends and family the beauty of Aruba you do not get to experience at the resorts.

Everyone knew who our group was because our entire bridal party had team groom or team bride hats and Nick and I had birde and groom hats! It was so much fun knowing 85 people at our hotel, enjoying a week long vacation with our cousins and friends, getting quality time with our aunts, uncles and grandparents and learning from them and truly making our family and friends one. A destination wedding allows people to truly enjoy each other and grow and learn as a unit! I am so grateful for this experience and can not wait to guide other couples for this beautiful adventure which is a destination wedding experience.