Getting Married in Aruba: Legal Steps, the Venues Guests Recommend, and What It Costs

Aruba is one of the easiest Caribbean islands for a legal wedding — the Civil Registry handles non-resident ceremonies at the courthouse or on the beach, the apostille timeline is predictable, and Eagle Beach at sunset has earned its reputation. Symbolic ceremonies skip the paperwork entirely, and the handful of resorts and coordinators guests mention most are all on the two main beaches.

Where Guests Actually Got Married

The resorts with the most wedding mentions cluster around Eagle and Palm Beach. Bucuti & Tara on Eagle Beach leads by volume — 13 of 322 reviews mention weddings or vow renewals — but the Riu properties, Hilton, Hyatt, and Holiday Inn on Palm Beach all appear frequently. Most couples report using the resort's wedding coordinator for logistics, then holding the ceremony on the sand at sunset with a small group.

Resort	Beach	Style	Price Feel
Bucuti & Tara	Eagle	Adults-only, intimate, eco-conscious	$$$$
Manchebo	Eagle	Bohemian-spa, pavilion option	$$$
Divi Aruba	Eagle	All-inclusive, casual	$$$
Riu Palace Aruba	Palm	All-inclusive, full-service	$$$
Riu Palace Antillas	Palm	All-inclusive, large groups	$$$
Hyatt Regency	Palm	Resort-casino, poolside options	$$$$
Hilton Aruba	Palm	Resort-casino, ballroom available	$$$$
Ritz-Carlton	Palm	Luxury, concierge service	$$$$$
Secrets Baby Beach	San Nicolas	Adults-only, remote south coast	$$$$

Eagle Beach shows up more often for ceremony sites — the sand is wide, soft, and the sunset faces west without obstruction. Palm Beach works for couples staying there with guests, but the water can be murkier and the beach busier. One couple noted a Marriott wedding looked polished but the beach had muddy sand. The southern Secrets Baby Beach property appears in three reviews, appealing to couples who want distance from the resort strip.

For non-resort ceremonies, community reports mention Pinchos on the pier in Oranjestad — multiple people have witnessed proposals there, and one couple used a local planner to coordinate a Friday sunset ceremony followed by dinner at the pier for 85 guests. The Old Man and The Sea, also near the pier, surfaces as a more private alternative. Tierra del Sol golf club gets a strong endorsement as a venue, though no pricing detail appears in the grounding.

The Legal Process Under Aruban Law

A legal civil wedding in Aruba requires registration with the Civil Registry in Oranjestad. You submit documents at least two weeks before the ceremony date, though most planners recommend a month. Required paperwork includes passports, birth certificates apostilled (the Hague Convention stamp your home-country authority applies), and if either party was previously married, a divorce decree or death certificate, also apostilled. Single-status affidavits are not universally required but may be requested.

The ceremony itself takes place at the courthouse or on a public beach, officiated by a Civil Registry officer. Beach ceremonies are legal and binding, not symbolic, provided the officer is present. After the ceremony, the registry issues a marriage certificate, which you can apostille in Aruba for recognition back home.

Many couples skip the Aruban legal process entirely and opt for a symbolic ceremony — an ordained friend, a local officiant without legal authority, or a coordinator who stages the event. Guests then file the marriage license at home, either before or after the trip. Community contributors describe this as the lower-friction path: no apostilles, no two-week window, no registry fees. The trade-off is you don't get an Aruban marriage certificate, which matters to some and not at all to others.

If you want the legal version, contact the Civil Registry directly or work with a local planner who handles the submission. Ceremonies & Celebrations appears in community FAQs as a coordinator who can price custom packages; Picnic Aruba surfaces for vow renewals and may handle symbolic weddings. One planner in Noord received a positive mention for a Friday sunset ceremony with transparent pricing and responsive communication, though no names or contact details appear in the data.

What It Costs

Resort wedding packages vary widely. The all-inclusives on Palm Beach — Riu, Hyatt, Hilton, Holiday Inn — typically bundle the ceremony setup, officiant coordination, and a small reception into a single price. Guests report packages starting around $1,500 for a basic beach ceremony with chairs, an arch, and a coordinator, scaling up to $5,000–$8,000 for larger receptions with catering, a photographer, and a pavilion or ballroom. Bucuti & Tara and Manchebo on Eagle Beach offer similar tiers but lean toward smaller, more intimate setups.

If you're coordinating independently, officiants for symbolic ceremonies charge $200–$500. Legal Civil Registry ceremonies carry a government fee around $200–$300, plus the officiant's travel if the ceremony is on the beach. Photographers appear in community threads frequently: day-of wedding photography runs $800–$2,500 depending on hours and deliverables. One contributor called out a specific photographer for capturing emotional moments quickly and affordably, and another praised a service that provided engagement and wedding shoots as a bundle.

Styling packages — hair, makeup, and wardrobe for "flying dress" photo sessions — are popular and typically cost $300–$600. The dresses are rented for the shoot, not kept.

For the post-ceremony celebration, a sunset sail is the most common group activity. Octopus Sailing Charters and Blue Melody & Black Pearl Sailing both run three- to four-hour trips at $75 per person, with open bar and snorkeling. Red Sail Sports offers the same at a similar price. If you want a private charter, AWA Aruba Private Boat Charters runs $150 per person for three hours, giving you the boat to yourselves.

A welcome dinner at a mid-tier restaurant — Yemanja, Barefoot, Quinta del Carmen — runs $40–$70 per person with drinks. Higher-end spots like Passions or The Old Man and The Sea push closer to $100 per person. If you're doing a full reception at Pinchos or another pier venue, expect $75–$125 per person depending on the menu and bar package.

All told, a legal beach wedding with 20 guests, a photographer, a sunset sail, and a welcome dinner costs $8,000–$15,000 before flights and hotels. A symbolic ceremony with fewer guests and no reception can land under $5,000.

Guest Logistics: Room Blocks, Transport, the Welcome Party

Room blocks are your biggest decision, and community contributors warn about financial liability. If you sign a contract guaranteeing a certain number of rooms and your guests don't book, you're on the hook for the difference. Rates spike on weekends, so Friday and Saturday weddings inflate both your costs and theirs.

Most couples split the block between Eagle and Palm Beach. Eagle is quieter, better for older guests or couples who want calm; Palm has more restaurants and nightlife within walking distance, better for groups that want options after dinner. If everyone's at one resort, logistics simplify — ceremony on-site, reception on-site, no shuttles. If they're scattered, you'll need taxis.

Aruba's official taxi rates are fixed and listed at taxi.aw. Palm Beach to Eagle Beach is around $15; Eagle Beach to Oranjestad is $20. For a wedding party of 20, budget $400–$600 in taxi costs if you're moving everyone between venues. Some couples rent a party bus for the day, which runs $600–$1,000 and removes the coordination headache.

The welcome party usually happens the night before the ceremony. A beach bar like Bugaloe or The West Deck works for casual groups and costs $30–$50 per person with appetizers and drinks. Pelican Nest on Palm Beach is another option, slightly more polished. If you want a sit-down dinner, book a private area at Yemanja or Screaming Eagle and expect $60–$80 per person.

Guest attendance is lower for destination weddings — one contributor flags this as the universal rule. If you invite 50, expect 25–35. The cost of flights and hotels filters the list naturally, and some people just can't swing a long weekend in the Caribbean.

Best Months and the Wind

Aruba's wedding season runs November through April, when the weather is driest and the trade winds are steady but not violent. May and June see lighter crowds and slightly lower resort rates, but the wind picks up. Late June and July are hotter and wetter, though rain usually arrives as brief afternoon showers, not all-day washouts.

The wind is the elephant in every outdoor ceremony. One community answer explains that experienced photographers know how to manage it — shoot in sheltered coves, near rock formations, or under trees; schedule sessions near sunset when the wind dies down; recommend updos instead of loose hair. The trade winds are constant, but they're manageable if you plan around them.

August brings Aruba I Do, a free annual vow renewal ceremony on Eagle Beach with luxury transport, cocktails, photography, and live music. If you're renewing vows rather than marrying for the first time, this is a zero-cost option worth timing your trip around.

Hurricane season technically runs June through November, but Aruba sits below the hurricane belt and rarely sees storms. One contributor recommends late June or early July for a 2028 ceremony, noting that wind and heat are the only real concerns, not hurricanes.

If you're weighing whether to handle the full trip yourself or hire a planner, the planner tool can map out the timeline and surface gaps you might miss. For couples bringing kids — rare, but it happens — the family itinerary outlines how to structure days around both adult events and child-friendly downtime. And if you're debating all-inclusive or not, the verdict matters more for weddings than regular trips: an all-inclusive locks in bar costs for your guests and simplifies reception budgeting, but the ceremony itself still happens off-property unless you're at Riu, Divi, or another resort with a dedicated wedding program.