Reverend Dr. Franklin Croes serves many faith and religious affiliations as well as non-religious, interfaith, and spiritual-but-not-religious couples.
He is a Fully and Duly Non-Denominational and Inter-Faith Ordained Minister. His process includes a no-obligation consultation, a ceremony workshop, continuous communication via email, a back-up officiant (just in case), and a guarantee that you’ll absolutely love your ceremony.
No, it can be just an intimate ceremony with just the two of you and the officiant.
The first step here is to decide if you’ll have a civil and a symbolic Destination Ceremony in Aruba. Ninety-five percent (95%) of couples have symbolic ceremonies and get legally married back home before their trip or/ after their week-long bash in paradise, at their local courthouse so it’s recognized by the country they reside in. And if we can be pretty candid here, it’s also the easiest and least stressful option to tie the knot in a country other than your own.
Essentially, what happens is, the couple uses their big day on the Happy Island to symbolize as their wedding day. It’s a wedding celebration ceremony showcasing your love and your marriage, but without the traditional and legal pieces. It looks and feels exactly like any other real wedding ceremony, and chances are, your guests won’t even know the difference. And… you’ll save yourself the headache of filing marriage paperwork in a foreign country, along with time and money!
This has never happened, but fortunately I have a deep bench of several experienced colleagues who I know would knock your ceremony out of the park as well as I would. Your ceremony will already be completely written by me, of course, and I would call on one of my colleagues to seamlessly step in and read and perform what you and I have created together.
Depending on how much involvement you need from us, most couples book 12-24 months in advance, some book much closer to the date and some request our availability for their last-minute Elopement 🙂
A quick note, we generally won’t book a ceremony more than 24 months/two years from the inquiry date, except for the Elegant or the Diamond Destination Ceremonies. We understand those can take a bit more time to iron out plans.
Most couples that want to elope are mostly excited to marry their best friend in a really beautiful place. Our elopements are intentionally intimate by design, we want the entire focus to be on you two getting married, and then taking some time to take it all in within a gorgeous tropical setting.
If you decided you wanted to fly the chopper to your venue, or want your celebration on a boat or a ship, the price maaaaaay be affected. Of course, we’d be all in to do that, but the cost would be just a bit more. But we’ll chat about all that when we connect!
While it is easy to personalize and customize our ceremony outline to all your fun ideas, even if you have other plans that throw all of that out the window, we’re all in for creative, adventurous, and magical celebrations!
We are extremely transparent about any extra costs and will always tell you about any upfront. No surprises.
First, we will meet for a short “chemistry check”. At this initial virtual meeting, we will talk about your wants and don’t wants, plus the ceremony creation process and what working with me feels like, and then we will determine if we’re the right fit for each other. It is so important to make sure that we are right for each other for such an important day!
If we are the right fit: I email you a link to an electronic contract, you sign it and pay the $200 retainer fee, and I am locked in for your date and time! The balance is due 2 weeks prior. All done online with ease.
We like to have a backup time and/or date just in case the weather isn’t cooperating, but sometimes rain can make for a really cool backdrop to a super special day. As long as you’re okay getting a bit wet, we are too!
Ready for it? It’s pronounced: Cruise or/ Cruz, just like Tom Cruise or Celia Cruz.
