It's common for second marriages to be low key - after all, at least one of the couple has done it all before and knows the supreme effort that can go into staging a wedding. The second time around, couples are older, wiser, and want to focus on celebrating each other.

Connie Chen was no different when planning her nuptials to Dave Hogben. A software executive and single mother, she was juggling career, family and a long-distance relationship. With Dave in New Jersey and her in Georgia, Connie wanted to have the best day possible without any additional stress.

So she did what any good executive would do: Delegate tasks and hand over the details to a trusted team. Connie’s faith in her 20-year relationship with Marriott hotels gave her the confidence to let the hotel’s Aruba resort staff create a perfect day for her.

Relieving herself of the micromanaging, she says, freed her up to focus on what was most important to her on her wedding day: celebrate with the love of her life. “I did practically no work and made very few decisions and I was very, very happy,” Connie says. “I knew they would handle the details they way I wanted.”

The result: A beautiful sunset ceremony on a beach in Aruba, surrounded by friends and family.

When Connie says she made very few decisions, she means it. Once she communicated her needs with the hotel staff, she was hands off for the rest of the planning. “I didn’t even choose the colors and that was OK with me,” Connie says.

The hotel coordinated every detail, including booking a local newspaper photographer to shoot the wedding. Connie thinks having a news photographer added to the quality of her photos - the photojournalist’s ability quickly read people and situations helped create a quick bond with her and Dave. The photographer also quickly turned the work around, having proofs for the couple the very next day.

Still, Connie wanted personal perspectives. She asked everyone in her wedding party of 30 to send any photographs they wanted to share , resulting in hundreds of digital photos. Connie and Dave sat down together and selected a “best of” series, burned them onto a CD and along with a framed photo, sent one out to each guest who attended the wedding.

Connie looks at the photos and sees her feelings reflected back at her. “Dave is my soul mate, my best friend,” she says. “I didn’t need a thing in the world except to share the day with my daughter and family and friends.”

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