Location - Los Suenos Marriott Part 2

Continuing with the Marriott, many of our wedding receptions are in their spacious ballroom. While a wedding in a ballroom seems like a big 'why bother coming to Costa Rica', it does have the added advantage of air-conditioning (very very very few venues have AC here) and of not having to shut down the music at 10 PM, so you can party into the wee hours if you want.

It's a nice space and I love to play with the chandeliers running the length of the room - swagging fabric, hanging flowers. And of course, lighting can totally transform the look over the course of the night. Highly recommend it!

Photos by Richard May

Location - Los Suenos Marriott

One of the most difficult aspects of planning a destination wedding is knowing what the location looks like. As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words. Today, we're featuring the beautiful Marriott Los Suenos Resort just outside of Jaco (less than a two-hour drive from San Jose). Featuring a marina, 18-hole golf course, restaurants, condos and the Marriott Hotel, it is a fabulous spot for a wedding. Honestly, the beach isn't the prettiest but the rest of the grounds (those gardens!!) make up for it.

Above  are some shots from a wedding we did out in the garden this past February to give you an idea how beautiful it is (photos courtesy Dan Power Photography).

Ceremony Decor - Palm Canopy

Beach weddings have a fairly wide range of decor possibilities for your ceremony (as well as some constraints). Usually, I like to think the 'less is more' approach works best, as it's pretty hard to improve on the beauty of Mother Nature. Take this photo for example.

We were at the lovely beach at Tulemar in Manuel Antonio. Wedding colors were pink and brown so we had alternating bows on the chairs. I HIGHLY recommend that you have chair covers if you're renting the plastic or folding chairs as they are pretty cheesy looking otherwise. If you're going with the bamboo folding chairs, they are gorgeous on their own. And don't overlook the impact of chairs on your overall design - there are more chairs than anything else at a wedding ceremony or reception. Strength in numbers and all that. If you have great looking chairs, you can cut back on other areas of decor and no one will notice.

This wedding wanted something fairly simple yet elegant. We went with a canopy covered in palm leaves, its leg bases wrapped in manos de tigre (a type of leaf). Lots of rose petals for the aisle and under the canopy to give a punch of color (as it was a grey day, this was super important). Aisle markers were large vases with water and floating orchids and pillar candles with sand. As you can see, the result was simple elegance. Beautiful!

Sylvia Weinstock!!

Wow! Just met Sylvia Weinstock at Engage 08, the fabulous symposium for wedding professionals. What an amazing, funny, talented woman! Fun fun fun.

And she would LOVE to come to Costa Rica so here's a shout out to brides - if you want the most amazing wedding cake in the world, let's talk as Sylvia has cake and will travel.

Marvelous Mariachis

Although mariachis are a Mexican tradition, they've become part of Costa Rican culture and de rigeur at any Tico wedding (did you know that mariachis originally only played at weddings which is why their names are derived from the word for marriage?). They are a fun addition to any wedding and a nice way to include a bit of the local culture. 

I find that mariachis work best as part of the cocktail hour as the photo session is taking place or as an 'energy pick up' mid-way through the reception. And 20 - 30 minutes is more than sufficient - just enough to get the excitement and flavor but short enough so you don't 'lose' the crowd (since there really is a limit to how much mariachi music one can handle, I think). Like the old showbiz maxim, always leave 'em wanting more ;)

Photo courtesy of Dan Power Photography

Guest Gifts - Coffee!

Having your wedding in the land of coffee, it's natural to give the gift of java to your guests as part of a welcome bag or as a thank you gift at the wedding. But what if you want to dress up the coffee a bit? 

These wonderful little bags feature the work of a renowned Costa Rican artist, Lil Mena. There are two different designs to choose from - one of  a coffee picking couple and the other of a typical village in the coffee mountains. Each bag holds a vacuum sealed bag of premium ground coffee (enough for a pot). And if you wish, they can be personalized with your wedding date and names.

Prices start at $5 each for the bag with coffee. Sweet!

All-Inclusive Resorts for Weddings

We receive a number of requests from brides who want to hold their wedding at an all-inclusive resort. While the resort may seem like the easiest and most cost-effective route to take, here are a few things to consider...

Firstly, we have only a handful of all-inclusives in Costa Rica and they are not the huge mega-resorts like you may find in Mexico. They are the Paradisus Playa Conchal (4 star), Allegro Grand Papagayo (3 star), Allegro Papagayo (2 star), Barcelo Langosta and Tambor (both 2 star).

Meals are pretty much just the buffet and the one sit-down restaurant that you have to pre-reserve and only if you're booked in at the hotel for a minimum of three nights. At the Conchal, you have more restaurants to choose from but you have to line up each morning to make a reservation for that evening unless you have upgraded to Royal Service status.

The hotels will not make dinner reservations for a large group, so any plans you may have of all 'just heading to the restaurant for dinner' instead of having a private reception won't fly. And having a private reception is going to cost extra,usually around $35 per person or so (the same price for a wedding meal at other hotels or restaurants). No savings there.

As for the wedding itself, the hotels offer their own wedding packages which they want clients to purchase. Allegro Papagayo now has a new rule that couple's MUST purchase the hotel's packages, even if they want to work with an independent wedding planner. So much for having choice.

When you sit down and start doing the math, paying for the resort's packaged wedding really doesn't save any money over working with an independent planner - plus you are severely limited in what options you have (they are packages, afterall). 

The other thing we've run into over the years is brides becoming frustrated with the lack of response from the hotel's planner. While the planner is trying her (or his) best, they are not trained wedding planners and usually are working in their second language, which makes things a bit more challenging for them. They are also juggling all of the other events going on at the resort as well. One person is in charge of all the weddings (around 20 a month), corporate meetings, golf tournaments, incentive travel group dinners - these poor people barely have time to wolf down a spot of lunch. Not surprisingly, they don't have time to answer detailed emails or return emails in a timely fashion. It's a tough job, with very long hours and burnout rates are high (the Paradisus had four different people go through the planner's position in one year alone).

If you're a bride who just wants a simple packaged wedding and isn't concerned with followup, then a resort wedding may be just the ticket. 

But if you're a bride who wants a personalized affair and service, then you may want to consider hosting your wedding at a 'regular', non-inclusive hotel.