amcarter

My fiance is a huge Micheal Jackson fan and asked me if he could have a MJ grooms cake at the wedding. I suggested that he try to get someone to make a white glove. Does anyone know of a baker in Costa Rica that can bake a cake in the shape of a white glove or a company that can ship a cake to Costa Rica?

Congrats and welcome! I started with a travel agent. She gave me a list of several places that had great beaches. In her email she sent me a list of fav hotels and the cost for 7 nights in each hotel on each island. She sep them by all inclusive and regular hotels. This information was very helpful b/c I didn't want my guests to spend a fortune to attend our wedding. She also asked me where most of my guests will be traveling from and explained how long it would take to travel to each of the spots. I eliminated the idea of going to any location that would request an over night layover or more than 2 stops. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Quote: Originally Posted by erinsny24 Those are so cute! I wish they had more in my size! I wear a size 11 and haven't been able to find too many flip flops like this and the ones on that website are just what I am looking for! If you're able to locate the white flip flop in your size, you can bedazzle them. The flip flop that's featured on this blog looks easy to put together. Try looking at payless for a white pair and add the rinestones on yourself. Good luck to you.

Congrats on your upcoming wedding. My wedding date will be April 17th in Costa Rica. I've never been but I have stayed in All Inclusive spots before. Here are my thoughts. Some people believe they're getting free booze and food. You're actually paying for all this stuff but it's in the package. The times that I've stayed in all inclusive spots, I felt like I needed to stay in the hotel to get the value for what I spent. If you plan to have dinner or lunch away from the hotel, the hotel will be making easy money off of you b/c you just purchased say 5 nights at an all inclusive of which you never had dinner there. So what you got A drink at the bar at no cost. I think CR has a lot of places to visit. You prob wouldn't want to spend a lot of time at the hotel. All inclusive vacations are for people that want to stay at the hotel for most of their vacation otherwise it will be a waste of money. If your hotel has an option to purchase all inclusive days, i would recommend doing that rather than making your entire stay all inclusive b/c chances are you prob wont spend a lot of time at the hotel. Regarding hav'g a wedding there - I aslo inquired at a few spots. Your guests are pretty much paying for their own food and drinks b/c they're be staying at the hotel. If you don't mind having your guests pay the price to stay at the resort, go for it. Hope this helps with your decisions. Good luck to you and happy planning.

Quote: Originally Posted by vgeisler Hi Amcarter- where did you decide to have your wedding? At Pacifico Beach Club? We have narrowed down our list to a couple places and that is #1 for me right now. Have you decided where you are staying? I'm looking at the Octoal or Villas Sol. I loved the Flamingo Beach Resort, but heard it's quite far from Playa de Coco. I'd love to know where you and your guests are staying! I actually ended up getting group rates to rent the condos at Pacifico. It's listed as 4 stars on Expedia and the GM for the condos is giving my guests a discount since we're staying there. The wedding will be on the beach in front of the lawn, cocktail hour on the lawn near the lounge chairs and the reception will be in the beach club house. My coordinator put me in touch w/ a bride that just got married there in May. She lives in NYC and she was nice enough to tell me what she did and didn't like about her wedding. She said it was very hot b/c she got married first thing in the morning and she also didn't like her cake but that's b/c they used buttercream at her request which is not recommended for tropical climates. Anyway, guests are renting condos at Pacifico. The Hilton (which is adorable) is just 15 minutes away but I will only let the guests that inquire about alternate lodging know about the Hilton. There's also a very cheap hotel across the street from Pacifico but I don't know the name. I don't have group rates for them but I love the way that Hilton looks. I tried to inquire about a wedding there back in April and they have not responded to me yet so I am not entertaining them and I've already placed my deposit. If you want to see photos of a wedding at pacifico check out this link Costa Rica Wedding Photographer :: Comfort Studio Weddings - Search click on Jessica + Mike. I actually found my location by looking at photographers websites in Costa Rica. Eventhough we're flying in our photographer, the one that did this wedding is pretty good. I hope this helps you in making a decision. LMK if you have any other questions.

I've found a lot of different ways to do the chuppah. You can prob look at wedding photos from anywhere in hawaii to see different ways to set them up. You an also have it extend to cover your guests so the guests are not in the sun. Happy planning

I can help you out with one of your question. I rec'd quotes from all of the Paradisus resorts b/c they have some in a few different places. This was before I decided on CR. If you haven't done so already, I would recommend sending them an email so they can send you the package with all the details. If you're not getting a response in a timely fashion, try sending info to one of the other locations and they'll probably reply faster. I found that the CR location had the slowest response time. The packages are cookie cutter. If all of your guests stay at the hotel, the food package is cheap b/c you'll just be paying for someone to serve the meals. You'll have to pay for the guests to come on the property and the meals and drinks if they're not staying at the hotel since it's all inclusive. They do have a few menu options. The wedding packages are cheap but the rooms are pricey. I would also recommend asking for lots of photos or events other than the ones from the brochure. They tend to include the nicest photos in the brochure. I just started looking at different Costa Rica photog blogs to find cute spots before I finally settled on my location. It was difficult at first b/c I couldn't find a lot of photos of the resorts that I was intersted in. It's not going to help you to look at wedding photos at the beach all day. You want to see getting ready photos or photos from the reception if the reception was inside. I also found a wedding coordinator in Costa Rica that had lots of suggestions. Hope this helps. Good luck!

OMG - the Reserva Conchal is adorable. I agree with what everyone else is saying about CR. The options are limited. If you're looking for hotels based on star ratings. I would recommend going to expedia or Caribbean Online (carribean online) for star ratings and photos. Paradisus, 4 Seasons, Mariott and Hilton all have very nice hotels in CR. The Mariott is adorable and new but huge. We're renting condos at Pacifico-Costarica.com: COSTA RICA CONDOS - OCEANFRONT HOMES COSTA RICA - PLAYAS DEL COCO REAL ESTATE - TOWNHOMES COSTA RICA - GUANACASTE COSTA RICA CONDOS. After the wedding we'll stay at a few other places in Costa Rica before flying back home. Happy planning.

I blocked rooms directly with the place that I'm getting married. You can also use a travel agent. The group discount rate was cheaper when I went directly with the venue instead of the travel agent. I will put the travel agent on my invitations but I've also told the travel agent I have specific rates that should be used with our location. Good luck to you.

I can understand where you're com'g from. I have reserched all over the place. I did research in Hawaii, Turks & Caicos, DR, Mexico, Cayman Islands, St. Martin, Anguilla and Costa Rica. You're correct in saying that there is limited information available. I started with a local travel agent. I explained that I wanted to have a destination wedding and needed help narrowing down a location. She also helped me narrow down a date explaining what dates were considered t/b high season in specific areas of the country. Since I work in the insurnance industry I knew I didn't want to have a wedding during hurrican season June 1st - Dec 1st. Since that knocked out most of the year, she was able to provide air prices for each location and hotel prices for 7 days at her favorite spots based on feedback from clients. On her list The 4 Seasons and Paradisus (sp) were the most expensive. I sent the same email request to every single island that I was researching. Asking each hotel to answer specific wedding questions. The Paradisus took a very long time to respond to my email and didn't answer any of my questions. They simply attached a template to my email which I already had a copy of from the DR Paradisus. I started norrowing down my options based on cust svc. Since I was having a hard time getting hotels to respond, I ended up researching photographers there and selected a wedding planner based on wedding decor that I liked in photographs from weddings in CR. I did the same thing - waited for a wedding planner to respond and provided great cust svc. I finally found one and she sent the most detailed email to me with every possible wedding location in all of Costa Rica. She also described each part of Costa Rica: if you want to get married w/ the jungle in the background, go here; if you want a waterfall, go here; black beaches, go here; Carribean style, go here. It was the longest email ever but it was very helpful. After speaking with her and telling her my vision, she was able to recommend Pacifico and provided photos of the inside and out and I was able to block rooms with them as well. My travel agent recommended staying at the new Marriott and the Hilton and both hotels are cute but I started emailing people in April, and no one from either of those hotels in CR have responded to my email. Sure Mexico has a LOT of options but CR offers a very unique back drop. Good luck to you.

Does anyone offer suggestions for the following: DJ Calypso Band Baker - I have to have a delicious cake w/ filling

My wedding location is Pacifico. Wedding planner is Tropical Occasions. We're flying in our favorite photographer. I'm still looking for the perfect band, dj and i HAVE to have a delicious wedding cake. Happy planning.

I work in the insurance industry and hurricane season is from June 1st - Dec 1st. I haven't seen any major reports about hurricanes in CR but I didn't want to take the chance. Here's a suggestion for you and your guests... ask them to purchase travel insurance and you can also get wedding insurance in the event that something happens. good luck.

I've been working with Aimee at Tropical Occassions. She's been very helpful and provided a lot of options to keep the cost down. good luck

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is what my travel agent quoted me when I was looking for a spot to get married in CR. Good luck. I have a friend that attended a wedding at Paradisus and he said the hotel was beautiful. When I sent them an email inquiring about the wedding package, it took them three months to respond and they didn't send me the information I requested either so I changed my mind. All inclusive hotels-prices are total for 2 adults, including hotel, hotel taxes, all meals, drinks, and water sports that the hotel offers. Prices below are for 7night stay. Occidental Grand Papagayo $1520 Paradisus Playa Conchal $2280

My wedding coordinator was nice enough to put me in touch w/ a bride that had a wedding at the same venue that i'm using. The bride did not use a DJ. She instead hooked up her IPOD and they danced the night away. You can get a DJ in NYC (if that's where you live) to create a mix of music for you. 2 or 3 hours long. Ask him to include your favorite songs and perhaps a section of slow jams. Then have one of your guests in charge of the Ipod and mic. This should work out just as good. Good luck!

This is what my travel agent quoted me when I was looking for a spot to get married in CR. Good luck. I have a friend that attended a wedding at Paradisus and he said the hotel was beautiful. All inclusive hotels-prices are total for 2 adults, including hotel, hotel taxes, all meals, drinks, and water sports that the hotel offers. Prices below are for 7 night stay. Occidental Grand Papagayo $1520 Paradisus Playa Conchal $2280

Tropical Occassions. Aimee is very nice and knows a lot about the island. She found the perfect spot for me based on a few questions that I answered and she had a lot of information to share. Good luck to you.

I just changed my wedding location. This is it!!! My fiance and I selected a location and put down a deposit after search many islands. We had a hard time finding a place that had awesome customer service. We really wanted to use a cute hotel in Turks & Caicos but the prices of flowers and such were getting to be a little too high. We finally decided on Costa Rica after locating a very helpful wedding planner. Black beaches, waterfalls, jungles & volcanos..... what a combination. I can't wait!!!!

Congrats on your upcoming wedding. I've visited St. Thomas several times and might be able to help you. Depending on what you're looking for. Good luck to you.

I know my wedding isn't until next year but I wanted to send out my invitations so people would have an opp to purchase cheap tickets. Does anyone know an invitation company that does adorable yet unique wedding invitations?

You can try shipping the items. The amount the airlines will charge for your extra bag or over weight bag will probably be more than the cost to ship the items. Good luck

OMG! I didn't think it was having an impact in other locations outside of Mexico. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. I'm sure everything will work out.

Planning a destination wedding at a beach location. We're looking at Domican Republic and other spots in the Carribean. Looking for a shabby chic hotel for a modern style wedding on the beach for about 30 people.