imthepriya

I know exactly how you feel. We almost chose the Doubletree too, because its cheaper to fly into San Jose compared to Liberia, the room rates are reasonable and its all-inclusive. But we shyed away from it because we heard the beach was not that great, we want a white sandy beach and don't want to sacrafice what "we" want since its our big day. We decided we want to be in the Gaunacaste area, but haven't finalized a resort yet. We're looking at mid April 2010 as well!! We have Paradisus and Flamingo in mind, two totally different price ranges. We're asking friends and family to help us decide. What was your first choice?

Is it that beneficial to have a Travel Agent for your wedding bookings, or doing it yourself? She said she doesn't get get paid on airfare, but through the resorts. Do the resorts bump up the prices to the TA? Does anyone know how they get paid?

I'm also looking at Paradisus and the reviews I've got are mixed. I heard you have to drive 10 mins to get to a nice part of the beach to have the ceremony at. I also heard it is great for large parties, like me, 80-100 guests. They charge extra to have the tree line garden area over looking the beach for the ceremony. The trees ruin the view of the ocean, they're not palm trees, and aren't great for pictures. I really wanted a garden ceremony looking at the ocean un-obstructed, but its so hard to find, with a big guest list. I also looked into all-inclusive villas, but my FI and I decided we would rather have all the guests staying in one place to spend more time together and have a more upbeat environment, since people can be too 'at home' at the villas. To have the actual ceremony and reception at Paradisus is getting close to $12,000 for 100 guests. Another option I'm looking into is moving the reception to a nearby restaurant or something, but I think it might be the same costs. We're waiting for our TA to get back to us on air/room packages to make a decision because we really need to have a date SOO00nnnn~

Hi RichardMay, which resort was Karolina and Jarrod's wedding take place at??

80-100 guests, Indian-Catholic mixed wedding, but not a BIG religious ceremony, just small. We want a nice 1 hour cocktail hour, and a long reception with dancing....I need to how long do normal DW's go until, and do they all have dancing...or do they head to the bar after dinner? So far in the running is Paradisus Playa Conchal, we're getting our TA to price out packages. In the process of doing tons of research! Any advice would help! -Priya in AZ

I've don tons of research and found Paradisus to have it all-- all inclusive, wedding coordinator is very responsive and its a 4 star resort. We have 80-100 guests and have not picked a date yet, but thinking April 2010. Which package did you go with, and did you do any custom additions? Did you choose a menu from the package? What is your schedule? Did you go with the resort photographer? Are you doing open bar at reception? Are you taking the party to the disco/bar they have after? I just have too many questions, would love to know your WHOLE set up! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Priya in AZ

Hi I'm planning with a TA from beach bums vacations. We're still working on a date, after we pick a resort. It's between Paradisus Play Conchal and Occidental Grand Papagayo. Is anyone getting married in Costa Rica?? Anyone see any negatives from doing all-inclusive? I think I'll have a lot of questions for this Forum, this is great! -Priya in Arizona!