LazyBride

There aren't any AI that I know of (maybe the Best Western?) but with all the great restaurants in the Jaco area, you definitely don't want to miss out on taking your tastebuds to Flavourtown! Â Larissa Banting Weddings Costa Rica

Also, be advised that October is one of the rainiest months in the Central Valley. My recommendation is to look at Arenal (volcano) as it is in a different weather pattern if you are planning an outdoor wedding. But within the San Jose area (1 hour radius), in October? Most of us locals high tail it out of here in October as it's really rainy

If you'r planning a Catholic wedding, be ready for a rough ride as the Church does not want to do destination weddings. Major hassles dealing with the Bishop's office et al to the point where we've decided to no longer offer this service - too stressful for everyone and too many politics between the parish priest and diocese. The Church simply doesn't want to marry non-parishoners. They are very 'old school' here. Â My suggestion is to do the Catholic ceremony at home and have a spiritual ceremony (not in a Church) here. Â Good luck! Â Larissa Weddings Costa Rica

Having done two 50 person weddings in the Osa in the last few months (which is beautiful but far and rugged - no air conditioning and only for the adventurous), I would recommend it only if you have very adventurous friends & family, don't mind the lack of AC and are have a decent budget - due to the distance, all the vendors charge much more for transportation. There aren't any restaurants in the area so all the lodges are all-inclusive and there are very few services (no florist, no DJ, no cake maker, no rentals). We had to fly in the cake and bouquet since nowhere to keep them cool before the wedding (these are the crazy logistics we wedding planners have to think of). I would recommend you have your honeymoon there but a wedding is complicated. It's beautiful for sure! Check out these shots: http://www.comfortstudioblog.com/blog/tag/osa  The airlines have only a limited number of those cheap tickets and they are only for the very low season (now) and only for locals. Having worked in the travel biz here for 8 years, the airlines will not haggle on the pricing (and very few other vendors will haggle - it's not really part of the culture here, like what you might find in Mexico or Guatemala).  So, my recommendation is to look at Jaco area as it is the closest beach town to SanJose (1 hour drive). Liberia is up in the north and the flights into it from the US tend to be $200 more or so per ticket. But it is close to many beaches (30 minutes- 1.5 hours). There are some lovely locations in the Jaco/Herradura beach area, for a variety of budgets. Good luck! Larissa Weddings Costa Rica

hi all I am a wedding planner here and I strongly recommend hiring a planner as finding reliable vendors, speaking the language, making sure things run smoothly are priceless. All the planners I know of offer full-service coordination only. As we have 8 years experience and have worked with almost all the vendors in the country, we have narrowed down our vendor list to only a select few who have proven themselves to be reliable and professional. For this reason, we do not take on day-of coordination as the few times we've had brides bring in their own vendors, it's been less than stellar results. While a planner may seem like an 'expense', they will save you a lot of headaches as they know the area, they know the vendors, they know what does/doesn't work in various locations and will ultimately save you money. And if you're having a wedding at a villa, remember that you will need to bring in rentals (tables, chairs, glassware, etc.) have extra cleaning staff, extra staff to move the furniture, etc. Being a beach town, Manuel Antonio has very limited services (ie no rental shop, only 1 flower shop that is very basic) so many items have to come in from San Jose. Costa Rica is an amazing place for a wedding but it's still a 'developing' country and industry - some vendors do not have websites and a few don't even have email! A planner will take care of everything so you can relax and enjoy your time here, rather than running about, wondering where the wedding cake is or if the florist has set up the flowers for the ceremony.