MJD3

@@TAkathy - I haven't decided on a particular location in Costa Rica but am thinking Guanacaste. We will probably fly down our local pastor for the ceremony. We've never been to Costa Rica before, and are thinking of having a June/July wedding in 2016. @@kmk2016 - the fee includes set-up but we pay for the decorations/flowers separately. And yeah, I don't want to pay 4k - but my fiance and I probably won't make a trip before the wedding so we'd be relying a lot on their knowledge and decisions.

Hi everyone! I am recently engaged and we are considering a destination wedding in Costa Rica. We have NO idea where to start - my fiance and I have large families, and will probably have at least 80 people come to CR (but it will probably be about 100). We are trying to keep costs low, as we realized we couldn't afford a 250+ person wedding in the NY/NJ area, and are trying to make this wedding an affordable alternative that's still beautiful and fun. I have contacted 2 wedding planners already, and they both quoted me in the $4,000 range. I have no idea if this is high, low, standard, or if it's higher because we will likely have a fairly large wedding. Would anyone mind sharing approximately how much they spent on their planner and if they felt it was worth it? I don't want to regret committing to someone before I even have a date set. Thank you all!