My Wedding at Villa Caletas, Herradura, Costa Rica

[Karniki]

This review is for everyone who is interested in getting married in Costa Rica. When I decided to get married there, I had little to no information available on the internet. Luckily, my husband is from Costa Rica so we did some hands-on research in Costa Rica before making any decisions.

 

Our Hotel

 

We drove along the pacific coast, through la fortuna and monteverde, and to guanacaste looking at different hotels for just under a week. Our absolute favorite place of all places we visited was Hotel Villa Caletas. It was love at first sight. I will summarize what is wonderful about this hotel...

 

PROS

-Amphitheatre for outdoor wedding overlooking the ocean from the cliffside

-Rooms are incredibly decorated with a good price... our room even had a hot tub!

-Hotel service is incredible and professional

-Everything about the hotel is romantic, private, european, secluded... perfect for a wedding

-The infinity pool is a wonderful place to spend the day of your wedding

-The food for the wedding was incredible

-The wedding coordinator went above and beyond in the final results

 

CONS

-The food is overpriced, bland, and the portions were small (this does not include the wedding food)

-The wedding coordinator was disorganized with prices so review your final bill carefully. I had to request changes several times and the price difference was over $1000. I don't think she did it on purpose, I think she is just so inredibly busy she forgets what price she gave before.

 

Food/Drinks

As mentioned before, food was excellent for the wedding itself. Drinks were incredible but expensive. I suggest you bring your own wine and pay the corkage fee ($12)

 

Flowers

Flowers were ordered though the hotel and were fresh and beautiful. Prices were very good for this also considering I ordered orchids for almost everything. My bouquet was under $100.

 

Hair/Makeup

I was very impressed with this. Xenia has excellent prices and excellent service. She did my hair which is a HUGE challenge. I have curly, frizzy, thin hair and she managed to make it look thick, smooth and controlled. She did my makeup very naturally beautiful. She also did an excellent job on my manicure and pedicure. Hair was around $55, Makup (with false eyelashes) was around $60, and a manicure and pedicure was $50 I think.

 

Photography/Videography

Carlos Charpentier and Pamela Fuster did the photography and they hired a contact they had for the video. I still haven't receieved the video or photos but I have viewed them online and they look incredible. I do however have one complaint... they have edited all of the photos and I don't think they are sending me the originals nor all of the photos they took as they promised. I will keep you all posted on this. However here is their contact information:

 

www.costaricaweddingparadise.com

[email protected]

TEL : 506-88475805 FAX: 506-22034845

 

DJ

We hired a DJ called DJ Dorian from Monteverde. He is a friend of my husbands. He gave us a really good price and did an excellent job following many of our requests, getting the timing right, and following the crowds requests. He had great energy too!

 

Lawyer

Again, my husband's contact.. his uncle did the ceremony for us for a very good price. He doesn't speak much English so I wouldn't recommend him to those of you who don't speak Spanish but he did a great job! Message me if you are interested.

 

Dress

I bought my dress in Costa Rica in San Jose in a store called Moussel. If you can't find that beautiful dress where you are or you need some last minute shopping for an accessory or bridesmaid dress, go here. It really is the only good dress store in all of Costa Rica.

 

Cake

I ordered the cake through the hotel. $150 for a two-tier cake. Beautiful and yummy!!

 

Overall it was beautiful, romantic, and better than perfect!

 

If any of you have any questions, please message me. I would be glad to help!

[sally]

Thanks for sharing can't wait to see the pics xx

[Jen_S]

Congrats and thanks for the review! Lets see picts!!!

[kate.com]

Congrats! Sounds like it was a great time!

[Karniki]

Here is a link to my photos done by the photographer.

 

Karen & Jonathan

 

password: karenjo

 

Enjoy!

[kate.com]

totally breathtaking Karen!

And your flowergirl was sure stingy with her petals! How cute!

 

Congrats!

[NotYourAverageDW]

Beautiful pictures. Congrats!

[ma_ung]

Thanks for sharing! Congrats!

[BoBride]

Beautiful! What wedding planner did you use?

[~*petals*~]

Wow! Congratulations! The view was so beautiful-- I love those shots that show the whole venue.