I need Pro's vs. Con's for my Top 4 choices...

[nathanielthompsonphoto]

I stayed in Playa Grande for 10 days and loved it.  Surfed everyday - its just up the beach from Tamarindo, so your guests that surf can walk up the beach from Tamarindo or take a short drive.  There were many surfers staying in Tamarindo that walked up every day to Playa Grande.  Tamarindo is also a reasonably short drive to several other good breaks. 

 

And as mentioned above - make a trip to Monteverde and do the zip line tour.  Simply Awesome!  Unlike any other Zipline tours I've done before...

 

So if the Barcelo is the hotel in Tamarindo you like, then I say do it!

 

Good luck and happy planning!

[carleyanne]

I am getting married in Tamarindo in Juy 2011 and have chosen Sueno del Mar (very close to Barcelo) as the place for the ceremony.  It is a small B&B which sleeps about 16, so my immediate family will be staying there and we will be recommending other places for guests to stay.  I am using Liquid Weddings as my coordinator, and so far they have been great, although I am still fairly early in the process.  Congrats, and good luck!  Finding a place for the wedding was incredibly challenging for me!

[Mel2010]

Hey AmyG,

 

I actually stayed at the Occidental Grand Papagayo this past January 2010 (in Guanacaste). I would definitely check out trip advisor because most of the comments that were on there were all TRUE. It's a beautiful resort, the grounds are well kept and the pool is awesome! The staff are great too and this one waitress will remember everybody's name -- it's insane! However, there are a lot of stairs, so if you have family members coming that have trouble taking stairs, this may be a problem. The rooms were nice, nothing special. We stayed in the regular suites. The Oceanview suites are a lot nicer with your own private patio. All bathrooms have this black paint in the shower and NO SHOWER CURTAIN!!! So I would definitely bring a temp one since they do have a cloth line hanging in the shower -- weird I know! The beach was really nice, the tide comes in really high in the evening and then goes back down so low that you get to see hundreds of little crabs at night. It's pretty cool to see. The only thing I wasn't a big fan of was these weird 'worm-like' strings in the water that catch around the ankles....that was sooo gross. Not sure what they are, but there are TONS of them. I just love Costa Rica though, and you can't beat that HEAT!! Oh and the bartenders are awesome! They will even bring you your drinks to the pool!! I would go back in a heartbeat. We are actually considering getting married in Costa Rica. Also, Guanacaste only gets rain 1-2 months out of the year, so they get almost 10-11 months with no rain. We went in late January and everything was dry and dead around the area, but the resort always looked beautiful and green. We rented a car and drove to Taramindo to go surfing. The town is really cute with tons of stores and surf shops to rent your boards and get lessens. It's really hard to surf out on the beach though because the waves are insane! It's definitely a good workout. It took us about 1.5hr drove though! But still worth it. One thing I recommend doing in Costa Rica is the zip lining. You have to do this once in your life -- and Costa Rica is the place to do it. Just one tip, wear old clothes when you go because the grease from the lines will spray all over your face and clothes. We didn't get to see the volcano though because it was too cloudy - which is always the case in Monteverde. I also did a sailboat excursion which I would also recommend. It was so fun snorkeling in the cove and we even got to see a whale! I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. If you want to see pics of the resort, I got tons of them and my friend's co-worker got married at this resort, so I could ask her for any info if you want. Just PM me. Hope this helps with your decision. Cheers!

[Dmitri_Markine]

Beaches in Tamarindo were a little better. Or just get married around the Volcano if you want something REALLY cool.

[Ask.CostaRica]

carleyanne,

 

Make sure Liquid checks that there will be no other weddings at Cala Luna Point that day. Coordinators usually respect this if the place has a wedding going on. We have had two incidents where two weddings were taking place at the same time after it had been announced that the point was "reserved"

[carleyanne]

Thanks Ask.Costa Rica.  I sent an email to Liquid Weddings to ask that they check again that the beach is reserved for us.  How are the beaches reserved in CR?  That would not be a good start to a wedding.

 

Do you have any recommendations for good musicians? We are looking for bongo drums or calypso for the ceremony then something more upbeat and danceable for a portion of the reception.  Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Ask.CostaRica]

carleyanne,

 

Reserving is a just professional etiquette, all coordinators know each other and they just make a phone call to each other. Liquid I'm sure has a list of musicians that are in the area. Double check with them, don't want to step on their toes.

[jaye118]

Hey Carleyanne,

 

I'm looking at getting married in Tamarindo and also looking at using Liquid Wedding versus another wedding planner.  Would you mind telling me how it went?  I can't tell which one of the wedding planners are better.

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

 

[lolomontreal]

Hi,

 

We just got back from our wedding in Langosta at the Cala Luna point and used Liquid Wedding as our planner. We have been going to Costa Rica for the past 4 years and the Cala Luna point was for us the best spot on the beach to get married, it is stunning. We had rented a big villa for the close friends (Casa las Tortugas) which was amazing! Our reception was at the Langosta Beach Club that has a beautiful layout and great food - the only thing is that their wine is expensive, so we bought wine at Automercado and paid the 10$ corking fee.

 

As for Liquid Wedding, I have mixed feelings. Even tough the wedding was better than anything we imagined, dealing with Laura was hard. First thing you have to be aware, is that the fee she is charging is her minimum, she will get other payouts here and there. She'll suggest that you use the most expansive flower shop, renting chairs/lights ect from San Jose (which makes no sense), she will make you pay for the supper the night of for herself, her assistant, the photograph, the photograph assistant, the DJ (even if only herself ate). The worst for us is that the day after, she came to our villa and requested yet another pay out for a damage on the speaker (?!). I do not know how the other planners are, but if I had to do it again I would not use Laura.

 

Second is that she is a bit arrogant. During the rehersal, my in-laws were asking about when people needed to start walking, how to know how long between each person. She basically said that they did not need to know because she was going to be there and cue them. Of course, during the day of the wedding, she was with me and no one was there to cue the wedding party when to start walking. They figured it out! Small example, but she just had to explain..

 

My husband and I loved our wedding in Costa Rica. Congratulations to all of you and enjoy it!

[yumii28]

A lot of great info here. We're getting married at the Riu in Guanacaste.  I'm having second thoughts.....