Planning wedding in CR Feb 2014, need help and input!

[mmcdaniel]

Hi all!

My fiancé and I are planning a wedding February 2014 in Costa Rica.  I’ve been doing a lot of research and was planning on doing in the Jaco area, due to easy access for guests from the airport.  I’ve been reading a lot of negative reviews regarding the Jaco area.  I am going to go down to CR in a week and check out venues in the area and Villa Caletas is on the list to see.  I have been speaking with wedding planner Marika in Costa Rica and am meeting her next week down there.  I could not find a lot of reviews on her, so hoping she is good.  I spoke with her on the phone and liked that she answered by questions directly and did not avoid questions regarding costs of vendors, wedding, etc as another wedding planner I spoke with did.  Her price on her website states $750 upon signing and $250 on wedding day.  This seemed like a reasonable price compared to other planner reviews I have seen.  Does anyone have any input on her as a planner? 

After reading negative reviews on Jaco, have started researching Manuel Antonio (been there before), Montezuma, and Tamarindo area.  I am becoming overwhelmed with all the choices.  If anyone has a good recommendation for hotel that was priced well somewhere else in CR and had ceremony there or close by would love to hear.  We want the hotel we stay at to be on the beach but the ceremony does not have to be on the beach, good views are nice too.

I am looking to have a wedding with 50-80 people and want to get reasonable prices for the vendors.   I was quoted by one planner that an open bar for my guests would be $12000!! I had heard of places charging corking fee, so I plan on getting that route instead as would be much cheaper. 

If we do decide to have the wedding in Jaco area, I want to find a nice hotel, (not huge resort) that is outside Jaco area for my guests at a reasonable mid-range price.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Does anyone have info on how much they spent on their wedding in Costa Rica, so I have something to compare to?

Suggestions on reasonably priced vendors: music, photography, flowers, Catering for dinner?

Places for dinner rehearsal in Jaco maybe on beach?

Any input of advice on anything would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[XPansano]

Hi, 

I am a costarrican, but have been living in the US for 11 years, my husband and I had just a court ceremony and I’m excited as we are planning to renew our vows of course in Costa Rica.  We had all planned for our renewal for last January 3rd, 2013 at a beautiful place call the Ylang Ylang in Montezuma, this place is just incredible, they will do everything for you and the selection is pretty good, I would suggest you check their website.  As per your guest they have a brother hotel that is less expensive that the Ylang Ylang, I was even able to rent little cabanas called “Casita de colors†or there is plenty of hotels in Montezuma Downtown.  This is a small village in the Pacific, transportation can be tricky, so I had made reservations with a person that had a van and it was not that expensive.  I believe the hotel grounds are exceptional for a natural beach wedding. (just my personal preference).  Unfortunately we had to cancel all of this, because my grandfather pass away!

 

Now, about Jaco, Jaco is a city with a lot of activities, it is very crowded with a lot of young people and people that would like the party scene until the weeee hours.  You will see a little bit of everything there, I personally wouldn’t recommend a wedding there, plus the beach is not that nice, is black sand.  As Im planning to re-consider my renewal of vows in Costa Rica, Villa Caletas is my best option, it is a beautiful place, I haven’t contact them, but my sister that lives in the same province of Puntarenas where Villa Caletas is located has recommended this place over and over again.  One of the pro’s is location, is only like an 45 minutes away from the airport and I don’t think the hotel rooms are too expensive.

 

I hope my comments are helpful to you and that you have a wonderful wedding in Costa Rica.

[mmcdaniel]

Thanks for the reply. I decided on getting married at Pacifico beach club in Playas del Coco.

Hopefully everything works out!  Any input on Playas del coco would be great!

[HellenV0]

Pacifico Beach Club is where we had our wedding reception last year, really nice venue.  Playas Del Coco could get vey busy during the weekends and the beach way too crowded. The beach itself is a stretch of gray brown sand set inside a horseshoe-shaped bay. If you want to party with friends before the wedding, there are only a few options for nightlife in Playas Del Coco. There are two bars in the center of town that offer loud dance music till 3am. Lizard Lounge and Zi Lounge are the two open air bars opposite each other on the main road through downtown, about 100 meters from the beach at the junction of the road to the Las Palmas residential community. Sometimes there will suddenly be disturbance on the street and the crowd gathers round to watch two guys have a fight. But surprisingly, very often it’s two women fighting hahaha! The police are pretty laid back. They usually have a presence there but they don’t seem to do too much, although occasionally they will arrest someone for drug dealing. I would suggest going to the bars around 9pm and to be safe you might want to be out of there by 1am.

[HellenV0]

Hi there! Pacifico is where we held our wedding reception very nice place! Few tips about Coco. Just follow big-city safety rules.

The first step is not attracting attention to yourself.

Leave all jewelry at home.

Don't carry expensive electronics with you ie ipad, laptop, camera etc.

Don't leave anything unattended on the beach

Never leave anything in your car. NEVER lol

Only use proper taxis (Red cars with yellow triangle on the doors)

Just like you wouldn't walk down the dark alley at home don't it there

Only carry the cash you need for the outing. I hardly have more that $50 (25,000 colones) on me at any giving time, often much less, most places accept credit cards so you yours as primary form of payment.

Make sure to put any valuables you may have in the room safebox. Finally just enjoy Playas del Coco is a great place.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Hellen

[Jelbm1324]

Hi all!

My fiancé and I are planning a wedding February 2014 in Costa Rica.  I’ve been doing a lot of research and was planning on doing in the Jaco area, due to easy access for guests from the airport.  I’ve been reading a lot of negative reviews regarding the Jaco area.  I am going to go down to CR in a week and check out venues in the area and Villa Caletas is on the list to see.  I have been speaking with wedding planner Marika in Costa Rica and am meeting her next week down there.  I could not find a lot of reviews on her, so hoping she is good.  I spoke with her on the phone and liked that she answered by questions directly and did not avoid questions regarding costs of vendors, wedding, etc as another wedding planner I spoke with did.  Her price on her website states $750 upon signing and $250 on wedding day.  This seemed like a reasonable price compared to other planner reviews I have seen.  Does anyone have any input on her as a planner? 

After reading negative reviews on Jaco, have started researching Manuel Antonio (been there before), Montezuma, and Tamarindo area.  I am becoming overwhelmed with all the choices.  If anyone has a good recommendation for hotel that was priced well somewhere else in CR and had ceremony there or close by would love to hear.  We want the hotel we stay at to be on the beach but the ceremony does not have to be on the beach, good views are nice too.

I am looking to have a wedding with 50-80 people and want to get reasonable prices for the vendors.   I was quoted by one planner that an open bar for my guests would be $12000!! I had heard of places charging corking fee, so I plan on getting that route instead as would be much cheaper. 

If we do decide to have the wedding in Jaco area, I want to find a nice hotel, (not huge resort) that is outside Jaco area for my guests at a reasonable mid-range price.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Does anyone have info on how much they spent on their wedding in Costa Rica, so I have something to compare to?

Suggestions on reasonably priced vendors: music, photography, flowers, Catering for dinner?

Places for dinner rehearsal in Jaco maybe on beach?

Any input of advice on anything would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!

Hello! I honestly felt like I was reading my own post while reading this and thought I might have forgotten writing it entirely! Total ditto to your post. How did Marika turn out for you and what were reasons why you did not get married in Tamarindo? We are planning our wedding for Dec 2015. Any advice will be much appreciated!