Wedding Inspiration

Additional Flower Options For Your Costa Rica Wedding

Estilo Costa Rica — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:35:02 +0000

Previously, we explained that certain flowers were not available here in Costa Rica, but we gave some alternative options. Now we're back with more options for your floral needs:

We've got mums, lilies, snapdragons, and of course some gorgeous tropicals. They come in additional colors too, so the sky is the limit. Hopefully these get your creative juices flowing for flower selection!

Flowers of Costa Rica

Estilo Costa Rica — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:11:25 +0000

Just as certain flowers are only available during certain seasons in other countries, here in Costa Rica we have certain flowers that are unfortunately never available, such as peonies, anemones, rannunculus, and lily of the valley. Not to worry! There are still plenty of gorgeous flowers to choose from: Orchids, roses, hydrangea, bird of paradise, ginger, calla lilies, daisies, as well as others.

Whether you want an all white wedding, or a wedding with bright tropicals, we can find the right combination to make beautiful bouquets, boutennieres, corsages, and centerpieces.

E-Save the Dates

Estilo Costa Rica — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:37:22 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we posted about destination wedding paper goods. We always encourage formal paper invitations, but we understand that sometimes there isn't adequate time to send out paper save the dates, and we wanted to recommend a site for E-Save the Dates.

Pingg.com makes a great selection of E-vites for any occasion, including Save the Dates. In addition to choosing from the designs on the site, you can upload custom photos or artwork to really personalize your Save The Dates.

Pingg allows you to import contacts from Gmail, Outlook, and others. You can track when your E-vite was opened, if anyone has forwarded your E-vite, RSVPs, and more. Pingg can also send out reminders to those that haven't replied, and then remind those that are attending of the upcoming event. It lets you keep track of "yes" "no" and "no reply" RSVPs so you always have an accurate headcount.

It really is an innovative way of sending E-STDs. Check it out!

A Second Dress

Estilo Costa Rica — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:38:34 +0000

Many wedding gowns now are elaborately embellished, made of heavy fabric, and have super long trains. By all means, destination brides should be able to wear whatever dress they choose; however, changing into a dress after the ceremony and photos that is easy to move around in, that won't get torn up by the sand, and that will help them keep cool is a great idea for destination brides. This could mean a short dress, or it could just mean a more lightweight dress with no train.

Top left: White House Black Market, Bottom left: J. Crew, Center: BHLDN, Top right: The Dessy Group, Bottom right: BCBGMAXAZRIA

You could also consider switching from heels to flats for more comfort and mobility, so if you go that route, make sure your second dress is altered accordingly!

Destination Wedding Paper Goods

Estilo Costa Rica — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:38:33 +0000

When destination weddings are concerned, informing your guests of all the details is of the utmost importance. Guests need to know when to take off of work, where they can stay, and any events you might have for them before or after the wedding, so save the dates with plenty of information followed by detailed invitations are a must.

The Bride's Cafe

paperculture

My Personal Artist

Inviting Desgin Studio

Minted

Also, don't forget, Weddings Costa Rica is the exclusive distributor of William Arthur and Vera Wang fine papers in Costa Rica via Papeles Deluxe. If you're looking for invitations, save the dates, menus, seating cards, or any other wedding stationary, please check out Papeles Deluxe.

Ceremony Set Up Inspiration

Estilo Costa Rica — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:57:10 +0000

Here's some inspiration for your ceremony set up, whether it's on the beach, somewhere overlooking the ocean, or some other fabulous tropical location. Choose elements that draw the eye up the aisle, to the focal point of the ceremony-you!, and provide a beautiful backdrop for photos.

photo via Style Me Pretty

Weddings Costa Rica

photo via Ruffled

Weddings Costa Rica

photos via Grey Likes Weddings

Weddings Costa Rica

Real Costa Rica Wedding-Dustin and Terri, Santa Teresa

Estilo Costa Rica — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:11:05 +0000

Dustin and Terri may have only met less then a year ago - but to be around them you would swear that two people could not go together any better. They both hail from sunny Florida but chose Santa Teresa, Costa Rica (AKA the best beach in all of Central and South America) as the romantic backdrop for their elopement.

Although both Dustin and Terri have kids from previous marriages, and friends and family who undoubtedly wanted to be there - they were focused right from the start to make it about the two of them. They wanted to forego the show, or any obligatory large scale celebration. They wanted to tune out all the distractions of the world and enjoy each other.

Terri came up with the whole vision of what she wanted her big day to be and in a role reversal that I think should become a new trend - it was Dustin's gift to her that he took the reigns of the planning over to make sure she got exactly what she wanted and brought her ideas to life. One of the big items on Terri's wish list - was she wanted a bed brought out onto the beach with beautiful white fabric flowing in the wind. One of the more decadent things in life is when you are on vacation and you order up top notch room service and eat in a gorgeous, fluffy, comfy, high thread count bed. Now imagine, how spectacular that becomes when you transport that bed onto one of the worlds best beaches and have your first meal as husband and wife.

Dustin pulled out all the stops and truly created a paradise fairytale: tiki torches, gorgeous flowing fabric on the bed posts, a bonfire, a secluded part of the beach. Dustin created sand pails with their names on them - so they could build sand castles together and feel like kids again.

Technically, they had gotten married in Florida before arriving in Costa Rica - so that they could simply read out their own vows to each other, under a lovely little canopy overlooking the ocean - without any officiant. Their vows were truly from the heart and had us - the photographers weeping behind our cameras the whole time.

When Dustin told me that he was going to have a bed brought out on the beach, our minds started going overtime - we wanted to create a really iconic image. We decided to do a modern take on the John Lennon and Yoko Ono shot on the bed while they each hold up a flower. I think that shot is so timeless and have always love it.

The wooden ampersand that you see in some of the shots - is something that we created - and we bring to our weddings, we have a bunch of different ones - it is representative of our branding, our love for all sorts of ampersands and is perfect for so many fun photo ops with couples.

The next morning, we all woke up bright and early and did a trash the dress/day after shoot to capture some of that spectacular morning light. Terri's beautiful wedding dress was made by Galina and was a soft white Sweetheart organza down. It was the perfect style choice and material for the beach. Casual but classy - since she was guaranteed to end up in the ocean at some point with it! Dustin - who was in the military and is a graphic designer opted for American classic designers - his shirt was from Calvin Klein and pants from Perry Ellis.

Story perspective and photos by: A Brit & A Blonde-Jessica and Jason Hill

Beach Wedding Footwear

Estilo Costa Rica — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 22:22:36 +0000

There are a myriad of beautiful bridal shoes out there, but when you're getting married on the beach, your options become slightly less abundant. While it is possible to wear heels on the beach, it is not easy, and when a big part of the day is walking down the aisle, you want to make sure that you can actually walk.

There are plenty of gorgeous sandals to choose from as wedding footwear, and if you absolutely must have some height, there are some wedge options that can work too.

Right to left, from top: Dolce vita shoes, Jessica Simpson flat heels, Betsey Johnson Slides, ALDO summer shoes,
2 Lips Too t strap heels, Volatile platform heels

The best part is, you can still wear your gorgeous heels or closed toed flats at the reception, assuming it's not on the beach as well. Two pairs of wedding shoes? What's not to love?

Signature Cocktail Idea-Pura Vida

Estilo Costa Rica — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:32:30 +0000

Many couples are opting to serve a signature cocktail at their wedding receptions as another way to personalize their day. If there's not already a favorite bevarage in mind, we'd suggest a local favorite for a destination wedding in Costa Rica: a Pura Vida cocktail.

image via Style Me Pretty

Pura Vida, which means ''pure life'', is a tico phrase that can be used as a greeting, to express satisfaction, or really almost anytime.

To make this cocktail, try this receipe from Cacique Guaro:

1 shot Cacique Guaro (try two)

Add orange juice over ice and just enough Grenadine to give your drink a pale red color.

Guaro is a liquor made from sugar cane that could be compared to vodka, but is a little more smooth. Cacique Guaro is the original guaro made right here in Costa Rica.

Wedding Wish Lanterns

Estilo Costa Rica — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:17:37 +0000

Typically at the end of most wedding celebrations, there is a ''send off'' where the guests all line up outside the venue and shower the bride and groom with rose petals or lavendar, or maybe they wave sparklers or wedding wands as the couple walks through to their transportation to be taken off to where they will spend their wedding night. At a destination wedding, sometimes this is the case (and sometimes the rose petals or the like will occur at the end of the ceremony instead), but often times the newlyweds are staying on-site at a boutique hotel so they don't necessarily need to leave or be ''sent off''.

A neat alternative to this is to end the reception by releasing Wish Lanterns into the sky. These lanterns have been traditionally released during Asian cultural celebrations, but they are now readily available to be used during any sort of celebration. Many times during these traditional celebrations, wishes were written on the lanterns before they were released, giving them their common name. Disney recently fetured them in their movie Tangled! When lit and floating through the sky, they look like miniature glowing hot air balloons.

photo via Wish Lantern dot com

Wish lanterns are 99% bio-degradable, safe, and nonflammable. There are of course some restrictions on where these can be used and that is up to the diescretion of the venue, however many locations near or on the beach (of which we have plenty in Costa Rica!) are perfect places to launch wish lanterns.

photo via Pife Master

What an unforgettable end to your evening, and how special would it be if each of the guests wrote well wishes for the newlyweds on the lanterns!