Wedding Planners are your friends

Once Mr. Pancakes and I decided that we didn't want a resort wedding it became clear that we would need a wedding planner. I think there are a lot of reasons to get a wedding planner:

1. if you can't/don't want to plan
2. if you don't know the area where you are getting married
3. if you don't know the language of the area where you are getting married
4. if you don't have a people to help you in the planning process
5. if you can afford one

In our case, I think all five apply. While I want to do a lot of the planning, I just don't have time to deal with all the logistics. By that I mean, I will be completing two degrees, moving 4 times across two continents and planning a wedding in a third... I just can't expect to have time to enjoy wedding planning while trying to navigate vendor in a foreign country. Also I don't know that much about Manuel Antonio and I wouldn't know the first thing about planning a villa wedding. Plus I don't speak a word of Spanish. Ultimately I think I'll just get ripped off left and right if I try to plan a wedding in Costa Rica without Spanish.

After a lot of searching I found a list of different wedding planners in Costa Rica who specialize in destination weddings. I thought it was really important to work with someone who is use to working with long distance brides, and could hopefully handle my perfectionist streak. Ultimately, I settled on a planner at Weddings Costa Rica. There is still A LOT to figure out but she seems amazing. By that I mean, she responded promptly to my email, included a clear list of her services, clearly explained the wedding planning process, and provided specific examples to illustrate her points. All these things make a type-A (former teacher) bride happy. :D

These are some images from her portfolio.



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At the end of the day, what we want is an intimate, wedding with a lot of DIY details and personal touches. I think that having a wedding planner who knows the area and speaks the language will make this possible.

Are you using a planner, DOC or are you going it alone?