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Chelsea and Oscar's Tropical Beach Wedding

4/23/2015

I love this first photo. If you follow my blog you have probably noticed that I love taking back-lit photos. They are just so magical to me. I love how they portray something different than what the eye sees. To me this photo is especially magical. Just like Oscar and Chelsea's wedding day.

Oscar is Tico, or more formally known as Costa Rican. Chelsea is from Wisconsin and has been living here in Costa Rica for the past 4 years. I don't blame her for escaping from the cold to this beautiful country! Oscar and Chelsea's day was magical because both of their families, from two totally different places and with totally different backgrounds and cultures were together today celebrating a wonderful thing.

They chose Alma del Pacifico as their wedding venue, which is a beautiful hotel located on the Esterillos beach. The hotel itself is painted with bold colors and has tropical gardens scattered throughout the property. It is really a beautiful place for a beach wedding.

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Chelsea and Oscar opted to do a first look. They wanted their guests to be as cool and comfortable as possible, which means having the ceremony as close to sun down as possible. Chelsea was brimming with excitement as she approached Oscar.

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The ceremony was held on a grassy area of the hotels property, front and center with the beautiful and expansive beach. One great thing about this location is that the beach is very quiet. There are no people wandering through the background during the ceremony, or uninvited guests watching the show.

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Chelsea and Oscar had wish lanterns for all of their guests to do as a closing to the reception. Unfortunately this was happening after my end time, so I had just the couple set off one lantern for photos. It was extremely windy and the lantern wouldn't fill right, even if it had taken off it would have been dangerous.

The couple had a beautiful outdoor reception. Perfect for a Costa Rican summer night.

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Photography: Yours Truly
Venue: Alma del Pacifico
Wedding Planners: Katherine Gamboa and Fernando Alfaro
Officiant: Fernando Alfaro
Cake: Mariposa Pastry
DJ: DJ Castro
Flowers: Alma Del Pacifico

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Kourtney + Jacob's Windy Nuptials at the Westin Conchal

4/16/2015

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Kourtney, Jacob and their close friends and family traveled from Colorado to the Westin Conchal in Guanacaste to celebrate their lives becoming one. The Westin is a beautiful all inclusive resort situated on Playa Conchal. Guanacaste is known to be breezy, but this particular day was full of gusty breezes, keeping everyone nice and cool.

I started the afternoon out with Kourtney and her bridesmaids getting ready. They were a fun and talkative group.

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I was also able to go over to Jacob's room to catch him getting ready. The rings were with him, and the couples custom made gold balls were the perfect prop for the ring shot.

The ceremony setup was simple yet beautiful. Not much was needed with the beautiful Pacific in the background.

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The reception was held outdoors under the stars. The twinkle lights reflected beautifully in the nearby pool and created a soft atmosphere for the evening.

Jacob's brother performed for the couples first dance, I can only imagine how touching this must have been for the couple and their parents. I know tears were shed by the onlooking guests as Kourtney and Jacob finished their first dance as husband and wife.

Photography: Yours Truly
Venue: Westin Conchal
Wedding Planner: Weddings Costa Rica
Hair and Makeup: Marisol Santana
Officiant: Ana Castro
DJ: Zach Schmidt
Flowers: Floristeria Cristal
Rentals: Cabo Luna Rentals
Cake: Victoria Zoch

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Chris + Edie's Romantic Waterfall Elopment

4/9/2015

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Edie and Chris decided to elope in Costa Rica at the beautiful La Paz Waterfall Gardens. They stayed at the Peace Lodge, which is the hotel at the gardens. It is high up in the mountains where the weather is a bit cooler and also quite misty. When I first arrived I thought it might rain, but luckily it didn't.

I would recommend to anyone visiting this country to try and include a trip to La Paz as part of their plans. It is truly a unique and unforgettable experience.

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The hotel's wedding and event planner, Melanie, was a huge help throughout the day. She stayed with us from getting ready to the very end of our portrait session.

Since it was a car ride and a short hike away to the ceremony, the couple decided to have an intimate first look at the hotel's lake. I could sense they were both a little nervous, not so much to get married, but just to see each other. From the first look we all traveled together to the ceremony location.

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La Paz Waterfall Gardens has an amazing system of pathways and staircases all built into the side of the mountain. One amazing thing I learned while there was that in the process of building these walkways they did not cut down a single tree. I was very impressed by this.

The ceremony setup was perfect.Tropical flowers adorned the railways of a private gazebo overlooking the majestic waterfall.

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After the ceremony we continued to hike further into the park. I kept stopping the couple every few feet for a photo, it was just too beautiful not to take photos!

Chris is just one of those guys that does not like to smile for photos. I think I started doing a little dance to try and get him to laugh for this photo, it worked and came out great!

Just before the last light of day we headed to the park's hummingbird garden. This was my favorite part of the day. Hummingbirds buzzed by your head, as if they would run into you, but they never did. You could feel the wind from their wings as they flew by. Melanie put some food of the birds in Edie's bouquet and they began to swarm around the couple. Amazing. Afterwards I held the food in my hand, and held it very close to my face. A bird came and hovered right in front of me, it's wings actually hitting my hand at some points. It was so awesome to experience.

Chris is very into snakes, having owned a few himself. The park allowed them to hold a boa for a few photos. Edie played along to make her husband happy.

Photography: Yours Truly
Venue: La Paz Waterfall Gardens
Wedding Planner: Melanie Marsell
Officiant: Marcelo Galli
Flowers: Peace Lodge Hotel
Hair and Makeup: Arama Salon

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Sarah + Gabe's Beautiful Wedding at La Mansion, Manuel Antonio

4/9/2015

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Sarah and Gabe chose the beautiful hotel La Mansion to have their wedding. Family and friends flew in from all over to join in celebrating this couples marriage to one another. The ceremony took place on the hotels roof top terrace overlooking the national park. Guests enjoyed a cocktail hour immedietly after, while myself and the couple headed to the beach for photos.

Afterwards a beautiful reception was held in a tented area of the hotel.

I started the day with the bride getting ready. She was with her sister and her mom and was calm and excited for the day.

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I headed next door to the groom's room to get some photos of him getting ready. Around the date of Sarah and Gabe's wedding there was a volcano near the airport that was showing signs of activity and spewing large ash clouds. Because of this the airport was having many delays and cancellations. At this point the grooms father had still not arrived. As you can imagine this added an extra layer of stress to the groom, but all ended well as his father made it just minutes before the ceremony started.

I headed back to Sarah's room to have her get dressed. Her dress was beautiful with many buttons closing up the back. One of the button's popped off, but these ladies were prepared and didn't skip a beat.

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The ceremony setup was beautiful, full of tropical colors. It was the perfect setup for a Costa Rica wedding.

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After the ceremony we jumped in a taxi and rushed down to the beach. Just in time to catch the setting sun.

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The newlyweds joined their guests for the end of the cocktail hour while I photographed the beautiful reception setup. I love how the accent lights in the back created a wonderful ambiance in the room.

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Later in the evening it started to down pour. The tent walls were quickly lower and the party continued.

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Photography: Yours Truly
Venue: La Mansion Inn
Hair and Makeup: Monica Mosapor
Flowers: Floresteria Quepos
Cake: Mariposa Pastry
DJ: DJ Memo Gutierrez
Officiant: Family friend

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Mellany + Niek's Beach-Side Wedding, Manuel Antonio

4/7/2015

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Mellany and Niek wanted to have a small, intimate wedding. They wanted to celebrate this most special moment in their lives among family and close friends. They traveled from the Netherlands all the way to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica to do this. They rented a large vacation villa called Casa de las brisas. This villa is perfect for wedding parties as their is enough space to have the reception at the villa.

The day started with Niek and his parents who were helping him prepare before the wedding. I love the color of his suit and shoes, something a little different than the normal sandy tones of beach weddings.

One of the really wonderful things about getting married in a villa or vacation home is that everything is within close proximity. For me it makes things so much easier, as I am able to pop back and fourth between the bride and groom's room as needed. I am also easily able to photograph beautiful daytime details of the reception area since it is all together in the same building.

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The girls were all about having a little fun before the ceremony started.

Niek and Mellany decided to do a private first look before the ceremony. They sent all of their guests off to the beach in a shuttle and as soon as the house was empty they saw each other.

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The ceremony was held on the Manuel Antonio Beach, under the shade of the palms.

Mellany did a second first look with her father before he walked her down the aisle, it was a very touching moment for the both of them.

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The couple had a cake cutting and champagne toast on the beach before starting their family portraits. It was nice for everyone to immediately have something sweet to celebrate their marriage.

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The wedding group headed back to the house where they were met with a beautifully illuminated intimate dinner.

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For their first dance Mellany and Niek performed a Forro, which is a traditional Brazilian dance.

Photography: Yours Truly
Venue: Casa de las Brisas
Wedding Planner: Oasis Destination Weddings
Hair and Makeup: Priscilla Solano
Officiant: Ana Castro
Flowers: Floresteria Quepos
Cake: Mariposa Pastry
Rentals: Eventos Boadicea
Guitarist: Alvin Urbina
Caterer: Escape Villas, Chef Marcos

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Chelsea and Oscar's Tropical Beach Wedding

Kourtney + Jacob's Windy Nuptials at the Westin Conchal

Chris + Edie's Romantic Waterfall Elopment

Sarah + Gabe's Beautiful Wedding at La Mansion, Manuel Antonio

Mellany + Niek's Beach-Side Wedding, Manuel Antonio

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