This wedding is one I will always remember. It was a beautiful, fun filled day celebrating our clients’ love at quite possibly, one of the places in Costa Rica with the most absolutely breathtaking views… but what will keep it vivid in my heart is how insanely windy it was. Why would this be etched into my memory you may ask? I think it is because it was the day I truly realized, after quite a few years in the wedding planning business, how absolutely necessary having a good wedding planner is (this was before COVID-19, which is true testament of how instrumental wedding planners can be when we are thrown a giant unexpected curveball in life).
March is not a traditionally windy month in Costa Rica. However, as we all know, the footprint of humans on Earth is causing some weird weather changes. It had been particularly windy in early March, but on the days leading up to this wedding, the winds died down. We were excited about it because we had plans for linens and a combination of tall and low floral pieces for this wedding. When we did our last walk though 4 days before the wedding, there were a few gusts of wind that made us rethink our plans. It was good that we did. I immediately got on the phone with our floral and rental teams and made quick changes: made sure all the floral pieces for the tables were low and heavy, and removed all linens (exchanging the linen covered tables for beautiful exposed wood). Quick thinking made all the difference, but I am one to say that I will always be rather safe than sorry.
On the wedding morning, everything seem calm… but around noon, the winds really, really, REALLY picked up. Despite having no linens and low floral we were not saved from the craziness. I mean, we had chairs in the pool and the wind was literally taking the water out of the pool and making it “rain” on the ceremony site, which was a good 80 feet away… We had to make the last minute decision to completely move the ceremony spot off to one side. So last minute that we were finishing up the move as guests started to arrive… Not ideal, but it was what needed to be done. Everyone on the floor pitched in, from the floral team to the bar caterer… everyone was helping make sure that everything got done in time and as smoothly as possible.
The winds kept up all night (which is even more unusual), breaking glass (gladly, we made the call to place the bar in an indoor space instead of where it was originally supposed to be based on our client approved floor plans), and making it a bit uncomfortable at times. As with anything weather related (and quite a few other things in life) it is not worth it to get upset over the things you cannot control, and everyone had quite a blast.
As we were fighting the wind that whole day, one thing came popping into my mind over and over again: what would our clients have done if they had decided to tackle their destination wedding on their own? What would they have done if their planner was inexperienced or was not quick on their feet or had lacking under pressure problem solving skills? One thing left to the wind (no pun intended) in a scenario such as this would have resulted in a not very fun or very happy day, with a lot of unnecessary stress.
In Spanish, there is a saying that says “Lo barato sale caro”, meaning “what is cheap ends up being expensive”. So many people thing that hiring the really good (which generally also means higher priced) wedding pros (in all categories, not just planning) is an unnecessary expense, or that they can save by using someone else. I can nearly guarantee it is really just the opposite. Surrounding yourself with great pros on your wedding day is going to end up being the best investment you ever made. I finally learned to understand this on a day where something completely out of our control could have ruined someone’s day if we had not been prepared to solve anything that comes our way.
{photo} Sylvia Guardia
{video} Destination Wedding Stories
{rentals} Costa Mesa Event Rentals
{catering} Catering Costa
{bar} El Bar CR
{DJ} DJ Guana
{ceremony music} Ricardo Fonseca
{hair} Famous Points Beauty
{makeup} Maravilla Makeup
{cake} Victoria Zoch
{coffee station} The Coffee Service
