Real Wedding - Kristen & Rodney, Tamarindo Diria
Kristen and Rodney flew down from chilly Calgary to have a relaxed, beachside wedding at the Tamarindo Diria. To make the wedding uber personal, we wove in elements of their favourite hobbies. Actually, scratch that - these two are SERIOUS about what they do as their pastimes - Kristen has been ranked #2 in the USA for mountain biking and Rodney is climbing all the world's tallest mountains. Serious stuff. Hence, we brought in cute red bicycles that served as water and beer coolers while the letterpressed menus featured a mountain logo and each table was named after one of the five peaks next on Rodney's climbing list. Gracias to John Williamson for the photos!
The garden at the Tamarindo Diria was the perfect setting for this relaxed affair. The wedding canopy was a T-shape, with green bamboo poles topped with gauzy white fabric. Bamboo chairs with colourful fans sat under the expanse of the almond trees, in front of the crashing waves. Heavenly!
Amongst the 40+ guests were five children. We love making younger guests feel extra special at weddings so we created play pots for each child, complete with their names handstamped. Each pot was filled with age-appropriate toys, some fun dress up items (who can resist a princess crown?), colouring pages and handmade papier mache stick figures of Costa Rican folk legends, such as the 'duende' (elf) featured in this photo. Huge hit with the kids and parents alike.
Kristen and Rodney had a few surprises for the older guests as well - a trio of fire dancers entranced the crowd with their lithe movements and death-defying fire play (don't try this at home!).
The reception was at the thatched-roof Naxacola restaurant at the Diria, a cozy space overlooking the massive pool. We went for a colour-block look of red tones - red Chiaveri chairs, red runners, red napkins, red ink on the menus, red flowers and red glass votives. Paper lanterns and fairy lights strung overhead created an intimate atmosphere, along with the walls of votive candles (so romantic). The outdoor lounge we created was a favourite spot for guests to relax under the starry sky.
Huge congratulations to the new Mr & Mrs, we wish you every joy! What a blast it was working with you, Kristen - if you ever give up mountain biking, consider a career in comedy!