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Morgan and Will shared a passion for travel and wanted to treat their friends and family by taking them to Costa Rica for their destination wedding.  Guests filled every villa at Hotel Villa Caletas and the wedding ceremony and reception was held at the beautiful Zephyr Palace.

The rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception was a blend of the natural and exotic elements of Costa Rica with a touch of the glitz and glamour from “The Great Gatsby”.  At the rehearsal dinner, each table had bunches of bananas painted gold, green coconuts, pink ginger and dark green Tiger Paw leaves, and wooden table numbers in 3-D also painted in gold to match. Pink and green (inspired by The Beverly Hills hotel in Los Angeles) were chosen to highlight the palm leaves and the gorgeous pink flowers of Costa Rica.  They also added subtle hints of 1920’s fun with the gold dipped feathers, a speakeasy (rum and cigar lounge below the reception) and flowers inspired by The Great Gatsby movie. Matching the theme, Morgan wore a jaw dropping beaded art deco dress from Les Habitudes.

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For the ceremony, they went with a soft, simple and romantic look , using pale pink and white flowers in large, silver “1920’s esque” vases, light pink rose petals lining the aisles, red petals in the cones for tossing, and fan-shaped, pale pink programs with various shades of green/pink ribbon streamers. Since their ceremony took place at 4pm, the hottest time of day, their wedding planner, Larissa Banting, brought beautiful parasols to help keep the guests cool and to add a punch of color.

Compared to the soft and romantic ceremony, the reception was amped up with colors and design to “bring the jungle inside.”  The walkway leading up to the Palace was lined with palm leaves and they were also used for their table arrangements. Fairy lights were strung up on the ceiling to create an intimate setting. To add a personal touch, Morgan hand painted each place card with a sunset of pink watercolors.

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Guests danced all night to music lead by Dj Chris Carter, whom Morgan and Will brought with them from Los Angeles.  After the reception there was a carnival with dancers and drummers, a fireworks show and a giant pool party where Morgan jumped into the pool with her wedding dress!  Fortunately she had bought a second party dress for the reception.

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Morgan says her favorite part of the wedding planning process was both creating their save the date on Greenvelope and designing the invitations with Ceci New York.  For their save the date, they wanted to go green and chose Greenvelope because it allowed them to upload their own personalized template and had features that allowed them to include all their wedding details.  Morgan says, “Plus it saved me a lot of time by keeping all of our RSVP’s and guest info organized. Life saver!”

Watch a video of their wedding on vimeo.

Thank you Morgan and Will for sharing your gorgeous story with us!

Photos courtesy of A Brit & A Blonde Photography