We Tied the Knot in Costa Rica

My wife and I finally tied the knot in the most beautiful, eco-friendly place we could think of: Costa Rica. In fact, we married deep in the jungle in the northwestern portion of Costa Rica at a place appropriately called Tierras Enamoradas (Lands In Love). Sounds romantic, right? Well, it was to some degree. The tough part for a Virgo like me was letting the whole thing unfold with almost no planning. Let me explain. My wife had been dreaming for sometime of getting married in a beautiful place far away from our home in Texas. She initially wanted to do a destination beach wedding, but she eventually decided that beach weddings are too common and not exciting enough.

So we purchased our tickets to Costa Rica not knowing the location of where the wedding would be held, without contacting a particular Officiant to conduct the ceremony, without securing a photographer to document the ceremony or really any of the elements needed for a wedding. We just showed up in a foreign country with an idea, some wedding rings and a wedding dress. That’s what drove me crazy! I tend to be a little more of a planner. I like to know what is going to happen in the future, preferably with details to avoid any missteps. And I would recommend that to any person who plans to marry in a foreign country. But, as luck would have it, everything worked out. Let me tell you how…

My wife and I had begun an erratic, desperate search for the perfect wedding site (with a large, beautiful waterfall) almost as soon as we landed in Costa Rica. Ultimately we landed in La Fortuna feeling hopeless about our search. We took a cab to the well known Catarata La Fortuna but my wife was not satisfied with the lack of information available at the front office or the steep hike to the waterfall so a cab driver we found told us that he knew of a waterfall outside of town toward San Ramon at a place called Tierras Enamoradas. Forty minutes later with our patience running razor thin, we arrived. Although the hike down to the Tierras Enamoradas waterfall was probably just as difficult as the other waterfall, we liked the quiet, remote feeling we found at Tierras Enamoradas.

On our ride to Tierras Enamoradas my wife asked the cab driver if he knew any photographers. He said he did and after a quick phone call he said he had secured a photographer for us at a reasonable price. I must admit that I was reluctant (ok, I was mortified) to believe that our photographer would be of a high caliber. Being a professional wedding photographer myself, I was conjuring ideas in my mind of a local villager arriving with a disposable camera to take photos and then either never receiving the images or the images coming out looking terrible. However, fate smiled upon us and our photographer was great! And two hours after our arrival at Tierras Enamoradas we were married!

The ceremony was quiet and emotional. We were in the middle of the jungle, next to a waterfall, far away from civilization so there was definitely a spiritual element to the event that one might not find in many other places. My brother, my sister, my wife’s best friend, my wife, me and the photographer were the only people present for the ceremony. After some photos by the waterfall, my wife and I moved into the pool underneath the water fall and said our handwritten vows to each other amid the sounds of crashing water and the subtle jungle silence. Time stood still - almost.

Martin Whitton is a professional wedding photojournalist who lives and works in Austin, Texas. He photographs dozens of weddings each year and is a member of Wedding & Portrait Photographers International. Email him your questions at martin@mwwphoto.com. See additional photos from his destination wedding here: http://www.mwwphoto.com/family