Annie and Jon | A Wedding at Hacienda Pinilla Palapas
Annie and Jon
Annie and Jon got married at the Palapas venue at Hacienda Pinilla on a warm May evening, and it was one of those weddings where the story of the people is what you end up thinking about afterward.
Annie is from Kazakhstan and Jon is from England — they live in Houston now — and they wove a lot of Annie’s traditions into the day. Her mother tied their hands together with a table runner during the ceremony — a Kazakh tradition that I hadn’t seen before and was really moving to watch. During the reception there was a ribbon bouquet — different colored ribbons all tied to one bouquet, and the guests danced around it while Jon cut the ribbons one by one. The last person holding a ribbon would be the next one to get married, which is their version of the bouquet toss. The guests loved it.
But the moment I keep thinking about is the speeches. When Annie was young she worked as an au pair for a family in the States. Years later she went to college, started her own business, built her own life — and she’s still close with that family. The father of that family was the emcee at her wedding. He gave a speech that had the whole room in tears. You could see how much he meant to her, and how much she meant to them. That kind of thing doesn’t happen at every wedding.
The setting at Palapas is always great for exactly this kind of day. The ceremony, family portraits, couple portraits on the beach, and the reception all happen in the same place — nobody is shuttling guests from one location to another. By the time dinner started and the string lights came on, everyone was already relaxed and in the same mood. The sky was a little cloudy that evening so we didn’t get the dramatic sunset colors Guanacaste is known for, but the light kept getting better as the sun dropped, and we got some really nice photographs on the beach during the couple session.
Annie and Jon, thank you for having me there. It was a privilege to photograph a day with that much meaning in it.
If you’re planning a wedding at Hacienda Pinilla, you can read my full guide to the venue here. For a broader look at weddings in the area, the Guanacaste wedding photographer guide covers how I think about this part of Costa Rica and what makes it work so well for destination weddings.
If you’re in the early stages of planning a wedding in Costa Rica, that guide covers everything from legal requirements to timing and what to expect.
Check out my Guide to the Best Wedding Venues in Costa Rica
Costa Rica is home to an incredible variety of wedding venues, offering couples the perfect setting to celebrate their love. Whether you dream of a romantic beachfront ceremony, a luxurious private villa, or a secluded rainforest retreat, there are options to match every wedding style.
