costa rica day one scouting

After returning from my family vacation in Mexico I unpacked and repacked to head out to a dream destination of mine- Herradura Costa Rica. Now I have been to Costa Rica before for a vacation and I loved it, all of it- from the scary crazy zip lines to the laid back and friendly nature of pretty much everybody in the country. It was beyond amazing. So to go back for a photo shoot was something that I didn’t even know was a dream for me until I was smack in the middle of it!

So like our New Orleans shoot we had a dream team assembled- of all CT Wedding Vendors. Yes. I realize how lucky we are. I know that not everyone in the wedding world can pack up and take their show on the road- and I am thankful for it every single day!!

You better believe it!

So the usual suspects are:

my girl, my homie, the Wizard to my Oz- Candice Coppola of Jubilee Events

our bff and fashionista- Beth Chapman of the White Dress by the Shore

our floral creative genius Tony of Datura

the beauty stylings of our good friend and uber talented DD Nickel

to document it all and laugh with us the whole time? The crazy talented Mike and Erica of Buzz Media

Our gracious and amazing hosts from- stayincostarica.com– put us up in one of their amazing properties- Casa de Suenos- and was it!!! If the Real World went to Costa Rica, they would be put up in this place, it is that cool! After getting settled in (which included a traditional Costa Rican meal prepared by our amazing chef Jose) we made a plan of attack for our shoots.

Hi Mr. Chapman. Nice shirt!!

the super talented Jose, making his list

So one of the most fun parts of my job was scoping out the locations for our shoot with Candice, Tony and Mike. (in addition to my crew, because you all know how deep I roll! I can’t do anything alone!!!)

We hit up Playa Hermosa to see how that was. It is one of the best surfing beaches, and that is pretty much all you will see going on there- surfing, surfing and more surfing. No people sprawling around with coolers and radios and crap. Just world class surfers. Surfing!

Here is one of Costa Rica’s top surfers, Diego Naranjo, right before he goes out. He says a little prayer, and he is off.

Here I am with the blonde contingency of my crew: our Principal Photographer Erik Maziarz and our new Assistant Studio Manager Rebecca Hales. They are also clearly very entertaining as you can see by my expression.

Miss Rebecca Hales as caught by Mr. Greg Lewis- our studio editor and assistant to the stars!!

My new favorite picture of myself- doing what I love- by one of my favorite people, Greg Lewis

Yes. YES!!! That is indeed my Boda bag, filled with my gear, totally about to get smacked by a rogue Costa Rican wave! If not for my smooth cat-like skills it would surely have been a major problem!! Double fist pump for my man Greg Lewis for catching this

Another Greg Lewis snap of Mami workin it before I got smacked

Yes it is in fact a job requirement to figure out how to get my sunglasses out of my rat’s nest of hair! Thanks Rebecca for catching this stellar moment of me! Look at my shorts! Totally soaked! By the wave.

Our girl Diana- she works for Candice and is the bomb dot COM

Mike Cyr of Buzz Media during one of our recon missions- grabbing some scene setter shots. Tough job, huh.

Rebecca caught this of our groom for the shoot Alejandro

My favorite recon session was at Alejandro’s surf shop to pick out the surf boards that we would use in our shoot! Totally amazing, legit, crazy cool.You bet your sweet cheeks I went back there to shoot!!

BLOOP!!!!

Our location for our second day of shooting: SECURED!!!

and only Candice would be rocking a Louis bag and J Crew sandals in the Costa Rican rainforest!

Tony scopin’ out the situation!!

Stay tuned for more to come from this crazy trip!!!!