costa rica baby!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of travelling to Herradura, Costa Rica with a talented group of individuals to shoot for a Costa Rican organization called stay in costa rica.com. Stay in costa rica does things right and put us up in gorgeous home set on the property of Los Suenos Resort.

Our entourage included photographer, Carla Teneyck and several of her assistants, event planner, Candice Dowling of Event Jubilee and her assistant Diana, make up artist extraordinaire, DD Nickel, filmmaker Mike Cyr of Buzz Media and his wife Erica and floral designer and artist, Tony Pameri of Datura a modern garden.

Casa de suenos- our home for the week. A house of dreams it was!

My husband Mark and I, as taken by the talented Carla TenEyck. My husband made an excellent assistant!

Day 1 of shooting:

DD beautifying our model Michelle

We headed to a local black sand beach to shoot on Day 1. The contrast of the black sand and the wedding gown was incredible!

Candice and Tony created a beautiful and casual table scape on the beach overlooking the location of a mock ceremony complete with a calypso band!

Primping Michelle for the 'wedding'.

Tony wrapping posts in leaves for the mock ceremony

Candice putting the finishing touches on the table

Carla's photographers capturing the beauty and whimsy of the table

Mike Cyr working hard in the heat

As beautiful as the black sand beach was, it wreaked havoc on the gown! Being that Costa Rica is a rain forest, it started to rain at the end of the shoot. It basically felt like a trash the dress shoot! Thank goodness, the miracle makers Madame Paulette, offered to clean the gown for us after the shoot!

The mad dash to take cover from the rain!

A nice relaxing dinner after the shoot, created by our personal chef, Jose

Day 2 of shooting:

The second day we shot in the rain forest. Candice, Tony and Carla scouted an amazing location! Tony and Candice worked their magic and created a stunning table scape in the river under a bridge. The setting was completely unique and breathtaking.

After frolicking in the river, we headed up to a private residence set in a cliff with sweeping views of the rain forest and the Pacific Ocean. Words can not describe the views!

Carla and Erick took some of the most incredible shots at sunset


This was the experience of a lifetime. As they say in Costa Rica, Pura Vida! I can't wait to go back!

xoxo, TWD