2 People 1 Life: Wedding Number 17 in Costa Rica

It’s time to jet off round the world again, After Hawaii on Monday, Oman on Tuesday, today we are off to Costa Rica! It’s wedding number 17 of Lisa and Alex from 2 people 1 life  . For those regulars to the Blog you will know that they have been traveling round the world in an Epic 2 year journey getting married in every country they Visit. If you have missed any of the previous weddings you can catch up HERE, HERE , HERE and HERE.

Wedding number 17 sees them reach Costa Rica and they have not one but two wedding photographers! These stunning photos are courtesy of Kevin Heslin and Christina Craft . I’m sure you will agree the setting of this crashed Fairchild C-123 is an amazing location for any wedding! and perfect for wedding 17! The two photographers styles mix well together and Lisa and Alex are certainly spoilt when it comes to picking which ones to add to their wedding album!

I’ll let Lisa tell you more about the day……….

As always we left things like flowers and getting ready until the last-minute. When will we learn? We rushed around looking for hair styling products and a florist an hour before we were due to arrive at El Avion for our 17th wedding.

We found the florists and luckily the lady was both helpful and fast and she whipped us up a small bouquet and a buttonhole in no time at all. We snotted up our hair, pulled on our (thankfully ironed in Alex’s case) clothes and I put a bit of make up on and we were ready to go.
Adrenalin coursed through our veins as we ran to the crashed Fairchild C-123 and the usual nerves kicked in. My palms started to sweat and shake and Alex gets this nervous look on his face that is just so sweet! We met our photographers for the day at the front of the aircraft…yes you read right…PhotographerS! It may seem we are getting a little greedy but it was a real treat to have 2 fantastic photographers along to shoot our 17th unusual wedding! Kevin Heslin is one of the foremost wedding and travel photographers in the Manuel Antonio area. He is a genius with lighting and as we arrived he was rigging up some serious kit to capture the correct light within the dark hub of the aircraft.
Christina Craft was also spending the day with us, she is currently ranked 8th in the world with the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers and we were thrilled to have her along to take some images for us after the sun had gone down!

Isabella was there to greet us too and before we got too nervous our officiate arrived. Kezirah was great fun and put us at ease straight away and had us laughing and joking all the way through the ceremony.She started by welcoming us to Costa Rica…
“Before we begin, I want to let you know how delighted I am that you have chosen my beautiful country for this most special ceremony and I sincerely hope that the beauty, warmth and peace of this land remains with you long afterwards and throughout your marriage”

We didn’t even notice Kevin or Christina but they must have been running around the aeroplane taking snaps of us grinning at each other like lunatics!
I loved that Kezirah talked of the very reason we are doing this trip, the reason being to embrace the one culture and tradition that the whole world shares…marriage.
“…your ceremony today marks a new beginning for you – but also the continuation of humankind’s most honored and celebrated ceremony. Since the dawn of civilization, people have fallen in love and married. Though the customs and words have differed from age to age, land to land, they all spoke the language of love. Love, the most noble of emotions, the state every human strives for..”

The whole ceremony was beautiful, we couldn’t stop smiling and I could smell the rose petals scattered around our feet, the coloured lights inside the aircraft created a strange scene all around us and the whole thing was surreally perfect.
We kissed to seal the deal and were immediately handed flutes of champagne to toast our 17th marriage!

Once we had finished giggling we had some more pictures taken in the aircraft and then went over the the Costa Verde hotel for the best sunset views in Manuel Antonio. A few guests from the hotel threw some petals for a confetti shot as the sky turned a dark indigo and the stars started to twinkle above us. The view from the poolside at Costa Verde was just breathtaking and we had to tear ourselves away to head over to the bat cave for our ‘reception’ drinks.

The bat cave is a great little bar which is actually a cave! To get in you have to practically crawl through the spooky little arched door and once inside the colourful lights cast an eerie glow and I saw Christina’s eyes light up when we arrived. Christina loves to take and is fantastic at night time shots. When the twinkling lights come out, the chandeliers sparkle and when your faces are all aglow with dancing, drinking and merriement Christina catches it all.  We propped ourselves up at the end of the bar and made each other laugh while Christina did her thing. We barely noticed she was there we were so wrapped up in each other. We ordered drinks the second the bar opened and cameras away we settled into our gin and tonics, beers and cocktails and laughed the night away.

We ate like Kings at a great little restaurant and never wanted the day (or the food) to end, we had such a wonderful day as you can see from the amazing images. We have made some great new friends, spent time in one of the worlds most beautiful countries and had a fantastic wedding ceremony in an old crashed plane shrouded in mystery and legend! Only in Costa Rica!

The two Photographers involved

Kevin Heslin
www.kevinheslinphoto.com
http://blog.kevinheslinphoto.com
[email protected]
FACEBOOK
I am a Boston native who has been living in the Manuel Antonio area for the past eight years. While in the states I worked for various studios in Boston, as well as for wedding photography studios in Long Island, NY.  My approach is a mix of traditional wedding photography with a healthy touch of photojournalism.  The day of the wedding I will be there to make sure everything runs smoothly and that the stage is set to capture the best images possible.  Likewise, I will recognize the candid times to just hang back and capture those genuine moments.

Christina Craft, FunkyTown Photography
Location: Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica & Vancouver, Canada
www.funkytownphotography.com
www.funkytownphotography.com/blog
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
Christina has placed three times in the top 10 with the prestigious International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers and  was recently ranked second place overall with the Professional Wedding Photographers of Canada. She has also won several other high-profile international awards from Kodak, the Wedding Photojournalist Association, Fearless, WedComp and the AGWPJA. Christina has a master’s degree in journalism and a diploma in photography from the Western Academy of Photography. She teaches wedding photography workshops across North America. Christina enjoys shooting in a range of styles, including funky, artsy, photojournalism or high fashion.

To follow Lisa and Alex’s journey go to – http://2people1life.com/blog/