At a glance
A Costa Rica wedding for 20 to 50 guests is estimated at $25,000 to $45,000 for the wedding day; line by line, a 40-guest weekend totals $23,000 to $52,200, before guests' travel. Marry in the Pacific dry season, December to April, and pick the region first: Guanacaste for dry weather and resorts, Manuel Antonio for rainforest beside the beach, Arenal for a volcano backdrop. Visitors can marry legally before a Costa Rican notary with passports, a sworn statement and two adult witnesses.
- Estimated cost
- $25,000–45,000 day, up to $52,200 weekend
- Dry season
- December to April on the Pacific side
- Who can marry you
- Notary, Civil Registry or Catholic priest
- Airports
- Liberia (LIR) and San José (SJO)
What a wedding in Costa Rica costs
As a 2026 planning estimate in U.S. dollars, not a venue quote, a mid-range wedding in Costa Rica for 20 to 50 guests costs $25,000 to $45,000 for the wedding day, before welcome events and guests' travel. No figure here separates out tax or service charges, so ask every vendor whether a quote includes them. Luxury weddings at private villas or Peninsula Papagayo resorts run an estimated $75,000 to $150,000 and up.
Line by line, the estimate for 40 guests:
| Line | Estimate | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Venue and ceremony fee | $3,000 to $8,000 | Resort package or private venue |
| Catering and bar | $6,000 to $10,000 | 40 guests at the resort rate, $150 to $250 each; independent venues, $100 to $180 |
| Photography | $3,500 to $7,000 | Full-day package |
| Flowers and decor | $2,500 to $6,000 | Local flowers cost less than imported peonies |
| Planner and coordinator | $3,000 to $8,000 | Close to required without a resort package |
| Music | $1,500 to $4,000 | DJ and ceremony musicians; bands from around $3,500 |
| Officiant and legal fees | $500 to $1,200 | Legal ceremonies only |
| Wedding day total | $20,000 to $44,200 | The seven lines above |
| Welcome events, rehearsal dinner, farewell brunch | $3,000 to $8,000 | A full wedding weekend |
| Weekend total | $23,000 to $52,200 | Day plus weekend events |
The low totals sit under the $25,000 band because they assume the cheapest option on every line. Guests pay their own way on top: an estimated $400 to $800 per round-trip ticket from the U.S. in dry season, and $250 to $800 a night at wedding resorts. Green season, June through October, lowers prices by an estimated 20 to 40 percent.
Where to marry: the regions compared
Weddings in Costa Rica differ more by region than by venue, so choose the region first.
Guanacaste and the Papagayo Peninsula
The northwest Pacific coast is one of the driest and warmest parts of the country and has the largest concentration of resort venues, plus its own international airport at Liberia (LIR). Start with the venues in Guanacaste.
Tamarindo
Tamarindo is one of the tourism centers the national tourism board names for Guanacaste. Cala Luna Boutique Hotel, smaller and more design-led than the resorts, is here.
Nosara and Santa Teresa
These surf towns on the Nicoya Peninsula favor driftwood altars and small guest counts. The trade-off is a long, sometimes unpaved drive from Liberia.
Manuel Antonio
Rainforest meets a crescent of beach on the central Pacific coast. It is greener and slightly more humid than Guanacaste, with a shorter dry season: January to March, by the national weather service's count.
La Fortuna and Arenal
The inland choice trades the beach for volcano views, hot springs and waterfalls.
The Osa Peninsula
The far south is the wildest region: private eco-lodges, rainforest ceremonies and very small guest lists. It is expensive and logistically involved.
Best months: dry season and green season
Marry between December and April if you can. IMN, the national weather service, counts December to March as the Pacific-side dry period and April as a transition month. In its 1961 to 1990 baseline, only 4 percent of annual rain in the North Pacific region, which includes all of Guanacaste, fell in those four months.
| Months | Pacific-side weather | For a wedding |
|---|---|---|
| December to April | Dry; March is the driest and warmest month | Peak prices; venues book 12 to 18 months ahead |
| May and November | Rains arriving in May, easing in November | Lower prices; afternoon showers |
| June to August | Green season, with a drier spell in July and August | Lower prices; covered backup required |
| September and October | The rainiest months | Not recommended for a beach ceremony |
Pacific-side rain falls mostly in the afternoon and early evening, so hold a green-season ceremony earlier in the day, with a tent, covered pavilion or indoor room as backup. The Caribbean coast has no defined dry season.
Getting married in Costa Rica: the legal steps
Costa Rica has no residency requirement and no blood test. Under the Family Code, three officiants can make a marriage legal: a notary public, the Civil Registry or a Catholic priest. Judges, listed in older guides, are no longer named. Same-sex couples marry under the same rules, since the Constitutional Chamber struck down the clause that barred them.
Visitors use a notary, who in Costa Rica is a lawyer. The Civil Registry's ceremony is free, but its requirement sheet asks foreigners for an immigration-issued ID and apostilled birth and civil-status certificates, and gives an average of four to six months. With a notary:
- Bring documents. A valid passport each; you must both be at least 18. If either of you was married before, bring the divorce decree or death certificate, translated into Spanish and apostilled. A U.S. document is apostilled by the state or federal authority that issued it.
- Swear you are free to marry. A foreigner may prove this by any means the officiant accepts. In practice it is a sworn statement signed before the notary.
- Bring two adult witnesses. They swear you are free to marry and sign the record. The Family Code does not bar relatives, but the Notarial Code restricts relatives to the second degree from witnessing notarial documents, so choose friends or ask your notary first.
- Attend together. Marriage by proxy is not allowed.
- Sign. The marriage takes effect at the ceremony. You get a copy of the signed record, and the notary has eight days to send the file to the Civil Registry.
One formality to raise early: the Code provides for a published notice at least eight days before the ceremony, and lets the officiant waive it when your documents show no impediment. Ask your notary to confirm the waiver in writing.
To use the certificate at home, ask your notary when the registered copy will reach you, have it apostilled by Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ask the receiving office what translation it wants. In the United States, the State Department directs couples to their state Attorney General for guidance. For other countries, see legal requirements by country.
Marry legally at your local courthouse before you travel and hold a symbolic ceremony in Costa Rica, led by anyone you choose. That avoids any wait for registration before a name change, insurance or immigration filing.
Venues to know by region
A shortlist in region order; the full list is under venues in Costa Rica.
| Venue | Where | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Andaz Costa Rica Resort | Peninsula Papagayo | Luxury resort; hilltop, cove-beach and open-air pavilion ceremony sites; prices among the highest in the country |
| The Westin Reserva Conchal | Guanacaste | All-inclusive; beach or cliff-top terrace ceremonies |
| Secrets Papagayo and Dreams Las Mareas | Guanacaste | All-inclusive resorts with published wedding packages |
| Cala Luna Boutique Hotel | Tamarindo | Small and design-led; ceremonies at Cala Luna Point |
| Hacienda Pinilla | Santa Cruz, Guanacaste | Resort community with a historic colonial chapel, beach club and partner hotels |
| Pranamar Villas and Hotel Nantipa | Santa Teresa | Barefoot beach ceremonies, small guest counts |
| Nayara Tented Camp and Nayara Gardens | Near La Fortuna | Sister properties with volcano views |
| Lapa Rios Lodge | Osa Peninsula | Rainforest lodge, about 30 guests at most, often a full buyout |
What Costa Rica wedding packages include
All-inclusive resorts sell the ceremony as a package run by an in-house coordinator. At Secrets Papagayo and Dreams Las Mareas, packages are estimated to start around $3,000 to $6,000 before per-guest add-ons. Ask each resort:
- How many guests the base price covers, and the cost of each extra guest.
- Whether the ceremony is symbolic or legal. A resort coordinator cannot marry you; that takes a notary, at an estimated $500 to $1,200.
- Whether dinner and the bar are included or priced per guest, an estimated $150 to $250 at a resort.
- Where the ceremony moves if it rains.
Outside a resort, hire a local planner for vendors, paperwork, transport and the rain plan: find a destination wedding planner. A separate guide covers all-inclusive destination wedding packages.
WeddingWire's guide to Latin American wedding traditions lists the money dance, el baile del billete, for Costa Rica: guests pin money on the bride or groom for a turn on the dance floor.
Eloping in Costa Rica
An elopement for two with a photographer and no guests starts at an estimated $2,500 to $5,000. Treat that as a floor: crissorama, a Costa Rica wedding photographer, publishes $7,500 to $21,000 for elopements of 2 to 15 guests. A legal elopement still needs a notary and two adult witnesses, so ask your planner or notary to arrange them. Or marry legally at home and keep the Costa Rica ceremony symbolic.
Planning a Costa Rica destination wedding: 12 to 18 months
Give a Costa Rica destination wedding 12 to 18 months, because dry-season dates book that far ahead. Lock in the region, date and venue first, then the planner and photographer, and leave the marriage paperwork for the last one to three months. Shipping in flowers or rentals adds cost and customs risk. The country page covers Costa Rica as a wedding destination.
Timeline checklist, month by month
What to lock in, counting back from the wedding date.
Twelve to fifteen months out
3 items- ◆Choose the region, the date and the venue
- ◆Hire a local planner
- ◆Book your photographer
Nine to twelve months out
6 items- ◆Send save-the-dates
- ◆Book the room block
- ◆Book the florist, DJ, officiant and ceremony musicians
- ◆Book the rehearsal dinner venue
- ◆Set up a wedding website with flight recommendations, the airport to use (LIR or SJO) and transport details
- ◆Tell guests to pack for humidity: linen suits, lightweight dresses and sandals for a beach ceremony
Six to nine months out
3 items- ◆Start tastings, by video or in person on a planning trip
- ◆Settle the decor direction
- ◆Confirm guest transport between the airport, the hotel and the ceremony
Three to six months out
4 items- ◆Confirm room blocks
- ◆Order attire
- ◆Schedule hair and makeup trials that hold up in humidity, and an air-conditioned room to get ready in
- ◆Take a planning trip three to four months before the wedding
One to three months out
6 items- ◆Send invitations two to three months out, with replies due six to eight weeks before the wedding
- ◆Finalize the guest count for catering once replies are in
- ◆Make final vendor payments
- ◆Finish seating charts
- ◆Assemble welcome bags
- ◆Submit the marriage paperwork if you are marrying legally in Costa Rica
One month out
3 items- ◆Confirm flight arrivals
- ◆Coordinate welcome events
- ◆Finalize the timeline with your planner
Guest travel: airports, transfers and entry rules
- Airports. Liberia (LIR) for Guanacaste, Papagayo, Tamarindo, Nosara and the Nicoya Peninsula; San José (SJO) for Manuel Antonio, La Fortuna, the Caribbean coast and the Osa Peninsula. Tell guests which to book.
- Transfers. Even short distances can take two or three hours on winding roads. Arrange group shuttles and keep the welcome dinner off arrival day.
- Entry. U.S. citizens do not need a visa for tourist stays of up to 180 days, passports must be valid for the trip, and Costa Rica asks every tourist for a return or onward ticket.
- Yellow fever. No vaccination is required for guests arriving from the U.S., Canada or Europe. Guests arriving from a transmission-risk country, in parts of South America and Africa, need a certificate.