Lauren and Grant put so much care and love into planning their day and it was evidenced in every part of it. From the detailed emails Lauren sent out to their guests traveling to Costa Rica (complete with tips for packing, color-coded maps of Las Catalinas, travel advice, and more), to the coconut wall of real coconuts with their initials on them for guests to drink during the ceremony, to the sign with their last name on it that Grant had made to match the other directional signs in town, to the firework show Lauren surprised Grant with after their first dance—the thought that was put into their wedding day was incredible to witness and to photograph.

It’s hard to choose a favorite moment from the day but I think my top two were just wandering through the town and photographing them amidst all the colorful buildings and watching them and their families + friends jump into the pool after the last dance of the night might take the cake!

Scroll on to read the kindest (and possibly longest!? haha) review Lauren left for me, and to see the vendor team that brought the day to life.

“I don’t even know where to begin to describe how thankful we are to have had Marissa as our wedding (& engagement & legal ceremony & welcome party & post-wedding catamaran) photographer. So I’ll start short and straight to the point… SHE IS AMAZING AND UNBELIEVABLE AND YOU NEED TO BOOK HER FOR YOUR WEDDING, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

I’ve known Marissa since I was a kid, our parents are old friends… so when she started doing photography, I knew shortly after that I wanted her to photograph my future wedding (even before I was even dating my now husband).

When we got engaged last year; she was one of my first texts the next morning (at 6:30 am 😂) Fast forward to our wedding Feb 2023 and let’s just say she blew even our wildest dreams out of the water.

Marissa as a person is kind, fun, funny and caring. She makes any photography session fun and easy and carefree. Leading up to our wedding, she was extremely helpful with timeline prep and always willing to answer and all questions. On our wedding day (& the events surrounding) she was incredible (& such a joy to have around), helping with anything and everything we needed – holding our stuff, corralling our friends and family, dabbing our sweat in the 90 degree Costa Rican sun, making sure we were comfortable and/or asking if we need a quick break, helping communicate with our wedding planners, and of course taking the most amazing and priceless photos that will keep the memories of the whole day fresh for us for years to come. We had a firework show planned at our wedding and a catamaran cruise the next day and Marissa did extensive reading/research to make sure she could catch the moments perfectly and she did that x1,000,000!!

Marissa’s work speaks for itself but we could not be more thrilled with our photos. Her shooting and editing style is bright, clean and timeless. There are no photos we have received from her that are not AMAZING. Not to mention she had manyyyyyy sneak peaks texted to me THE NIGHT OF each of our events. Stop your photographer search right now and book Marissa!

I could go on and on but I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking….”

Vendor Team

Venue: Casa Chameleon Hotels

Planning: Dahianna by Susan Larae Events

Rentals & Lighting: South Ideas, Costa Mesa Event Rentals, Eventos Artesanos

Hair & Makeup: Famous Points Bridal Experts

Cake: Victoria Zoch

Photobooth: The Vogue Pose

Florals: Costa Brava Weddings

Music: Luis Chacón Saxofonista

DJ: Diego DJ Salas

Linens: BBJ La Tavola

Invitation Suite: Sweet Dates Prints