How to plan a wedding or elopement in Santa Teresa, Mal Pais and Montezuma: eight venues from Nantipa and Pranamar to Tango Mar, Ylang Ylang and Blue Mist, what foreigners need to marry legally in Costa Rica, planners and photographers, budget bands, the best months, and how to get your guests here by ferry.
A wedding in Santa Teresa is a barefoot beach ceremony with a Costa Rican notary, two witnesses and apostilled paperwork, and it costs from about $3,000 for an elopement to $25,000 to $45,000 for a 40-guest villa weekend. Hotel Nantipa is the top venue in town; Tango Mar and Ylang Ylang handle bigger groups.
The short version
Santa Teresa suits couples who want a relaxed, design-led, surf-and-sunset weekend, and it punishes couples who want a ballroom, a late DJ and easy logistics. There are no big resorts; the venues are boutique hotels, beach clubs, restaurants and private villas, most of which quote custom proposals. The legal side is simpler than in most countries: no residency requirement, a civil ceremony performed by a notary public who is also a lawyer, two adult witnesses, and documents apostilled and translated into Spanish in advance. Dry season, December to April, is the wedding season, with the peak from 15 December to 5 January when vendor prices can double.
Three venues to shortlist first: Hotel Nantipa for a beachfront hotel wedding in Santa Teresa itself, Tango Mar near Tambor for 46 rooms, a golf course and a spring-fed pool, and Ylang Ylang in Montezuma for a full-service package for up to 80 guests with a planner included. Then decide on a villa if your party wants to sleep together.
Hotel Nantipa
Hotel Nantipa is the beachfront boutique hotel on the main road in central Santa Teresa, a Small Luxury Hotels member with bungalows, private villas, an outdoor pool, the Numu Wellness Center spa, and Manzú, its open-kitchen restaurant on the sand. Wedding planners who work the region describe Nantipa as barefoot luxury on the beach, best for elopements, micro weddings, private dinners and wedding weekends shaped by the town rather than a schedule. Capacity and pricing are by custom proposal; expect a small ceremony on the beach in front of the hotel, a dinner at Manzú, and a room block for the party. Rated 4.4 from 341 reviews as a hotel. The caveat: it is on a public beach, so passers-by and dogs are part of the scene, and the hotel does not host large receptions.
Pranamar Villas
Pranamar Villas is the Bali-style beachfront yoga hotel at the Playa Hermosa end of Santa Teresa, with an oceanfront yoga shala, villas set around a pool, and the Sunset Tiki Bar that is open to the public every night. It is the venue for a wellness-led wedding: a morning yoga class for the guests, a ceremony on the sand or in the shala, and a small reception under the palms. Ask for a proposal; capacity is limited by the villas, which is what makes it good for a 20 to 40 person buyout and wrong for anything bigger. The wider Hermosa beach is quieter than Carmen, which matters for a ceremony. Our sunset spots guide covers the bar.
Tango Mar Beachfront Boutique Hotel and Villas
Tango Mar is on Playa Quizales near Tambor, about 45 minutes from Santa Teresa and 20 from the Paquera ferry, with 46 rooms, suites and villas, a gourmet restaurant, a seaside bar, a spa, a 9-hole executive golf course and a spring-fed pool on a private stretch of beach. It has a weddings department and offers a full array of services to the couple and their guests, and it is the only venue on this list with enough rooms to house a 60 to 90 person wedding on site. Rated 4.6 from 533 reviews. Contact: +506 2683-0001 or WhatsApp +506 8814-3389. The caveat: it is a resort in a way nothing in Santa Teresa is, so if your guests want the surf-town feel they will need a car, and the beach faces the gulf, so the sun sets behind the land.
Ylang Ylang Beach Resort, Montezuma
Ylang Ylang Beach Resort is the beachfront resort 700 m north of Montezuma village, reached on foot along the beach, with bungalows, a pool, a spa, and breakfast and dinner included in every rate. Its wedding program is the most complete on the peninsula: customised weddings for up to 80 people with two ceremony locations (beach or garden), a personal wedding planner and a day-of coordinator, menus for rehearsal and reception dinners, cake, bar, flowers, entertainment, recommended photographers, and group transport arranged from anywhere in Costa Rica. Ceremony dates are available from 15 April to 15 December, which rules out the peak dry season and keeps prices sane. A press release put its elopement True Love package at $2,345 including an English-speaking lawyer and legal fees; confirm the current figure. Rated 4.7 from 224 reviews. The caveat: Montezuma is 40 minutes from Santa Teresa, and the beach in front is not a swimming beach.
Blue Mist Hotel and Beach Club
Blue Mist is a boutique hotel and beach club at Playa Hermosa de Santa Teresa with beachfront, poolside and wellness spaces, and it promotes an elopement-style option for the couple and a few guests as well as relaxed micro weddings with the beach-club atmosphere. Rated 4.8 from 232 reviews. One thing to know before you email: the restaurant and bar close for staff holidays in September and October, so a green season date needs to be checked against that closure. Pricing is by proposal.
OCiO Villas, formerly Casa Chameleon Mal Pais
Casa Chameleon at Mal Pais, the adults-only hillside hotel, now trades as OCiO Villas by Casa Chameleon: ten private pool villas overlooking the Pacific above Mal Pais, with an events team for intimate celebrations, plus OCiO Estate, a two-villa property higher on the hill that sleeps 14 and hosts events of up to 60. The minimum age at Casa Chameleon events is 12. Its sister property publishes wedding packages for 20 to 30 guests with ceremony setup, a three-course dinner, cake, couples massage and spa credit, and the Mal Pais team quotes to match. Rooms start around $350 a night. It has no listing on Onda yet; reach it through casachameleonhotels.com. The caveat: 4x4 access only, and no children.
Playa de los Artistas, Montezuma
Playa de los Artistas is the Italian seafood restaurant on the sand just south of Montezuma, opposite Hotel Los Mangos, with tables under the trees and driftwood lanterns at night. It is a reception venue rather than a ceremony venue: rent it for a dinner of 20 to 40 after a beach ceremony nearby. Regular hours are lunch only, noon to 4pm, closed Mondays, which is why evening events are by arrangement. Rated 4.7 from 396 reviews. Restaurants in Costa Rica usually work on a minimum food-and-drink spend rather than a venue fee, which makes them the cheapest way to feed a party.
Manzú and the Santa Teresa restaurants
Manzú at Nantipa, open 7am to 10pm on the beach, is the natural rehearsal-dinner or reception room for a Santa Teresa wedding, and it can be booked with or without a room block. For catering in a rented villa, Aroma runs a private-chef service alongside its restaurant, and Chef Jona Vecino cooks for villa groups in Playa Carmen. Plan on $60 to $120 a head for a plated dinner with wine from a good local chef, before the 13% tax and 10% service.
The legal requirements for foreigners
Foreigners can marry in Costa Rica without residency and without a waiting period. The ceremony must be performed by a Costa Rican notary public (a licensed lawyer), a judge at the Civil Registry, or a Catholic priest for a religious wedding. For the civil ceremony you need: valid passports for both of you; birth certificates; proof of single status (a certificate of no impediment, a divorce decree or a death certificate where relevant); a sworn affidavit of civil status prepared by the notary; and two adult witnesses with passports or cédulas who are not blood relatives. Every foreign document must be apostilled in your home country and translated into Spanish by an official translator, which the notary usually arranges at $40 to $100 per document. The notary files the marriage deed with the Civil Registry, and your certificate follows, which can itself be apostilled for use at home. Legal-only costs run about $500 to $1,200, and a bilingual notary in Santa Teresa or Cobano handles most weddings on this coast. Many couples do the legal part at home and a symbolic ceremony here, which removes the paperwork entirely.
Planners, photographers and the rest
Santa Teresa has weddings almost every day in dry season, so the vendor bench is deep: caterers, florists who source from the nurseries in Cobano, fire dancers and aerial silk performers, DJs, and English-speaking officiants. A local planner is the difference between a smooth day and a week of WhatsApp in Spanish. Ylang Ylang and Tango Mar include one; for everything else, ask your venue for its list, because the good planners here work by referral. For photographers, several who shoot surf and lifestyle here also shoot weddings, including the lifestyle photographers at Flytographer from $325 for 30 minutes; our surf photography guide lists who is active. Budget $2,500 to $5,000 for a full-day wedding photographer, and add travel fees if you bring one from San José or Guanacaste.
Budget bands
| Wedding | Guests | What you get | 2026 budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elopement | 2 to 6 | Notary, beach ceremony, dinner at Manzú or Playa de los Artistas, photographer | $3,000 to $8,000 |
| Micro wedding | 10 to 20 | Ceremony at Nantipa, Pranamar or Blue Mist, dinner, flowers, planner | $10,000 to $20,000 |
| Villa weekend | 20 to 40 | Villa buyout for 3 to 5 nights with events on site, chef, DJ, transport | $25,000 to $45,000 |
| Resort wedding | 40 to 80 | Tango Mar or Ylang Ylang with rooms, coordinator, catering | $30,000 to $60,000 |
A $20,000 to $25,000 villa rental sounds like a shock until you do the maths: it includes three to five nights of accommodation for 20 to 30 guests and replaces the venue fee, so per room-night it competes with a hotel. Add 13% tax to almost every line, a generator for a villa party in green season, and vendor travel for anyone coming from outside the peninsula.
Best months and guest logistics
December to April is dry, sunny and windy in the afternoons, with the Pacific sunset at about 5:45pm. It is also the expensive season, and the fortnight over Christmas and New Year doubles prices. May, June, September, October and November are the green-season bargain months with afternoon rain, and a 4pm ceremony usually dodges it; Ylang Ylang only takes weddings 15 April to 15 December, which tells you the Montezuma side considers the rain manageable. July and August are a dry spell inside the green season and a good compromise. The best time to visit guide has the monthly detail.
Guests reach Santa Teresa by the Paquera or Tambor ferry from Puntarenas with a shuttle or rental car, about five hours from San José, or by the 30-minute flight to Tambor or Cobano. Block-book a shuttle company for the ferry crossing, warn guests that the last stretch is dirt road, and put them in a cluster of villas or a single hotel; the beachfront hotels and where to stay guides map the options. Book rooms six to nine months ahead for a dry season date.
FAQ
Can foreigners legally get married in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica?
Yes. There is no residency requirement. A Costa Rican notary public performs the civil ceremony with two adult witnesses, using apostilled and Spanish-translated passports, birth certificates and proof of single status. Legal costs run about $500 to $1,200 and the marriage is registered with the Civil Registry.
What is the best wedding venue in Santa Teresa?
Hotel Nantipa for a small beachfront wedding in town, Pranamar Villas for a yoga-led weekend at Playa Hermosa, and Blue Mist for a beach-club elopement. For 40 to 80 guests with rooms on site, Tango Mar near Tambor or Ylang Ylang in Montezuma, both about 45 minutes away.
How much does a wedding in Santa Teresa cost?
From about $3,000 for an elopement with a notary, dinner and photographer, $10,000 to $20,000 for a micro wedding of 10 to 20, and $25,000 to $45,000 for a villa weekend of 20 to 40 guests. Add 13% tax and a 10% service charge on food and drink.
When is the best time of year for a Santa Teresa wedding?
December to April for guaranteed sun, at peak prices. July and August for the mid-year dry spell, and May, June or November for green-season rates with afternoon showers that a 4pm ceremony usually avoids. Avoid 15 December to 5 January unless budget is no object.
Do I need a wedding planner in Santa Teresa?
For anything beyond an elopement, yes. Vendors work by WhatsApp in Spanish, flowers come raw from nurseries in Cobano and need arranging, and the road logistics for guests take local knowledge. Ylang Ylang and Tango Mar include a planner; the boutique venues will refer one.
How do wedding guests get to Santa Teresa?
By shuttle or rental car from San José via the Puntarenas to Paquera ferry (about five hours), or by a 30-minute domestic flight to Tambor or Cobano and a 45-minute transfer. Book shuttles for the whole group and house guests in one hotel or a cluster of villas.
Browse every hotel, villa and beachfront property in one place at the /directory/stay hub.
