Santa Teresa Intimate Beach Elopement Tess & Tom – Costa Rica Wedding Photographer

Tess and Tom eloped in Santa Teresa at sunrise during a full moon eclipse. Santa Teresa is a place really close to nature and has this bohemian, free spirit vibe to it, with a lush jungle, sandy beaches, the ocean, wild rock formations, and vivid wildlife. It’s the ideal place for an intimate wedding. They chose a secret place on the ocean to exchange their vows as the ocean is close to their hearts due to him being a pro surfer. To get to this hidden gem, they had to walk on a path through a palm forest that led into a tiny, private beach.

Every detail was carefully curated – they took care of everything and did an amazing job making their boho dream come true. Tess and their daughter Tigerlilly were wearing handmade flower crowns. They looked incredible! You can truly feel all the love, intimacy, and magic on that special day!

A magical full moon elopement on a Secret Costa Rican beach.

A few words from the bride:

Tom and I met in Mexico and traveled to Costa Rica a month later. It was new, heady, fresh love. We hadn’t returned since. We knew the lush jungle, wild lightning storms, mangoes, monkeys, butterflies and fireflies, and dreamy waves would take us back to the first bliss of falling for one another…..and it did. We made a baby in Portugal shortly after, and have been traveling the world on a momentum of love, life and madness ever since!

We wanted to elope at sunrise under the power of a full moon. It happened to be a super full flower moon on May 26th, so it was perfect. We later found out it was a lunar eclipse… so the first blood moon of its kind for over 40 years. The power and energy were incredible.

We wanted it to be natural, with the beauty and energy coming from nature. The Howler monkeys were our orchestra, the jungle and beach our cathedral, thunder and lightning were sound and lighting, rain our confetti, and behind the scenes, a full, eclipsed, blood moon the ultimate backdrop.

We wanted all the little details to have meaning, and we had been collecting different items for the 12 months prior which we had been carting around with us in two oversized suitcases while traveling the world. Some of these special elements included all our rose and clear quartz crystals which Tom placed in a sacred triangle on the shoreline and which we married inside of. Our daughter, Tiger held rings in an antique scallop shell holder, a gift from a friend, and she wore an anklet made solely from pieces of my engagement ring and both our wedding bands.

We had a breakfast celebration on our Morrocan rug and cushions, and Tiger played on our Morrocan wedding blanket (a gift from my sister and brother) on the beach whilst we read our vows. We had a feast of fresh tropical fruit, nuts, and raw cacao, including mangoes we picked the day before with Tigerlilly from trees covered with monkeys!  

We organized a local chef to make an amazing raw vegan tropical cake, which was just as delicious as it looked. We had natural muslin table cloth and placemats, and tropical shells from Hawaii. Handmade wooden plates made from mango and vintage torte shell champagne glasses and bucket. Our cutlery was from Indonesia and cake knife was made from local driftwood. We burned natural incense that forever will be the classical conditioning that takes us back to the feeling and memory of our wedding.

We didn’t want excess flowers but had flower crowns for Tiger and I made by a florist in New Zealand from dried and silk flowers which fresh roses were added to that morning. 

My favorite memory from the wedding was walking through the early morning magical jungle at sunrise with Tigerlilly. When we approached the clearing where the jungle meets the sand, and where Tom was waiting, all the monkeys started howling. It was surreal.

Makeup: Paula Benosa (Costa Rica)

Flower Crowns: On my Hand Florist (New Zealand)

Dress: Grace Loves

LaceCake: James Kelly (Costa Rica)

Photography: Kuba Okon Weddings