Jackie

The Caribe Cordial team are absolutely the BEST wedding planners in Cartagena and I absolutely recommend them, hands down!  They did such a phenomenal job with my wedding and the other days of events that I'll never stop thinking of them and being forever grateful.  Seriously, if you want to truly enjoy your wedding day and take it all in without any worries, hire them.  They have wedding planning down to a science and beautiful art.  It's been 8 months and people still can't stop talking about my wedding and asking me who did it (and trying to see if they will come to the US).  I'm Colombian-American and planned my entire wedding from Los Angeles.  I'd been to Cartagena a few times but I'd never been to my wedding venue until a few days before the wedding and it couldn't have been more perfect.  I'm a super type-A personality and those that know me truly appreciate how great Juan Camilo and his team must have been for me to take shots and dance the night away!  He made a destination wedding with 120 Americans and 20 Colombians as easy and wonderful as humanly possible.  Before I get too carried away with my praise, I'll start from the beginning:

1. I spoke with a few of the best-rated wedding planners in Cartagena.  I did like 1-2 others, but Juan Camilo stood apart from the rest.  I didn't want the traditional, cheesy roses and bling wedding and he was the only one that understood that.  Plus, he was hilarious and honest, which are both critical traits in this long process.  I also thought their prices were more than fair for all that they offer.

2. We communicated using either Watsapp, Skype or both.  He kept me on track and sent me updates on budget and who I'd paid on an excel spreadsheet that we shared the whole time.  He responded very quickly and let me know ahead of time if he'd be working on another wedding that would delay him a bit.  Note: Juan Camilo and Daniella are the main planners, along with an amazing team like Daniella, who was my little awesome sidekick the entire week of the wedding.  I speak Spanish fluently, so Juan Camilo was the one I worked with.  I think that Daniella would be paired with an only-English speaker.  I spoke to her a few times and crossed paths with her during the tastings and she seems just as fun and fantastic as Juan Camilo.  A bit of a digression but they are both avid animal lovers, have tons of rescue animals and help out a local animal shelter.  Just one of the many reasons I adore them.

3. The week of the wedding.  They were incredibly attentive and quite literally with me the whole time.  I truly missed them the weeks after my wedding-- it felt like losing a friend! I did this all from afar and had about 4 days of events, including the wedding, so it took A LOT of coordination.  Really, in just one long day (and a little of the next day) we tried and sampled everything and finalized the menu.  We began at around 8:30 am and by choice continued the fun until around 1 am! Juan Camilo and Daniella escorted me to every place, helped me buy whatever else I needed, sampled everything with me... truly above and beyond.  Also, I was a little stubborn and liked to do things my own way and pick my own vendors but I will say that a lesson learned is to trust Camilo.  He's been in the industry for a long time and knows everyone and takes pride in his weddings... he will not lead you astray!  I eventually learned to trust him and take his advice and it led to my perfect wedding.  We did everything from a welcome cocktail with an awesome money-saving yet really fun idea from him in a beautiful location, to an old town city tour, a traditional lunch in a historic building, a chiva party bus with live music and dinner at a moat wall restaurant with salsa dancers coming to entertain the guest, all BEFORE the wedding.  My guests had a blast and many of these places, food and drink were his suggestions.  To give you an idea of how amazing they are, here is just one example of what they did for me the week leading up to the wedding:  I was going with a Colombian amazon theme/ all-natural Colombian fruit and fauna.  We served a ceviche appetizer before dinner and it looked perfect in a halved coconut shell.  But the caterer didn't normally do this and only had a few of the coconut halves for serving.  Juan Camilo not only found someone to borrow some from, but even went to a local market and had the coconuts purchased, halved, cleaned out, etc.!

4. The actual wedding.  They have an entire team that day, complete with little ear pieces in their head that help magically keep the whole day running without a hitch! I'm still not sure how many people were working my wedding day from their team but there were many people watching the flow of events and my guests, ensuing everyone was happy and having fun.  Also, everyone also spoke good English, which was critical for my group of guests.  Colombia can be a bit overwhelming, especially for my poor gringo's family, but they quickly relaxed and had a blast once they realized what great hands they were in! The decor, food, ice cold shots, special dancers for the hora loca, EVERYTHING was exactly what I wanted.  They were like physic mind readers, anticipating my every request before I could even ask.  Most importantly, my husband and I loved every second of it and got to enjoy it all.  I think some people feel like the day goes by so fast.  Not us.  We loved every second of it and got to absorb it all, thanks to Caribe Cordial!!

As you can tell, I can't say enough positive things about Caribe Cordial.  I had the best wedding day ever and it never would have been possible without them.  You should absolutely, 100% use them for your Cartagena, Colombia wedding.