Planning a Multi-Day Wedding Weekend in Puerto Rico
Welcome night to farewell brunch — the whole weekend, documented.
A destination wedding is rarely a single day. When your guests have flown to an island to celebrate with you, the weekend becomes the event — and the wedding day is its centerpiece, not its entirety. Planning, and documenting, the whole arc is what turns a wedding into a weekend people never forget.
The welcome night
The first gathering sets the tone. A welcome party — relaxed, warm, often the first time everyone is in one place — carries some of the weekend’s best, least-guarded moments. It’s also where the nerves of the wedding day haven’t arrived yet, which tends to make for wonderful, candid coverage.
The wedding day
The centerpiece deserves the fullest plan and the fullest coverage: getting ready, the ceremony, portraits in the best light, the celebration. With both photo and film working from one timeline, the day is documented completely without ever feeling crowded.
The farewell brunch
The morning after has a quality all its own — softer, slower, full of gratitude and goodbyes. A farewell brunch or day-after gathering closes the weekend, and even light coverage of it captures a side of the celebration the wedding day is too busy to hold.
Pre + post wedding events – showcasing the best of the island
Outside of the welcome party and the recovery brunch, it is not unlikely that there will be friends and family that make Puerto Rico into their own vacation as well. Our recommendation? Take this opportunity to continue the festivities for a weeklong wedding celebration and whoever can make it, comes! Puerto Rico has a ton of beautiful places to explore and if you’re keeping home base in Rincón, then you’re in a great area for a lot of different activities – without burning everyone out. After all, the most important thing is that your guests have fun, both sides of the families become united in one through the week, and everyone has enough energy to make the wedding night an all out blast.
A few recommendations for things to do for wedding week:
- La Parguera – On the south west corner of Puerto Rico sits a small coastal town that has the perfect bright baby blue ocean – and it’s the Carribean ocean (unlike Rincón which gets the Atlantic Ocean), meaning it is a nice warm tranquil water. La Parguera is a series of little mangrove islands that boats take you out to for a fun day in the sun snorkeling, boating, and lounging – or turn it into a later afternoon boat ride that transitions to sunset and bio bay adventures. My top recommendation if you go the bio bay route: check the moon cycles because the less moon light, the better visibility. Our top vendor for boating in La Parguera is Hook’d on Adventure – we used them for our own wedding week of fun!
- Gozalandia Waterfalls – An hour north of Rincón in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico sits Gozalandia Waterfalls. An easy to get to series of waterfalls that has become very popular over recent years. It’s well manicured so people can easily get to and from the waterfalls, and the top waterfall has a rope swing to jump into the cool waters from. Keep in mind, you do not want to be here in the event of a rainstorm and pro tip: get there early to beat the rush!
- Westside Cave Tubing – Another favorite excursion to do when we have friends in town. About 2 hours north of Rincón in Arecibo is the longest river in Puerto Rico. The group of guys that started Westside Cave Tubing have perfected the adventure from zip lining over a cave to cave tubing through it and hiking back up it. Keep in mind that in the rainy season it’s more of an adventure, and in the dry season, it’s more of a lazy river. This is not an excursion that is suitable for people with limited mobility.
- A sunset sail with Katarina Sails – Local to Rincón, Katarina Sails is a sail boat that you can rent and sail during sunset (it does come with a crew). It’s an easy thing to do as you take in the best sunset with drinks and appetizers.
- Fishing with Fathom Charters – Also local to Rincón, Fathom Charters has a beautiful boat and all of the equipment you could need to take your closest friends and family out to go fishing. Beware, the fish out here are huge! Pro tip: Take it to Caddy’s Calypso after and ask the chef to cook the fish for you.
Documenting the whole arc
When coverage spans the weekend rather than a single day, the story you’re left with has a beginning, middle, and end — the way the weekend actually felt. We help couples decide where extended coverage is worth it and where it isn’t, so the investment lands where it matters most. I know for me personally, I thought we would have photography covered because I had disposable film cameras and polaroids everywhere, but in the end – I really regretted not hiring the professional to come along for the week. Thankfully we did hire the videographers to be with us for the whole thing – so we do have that!
If you’re planning a wedding weekend in Puerto Rico, we’d love to help you think through the whole arc — and document the moments beyond the wedding day that you’ll be glad you kept. In the end, the only thing you have left from the experience, is photo and video.
Get in contact with us for your free wedding consultation today.
Interested in seeing what a wedding week looks like on film? Check out Alyssa + Ocean’s wedding week on film, shot and edited by Ghost Edits.
