We couldn't have asked for a better wedding planner!
Our aim was to have a non-frilly/formal typical wedding and keep it as "rustic" looking as possible and we couldn't have done this without our amazing wedding planner, Juan Camilo from Caribe Cordial. We live in England so planning a wedding from overseas is extremely complicated unless you plan on going to Cartagena a few times to scope out venues and meet with vendors. We couldn't visit Cartagena before the wedding therefore we had to place all our trust in Caribe Cordial and it was worth it!
I liaised primarily with Juan Camilo who runs Caribe Cordial. I heard of him via Wedding Mapper. We met via Skype for an hour + regularly for a year leading up to the wedding. He’s a very busy guy planning various events but was never stressed out or short and was always very pleasant and friendly to speak with. He understood all our requirements, never pushed for things we didn’t want but did give his opinion on areas which he felt stronger about (based on his experience) and it turns out he was right.. so we were grateful for that!
He has great connections with vendors and works hard at getting you angood deal and is flexible to suit your budget. I did find that some wedding planners had an idea in mind and weren't very flexible with budgets or open to changing certain things if it wasn't how they thought a wedding "should" be like (which tended it be more formal frillier than what we wanted), so having someone as flexible, open-mined and understanding as Juan Camilo was great.
When we got there JC’s team did (in my opinion) take care of us and our guests over and above wedding planning responsibilities. He gave me a local cell phone to use, helped with airport transfers for my guests (although his staff didn’t speak English and my friends didn’t speak Spanish so communicated between them was a slight issue) and even helped us arrange accommodation for us and our guests who we relooking to travel to other parts of Colombia after the wedding.
Our photographer was always active and keen on getting the best shots, to the extent that he even jumped into the swimming pool with us during the reception so that he could get a better shot! He really did well at capturing great moments!