Chelsea and Rick Murphy – Testimonial

Lara,
My goal was to have my “Thank you” checklist completed by our first anniversary.  Here I am (three years and) two days to spare and I still don’t know how to put into words how much I appreciate everything you did for us.  But… here is my best attempt.

When we decided to have a destination wedding sometime during 2012 we literally pulled up a map of Central America, pointed at Belize, and thought, “Yup. Perfect.”  Unfortunately, there are VERY few resources for Belize weddings and even fewer for a group of nearly 40 people.  Luckily, the gods lead us to Lara!  From our first correspondence in August 2011 through our honeymoon in March 2012 Lara acted as not only the general contractor of our two week adventure but she was many times a psychiatrist and by the end a dear friend.  It was, at times, difficult to trust someone who was half-way around the globe whom we had never met but if we can lend a piece of advise to anyone it is to TRUST LARA!  She made the recommendation to hire a wedding coordinator, Keli, at I Do Belize Weddings.  She traveled to “our selected hotel” and met with the lovely owner to scope out our wedding location.  She took care of booking our guests their hotel rooms there.  She found a very nice and cost effective second hotel for the remaining guests.  She sent my hubby and I to a beautiful resort for our wedding night and last few days on Ambergris Caye.  She took care of booking all of the guest’s air travel on within Belize.  She recommended the brilliant idea for a “getting to know each other” group snorkeling trip.  She coordinated with Scott and Jodie for our rehearsal dinner at the spectacular Palapa Bar and Grill.  She made sure to speak directly with the owner of our third location, our honeymoon island paradise, before agreeing that it would fit her standards of safety for foreign travelers.  And last, but not least, she found the ultimate post-reception karaoke destination at the Roadkill Bar even though we were somewhat wedding crashing the owner Helda’s own reception!!!  In addition to all of the plans she made for our wedding she also took care of details here and there for individual guests.  From planning, night dives, day dives, deep sea fishing trips, extended stays on the main land, and more, everything was seamless and flowed with ease.  She was even darling enough to send the bride and a friend to her own stylist, Carole Goodreau, for pre-wedding mani/pedis and secretly added on chocolate treatments as her personal gift.  Lara, a million and one thanks to you for lending your time and service.  We, along with our family and friends, had the trip of a lifetime.  Rest up because we will be back February 29, 2016 for our first anniversary!!!
xoxo,
Chelsea and Rick Murphy