Luxury Destination Weddings in Ecuador & The Galapagos Islands: Terrasenses & Etica Events

If you’re planning a destination wedding and you’re looking for totally unique, beautiful and luxurious destination wedding ideas, you really, really must consider Ecuador & The Galapagos Islands.

Your romantic wedding adventure could be in the Ecuadorian cloud forests, on a beach on the pristine pacific coast, or perhaps somewhere utterly magical in the Galapagos archipelago – perhaps even on a luxury yacht?

Yes really!

So who could possibly help make this romantic wedding adventure happen?

Luxury Destination Weddings in Ecuador & The Galapagos Islands: Terrasenses & Etica Events

Terrasenses & Etica Events are the pioneers of unique, responsible travel and luxury destination weddings all over Ecuador.

Terrasenses & Events customize individual packages for dream, luxury destination weddings. They have strong working relationships and partners throughout Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands and are always on the search for new and creative ideas and original wedding & honeymoon venues.

Terrasenses make sure that not even the smallest of details are forgotten, and most importantly, they make the planning totally fun!

620 Terrasenses-Etica Events-JuanK-Paredes Photography-Holli and ANtonio

They are super proud to offer their wedding planning services throughout Ecuador (Andes and Amazon Rainforest included) and one region in Peru. They also provide a venue searching service if you’d like to widen your options to other possible South American venues.

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS WEDDINGS

One of the most unique places on earth, the Galapagos Islands offers wonderful options to get married and an incredible selection of exclusive honeymoons – the Galapagos Islands is one of the most fabulous wedding destinations in the world.

CLOUD FOREST WEDDINGS

For nature lovers, the cloud forest is a thrilling option – magical venues, perfect settings, gourmet food and relaxation; the Cloud Forest offers a range of beautiful and authentic wedding venues: romantic boutique hotels, luxury eco-lodges and traditional fincas.

Terrasenses and their specialist destination wedding planning division Etica Events will work together with you to creatively plan every detail of your special day, from start to finish.

Pacific Coast Weddings

Ecuador has some of the most natural and pristine beaches in the world, Terrasenses do not organise their weddings at big resorts – they plan them on the beach, with special authorisation. Each and every destination wedding is unique and tailored to you – they do not sell packages.

For the venues, they work with small luxury hotels and villas, or extraordinary private homes, they will take care of all the decoration, flowers, music, favors, make-up, and well, everything!

Luxury Destination Weddings in Ecuador & The Galapagos Islands: Terrasenses & Etica Events

So if you’re dreaming of a beautiful beach wedding in a unique and exotic location with an adventurous spirit, get in touch with Terrasenses today!

**this is a sponsored post**

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DONT MAKE MY MISTAKE. HIRE SOMEONE ELSE.

I hired Assyah and Jose in 2019. Paid their hefty fee of $3200 ish upfront. I did this thinking that it would show my commitment to them. BIG MISTAKE. (I later found out the most luxurious Ecuadorian wedding planners charge this much). We were supposed to get married in one town and due to COVID had to cancel. Our venue closed and we were on the hunt for another venue. In 2021 early on we picked a different venue, and in March I begged for updates. It was not until late August I began to get anything to review and it was rudimentary when the wedding was in December 2021. So in 4 months, everything was rushed, sloppy and the day of the wedding a shock.

Conclusion:

If you are getting married in Ecuador don’t make my mistake and be misled by the pretty pictures, do your due diligence interview other planners (Ecuadorian planners) so that you can get the Ecuadorian treatment, which is kind, loving, and humble. A few other planner options who I talked to during the four months of pain who felt terrible for me and gave me free tips like “talk to vendors yourself.” – Fiori Events – Carolina Muzo – Fialo Eventi – Clau Capelo. Just whatever you do – research, ask questions and hire someone who is Ecuadorian. In Ecuador, everyone wants to make their dreams come true.

A few thoughts:

The website pictures offer beautiful pictures. They lead you to believe that you will see many venue options, they will negotiate on your behalf and charge you no design fees. First, check the samples they send none are updated to your wedding but created long ago with no updated prices. Before paying ask for previous wedding 3D layouts that they offer, because mine were either hand-drawn or done in Microsoft paint. The “negotiating part” is them telling you that there are rules and you cant have what you want and people don’t negotiate in Ecuador. BIG LIE. If you talk to any vendors in Ecuador they all want to make anything happen and always negotiate prices. If you are paying an “American” price that is code for being ripped off.

Ask Assyah who they use as a florist and if they are open to using someone else. Assyah designs the flowers and provides them, and overcharges them by A LOT. Flowers are super cheap in Ecuador so if you are paying the same as in the U.S 6K-10K you are being ripped off. I know I was after finding out what others in luxury weddings had paid. Early on I found someone who they could work with to provide everything flowers, tables, etc at $50 per person, they just had to provide the design, as they offered in their hefty fee. Assyah was extremely offended that I would dare look for cheaper prices because “they are not used to dealing with people with a budget” and those plans are “for people who want a cookie-cutter wedding.” (please google Fiori Eventos) I cried the night she told me this, made me feel inadequate and poor. PS: I spent close to 30K and the first time we met I was clear we had a 25K budget, and they said “perfect.”

A few facts.

A month before the wedding during the video flower trial I begged her to take out all brown flowers. I have never liked the color brown, I explained this months before. Day of the wedding 50% brown flowers, like very Brown flowers. (Now it’s comical, that day it was so painful).

Day of the wedding the planners were aware that the hair and makeup team they hired had no shows, so what Assyah & Jose told me would be a team of four makeup and four hairstyles for 12 people was a team of two make up artists, one hairstylist, and three of their friends/ family with no hair experience. I asked them two months before to start hair and makeup early and they said no because they allocated enough time. Needless to say, I did my hair, and thankfully the make-up girl saw we were an hour behind and in 15 min did my make-up.

Two days before the wedding we had a rehearsal – Assyah drew (still have this napkin drawing) the ceremony, there would be a walkway entry like any other wedding, seven benches on each side for EVERYONE to sit. I made it a point that I had a lot of older family members so everyone sitting would be important. Assyah asked what to do if it rained and I told her to use her judgment because I had not been to the ceremony venue. She mentioned they would have a backup tent if needed. Ps: we were getting married in the “rain” forest. On the day of the ceremony, apparently, no tent was secured, and it poured, therefore there was no backup option but to get soaked in the rain. OH… There was no walkway, I had to enter from the side of the altar, and only ½ the guests could sit as there were not enough benches, and the others were forced to stand in the rain.

When I arrived at the ceremony – there was NO bouquet for me. My groom did not have the boutonniere that I asked her for three times that week. I begged her to please go just find leftover flowers and make me a bouquet. She put something together and handed the flowers to me. At the hefty $200 price for my bouquet and $65 per bridesmaid, my cousin had to pick out the dead flowers from everyone’s bouquets!. (Again comical now, painful then).

There is soooo much more I could share, like how when I went to cut the cake there weren’t plates, a knife or spoons, and they stood there and laughed; Or how I sent them a music list about 5 times begging them to make sure my first dance had the special edit remix because we took classes for 3 months, and then they didn’t get this to the DJ so the DJ played the whole song, or how my WHOLE family practiced for a month a flash dance, and my mom personally and secretly talked to them about it the week before, the rehearsal day, the day before, and at the reception, she approached them to play it and they didn’t have the song, and “there was nothing they could do.” I have videos from both sides of the family practicing for months, but the dance never happened. OH YES, and the last thing: everything started late and they refused to let the band keep playing or the DJ stay longer, even though we rented the whole hotel, the owner of the hotel was fine with it, and the Band wanted to play more songs.

3 comments

Kathy Guillen says:

2017/07/31 at 9:06 am

I would like I go about wedding package for 2018.
1. Sonia Collett
  
  The Real Person!
  
  Author Sonia Collett acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
  
  says:
  
  2017/07/31 at 12:00 pm
  
  That’s great, email [email protected] :) for enquiries please.
  
  Msc. Assyah Gabrielli
  Terrasenses & Etica Events
  Quito – Ecuador – South America
  http://www.terrasenses.com – http://www.eticaevents.com
Dany says:

2022/02/20 at 1:13 pm

DONT MAKE MY MISTAKE. HIRE SOMEONE ELSE.

I hired Assyah and Jose in 2019. Paid their hefty fee of $3200 ish upfront. I did this thinking that it would show my commitment to them. BIG MISTAKE. (I later found out the most luxurious Ecuadorian wedding planners charge this much). We were supposed to get married in one town and due to COVID had to cancel. Our venue closed and we were on the hunt for another venue. In 2021 early on we picked a different venue, and in March I begged for updates. It was not until late August I began to get anything to review and it was rudimentary when the wedding was in December 2021. So in 4 months, everything was rushed, sloppy and the day of the wedding a shock.

Conclusion:

If you are getting married in Ecuador don’t make my mistake and be misled by the pretty pictures, do your due diligence interview other planners (Ecuadorian planners) so that you can get the Ecuadorian treatment, which is kind, loving, and humble. A few other planner options who I talked to during the four months of pain who felt terrible for me and gave me free tips like “talk to vendors yourself.” – Fiori Events – Carolina Muzo – Fialo Eventi – Clau Capelo. Just whatever you do – research, ask questions and hire someone who is Ecuadorian. In Ecuador, everyone wants to make their dreams come true.

A few thoughts:

The website pictures offer beautiful pictures. They lead you to believe that you will see many venue options, they will negotiate on your behalf and charge you no design fees. First, check the samples they send none are updated to your wedding but created long ago with no updated prices. Before paying ask for previous wedding 3D layouts that they offer, because mine were either hand-drawn or done in Microsoft paint. The “negotiating part” is them telling you that there are rules and you cant have what you want and people don’t negotiate in Ecuador. BIG LIE. If you talk to any vendors in Ecuador they all want to make anything happen and always negotiate prices. If you are paying an “American” price that is code for being ripped off.

Ask Assyah who they use as a florist and if they are open to using someone else. Assyah designs the flowers and provides them, and overcharges them by A LOT. Flowers are super cheap in Ecuador so if you are paying the same as in the U.S 6K-10K you are being ripped off. I know I was after finding out what others in luxury weddings had paid. Early on I found someone who they could work with to provide everything flowers, tables, etc at $50 per person, they just had to provide the design, as they offered in their hefty fee. Assyah was extremely offended that I would dare look for cheaper prices because “they are not used to dealing with people with a budget” and those plans are “for people who want a cookie-cutter wedding.” (please google Fiori Eventos) I cried the night she told me this, made me feel inadequate and poor. PS: I spent close to 30K and the first time we met I was clear we had a 25K budget, and they said “perfect.”

A few facts.

A month before the wedding during the video flower trial I begged her to take out all brown flowers. I have never liked the color brown, I explained this months before. Day of the wedding 50% brown flowers, like very Brown flowers. (Now it’s comical, that day it was so painful).

Day of the wedding the planners were aware that the hair and makeup team they hired had no shows, so what Assyah & Jose told me would be a team of four makeup and four hairstyles for 12 people was a team of two make up artists, one hairstylist, and three of their friends/ family with no hair experience. I asked them two months before to start hair and makeup early and they said no because they allocated enough time. Needless to say, I did my hair, and thankfully the make-up girl saw we were an hour behind and in 15 min did my make-up.

Two days before the wedding we had a rehearsal – Assyah drew (still have this napkin drawing) the ceremony, there would be a walkway entry like any other wedding, seven benches on each side for EVERYONE to sit. I made it a point that I had a lot of older family members so everyone sitting would be important. Assyah asked what to do if it rained and I told her to use her judgment because I had not been to the ceremony venue. She mentioned they would have a backup tent if needed. Ps: we were getting married in the “rain” forest. On the day of the ceremony, apparently, no tent was secured, and it poured, therefore there was no backup option but to get soaked in the rain. OH… There was no walkway, I had to enter from the side of the altar, and only ½ the guests could sit as there were not enough benches, and the others were forced to stand in the rain.

When I arrived at the ceremony – there was NO bouquet for me. My groom did not have the boutonniere that I asked her for three times that week. I begged her to please go just find leftover flowers and make me a bouquet. She put something together and handed the flowers to me. At the hefty $200 price for my bouquet and $65 per bridesmaid, my cousin had to pick out the dead flowers from everyone’s bouquets!. (Again comical now, painful then).

There is soooo much more I could share, like how when I went to cut the cake there weren’t plates, a knife or spoons, and they stood there and laughed; Or how I sent them a music list about 5 times begging them to make sure my first dance had the special edit remix because we took classes for 3 months, and then they didn’t get this to the DJ so the DJ played the whole song, or how my WHOLE family practiced for a month a flash dance, and my mom personally and secretly talked to them about it the week before, the rehearsal day, the day before, and at the reception, she approached them to play it and they didn’t have the song, and “there was nothing they could do.” I have videos from both sides of the family practicing for months, but the dance never happened. OH YES, and the last thing: everything started late and they refused to let the band keep playing or the DJ stay longer, even though we rented the whole hotel, the owner of the hotel was fine with it, and the Band wanted to play more songs.