Overview

On May 5, 2025, St. John Media traveled to Costa Rica to document Alexis and Frank’s destination wedding at Dreams Las Mareas Costa Rica, a beachfront resort in Guanacaste.

Joey St. John and Kiernan Gallagher traveled from Philadelphia to Costa Rica for the multi-day celebration, arriving several days ahead of the wedding with the cameras, audio equipment, drone gear, and production equipment needed to capture the weekend.

Coverage extended beyond the wedding day itself, allowing St. John Media to document the rehearsal dinner, time with friends and family, and the wedding celebration while also capturing cinematic footage of the resort and surrounding Costa Rican landscape.

The result was more than a film of a single day. It became a visual story of Alexis and Frank’s entire destination wedding experience.

A Destination Wedding at Dreams Las Mareas Costa Rica

Destination weddings create an opportunity to tell a much larger story than what happens during the ceremony and reception.

For Alexis and Frank, that story unfolded at Dreams Las Mareas Costa Rica, surrounded by tropical scenery, beaches, and the friends and family who had traveled to celebrate with them.

St. John Media arrived in Costa Rica on May 1, giving Joey St. John and Kiernan Gallagher several days before the wedding to prepare, scout the property, organize equipment, and capture footage of the resort.

The additional time also allowed the team to document the atmosphere surrounding the celebration rather than arriving immediately before the wedding and leaving immediately afterward.

From aerial drone footage of the property to the rehearsal dinner and moments shared between guests, the goal was to create a film that felt like the experience of traveling to Costa Rica for Alexis and Frank’s wedding.

A Sunset Wedding on Santa Elena Beach

On the wedding day, Joey and Kiernan divided coverage between Alexis and Frank as they got ready in separate areas of the resort.

That two-videographer approach allowed both sides of the story to unfold simultaneously, capturing the energy of the morning with the couple and their closest friends and family before everyone came together for the ceremony.

Alexis and Frank were married directly on Santa Elena Beach as the sun began to set over Costa Rica.

The ceremony even attracted an unexpected audience. Guests around the resort and people relaxing near the pool stopped to watch from a distance as Alexis and Frank exchanged their vows along the shoreline.

St. John Media also worked alongside a local Costa Rican photographer throughout the wedding day. Despite a language barrier, the photo and video teams found ways to communicate, coordinate, and work together to make sure both teams could capture the moments they needed without disrupting the experience for the couple.

An Outdoor Reception Under the String Lights

Following the beach ceremony, the celebration moved to an outdoor reception in the heart of the resort.

String lights illuminated the space as Alexis and Frank celebrated with their family and friends, creating an atmosphere that felt completely different from a traditional ballroom reception.

A live band provided the soundtrack for the evening, while St. John Media continued documenting the speeches, dancing, reactions, and spontaneous moments happening throughout the night.

Combined with the tropical setting and open-air reception, it created the kind of environment that made the wedding unmistakably Costa Rica.

Protecting a Destination Wedding Film

Traveling internationally for a wedding also creates responsibilities that extend beyond simply capturing great footage.

Joey St. John and Kiernan Gallagher traveled with multiple bags of production equipment through Philadelphia International Airport, international travel, and Costa Rican customs before arriving at Dreams Las Mareas.

Once filming was complete, protecting Alexis and Frank’s footage became just as important as capturing it.

Before leaving the resort, St. John Media created four separate backups of the wedding footage, with an additional backup uploaded to cloud storage. This ensured that multiple copies of the footage existed before the team began the trip back to the United States.

The extended stay also provided time to begin editing while still in Costa Rica.

Rather than waiting until returning home, St. John Media spent time editing on the property and was able to deliver a wedding trailer to Alexis and Frank before leaving the resort.

Telling the Entire Destination Wedding Story

Joey St. John and Kiernan Gallagher were in Costa Rica from May 1 through May 7, turning what could have been a single-day wedding shoot into a multi-day destination production.

From the rehearsal dinner and preparations to the sunset ceremony on Santa Elena Beach, drone footage over Dreams Las Mareas, and an outdoor reception beneath the string lights, each part of the trip contributed to the final story.

For St. John Media, Alexis and Frank’s wedding demonstrated what destination wedding filmmaking can be when there is enough time to capture not only the major events, but also the environment and experience surrounding them.

The result was a collection of films that allowed Alexis and Frank to remember more than their wedding day—it preserved what it felt like to bring their closest people to Costa Rica and celebrate together for an unforgettable week.

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