Introducing: Natalie

Hi everyone! I'd like to introduce myself as the new Wedding Planning Assistant, sometimes lovingly  known as the intern, here at Weddings Costa Rica. My name is Natalie, and I hail from Austin, Texas, though I'm originally a mid-western girl from St. Louis, Missouri.I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin (Hook Em!) in December 2009 (early, not late!) with a B.A. in Spanish. After college, I began trying to get my feet wet in the wedding industry as it had become more and more of an interest and passion in my life. I started out blogging for a company that planned intimate bridal shows at local venues in Austin, and helped out at those shows as well. Then, in addition, I began assisting one of Austin's very best wedding coordinators on weekends. My time with her was absolutely invaluable and I learned so much. She encouraged me to get my Wedding Consultant Certification through Nuptial Essentials Curriculum and Instruction, and I have since completed the class and am working on my tests to complete my certification.  I also did my fair share of day-of coordinating for friends.Though I loved what I was doing, after a while I wanted to start doing something full time, and during my search I happened across a posting for a Wedding Planning Assistant in Costa Rica. With my Spanish background (that actually brought me to Costa Rica once before in high school!) I thought it sounded like a once in a lifetime opportunity. I applied, interviewed, was offered the job, thought and prayed very hard about uprooting my entire life and moving to a different country, and now here I am!I've been here for three weeks now, and I've been spending my time learning the ropes, going through photos for blog posts, helping create Pinterest boards for brides, and figuring out the differences between the destination wedding world and regular wedding world I came from. Two weekends ago, I also had the opportunity to help Larissa out at a Bridal Expo, where we were debuting our exclusive distribution of fine papers by Vera Wang and William Arthur in Costa Rica. It's fun to see how all the brides respond to these invitations as they're different than what they can get here locally and really reasonably priced.I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here, and I can't wait to help coordinate my first destination wedding!