Nicole's and Eric's Costa Rica Wedding

Nicole and Eric were married January 4 at Casa Harmon, a house we rented at Los Sueños, a resort near Jacó on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. This is where the wedding ceremony took place and where most of us stayed for several days of absolute bliss. We also spent three nights near the Manuel Antonio National Park near Quepo, about an hour and a half south of Jacó, which has lovely beaches and a jungle with an amazing assortment of monkeys, crocs, sloths, lizards that run on water, bats, birds, bugs, poison arrow frogs, crabs, and other tropical exotica. There was even one day in the Central Valley near San Jose. Click on a picture for an enlargement. Use the Back button to return.

Nicole and Eric were married January 4 at Casa Harmon, a house we rented at Los Sueños, a resort near Jacó on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. This is where the wedding ceremony took place and where most of us stayed for several days of absolute bliss. We also spent three nights near the Manuel Antonio National Park near Quepo, about an hour and a half south of Jacó, which has lovely beaches and a jungle with an amazing assortment of monkeys, crocs, sloths, lizards that run on water, bats, birds, bugs, poison arrow frogs, crabs, and other tropical exotica. There was even one day in the Central Valley near San Jose.

Casa Harmon. To the left, next to the pool, is a one-bedroom guest house where Dianne and I stayed. Charlie, Andrew, and Jac slept in a similar guest house on the other side of the house, next to the entrance.

This is where it happened, in a little alcove/gazebo below the pool level. The gazebo is to the right.

The wedding photographer getting ready to take some shots as Nicole and Amy do some last-minute decorating of the gazebo.

Here the photographer is taking shots of Eric and his Best Man, Dickie.

Amy Gruen, Nicole's roommate from Duke and the Maid of Honor, takes up her position at the start of the ceremony.

A view of the gazebo from the pool.

Our guitar player.

Nicole, Pearl (Eric's mother), and Amy made fancy hats after the wedding.

Here's Eric modeling one of the hats.

Pearl made this fancy hat.

Now we are seven. Nicole and Eric in the center. Dianne and I on the left. Charlie, Jacqueline, and Andrew on the right. We made frequent use of the hot tub at Casa Harmon.

Nicole and Eric met pretty much the first day of their residency in Boston. They are now in private practice in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Eric also owns and operates a Tae Kwon Do school in New Jersey.

Nicole enjoying the pool at our party house.

Catching rays and staying cool.

Nicole.

Eric catching the rays.

Shirts were pretty much optional for the guys around Casa Harmon.

Nicole working on the decorations.

Charlie, who began his job as a State Department lawyer after returning from Costa Rica.

These days, he's wearing a suit.

Andrew.

Andrew relaxing in the pool. Seems we spent a lot of time in the pool!

Charlie and Andrew being brotherly. Doesn't happen a lot.

Jacqueline

Dianne and Jac.

This interaction occurred at Manuel Antonio Park.

Jane, Nicole, and Jac digging into one of Chris's many culinary creations. Chris is Eric's big brother, a very successful chef. Boy, did we luck out having him along!

There's Chris at work in the center. Eric, of course, is at the left, and Eric's best bud (and Best Man) John "Dickie" Dickerson, is at the right.

Chris.

Dickie and Eric enjoying one of many.

Dickie looking pensive. Dickie does not spend a lot of time looking pensive.

Dickie playing sous-chef.

Dickie being more like Dickie.

Charlie and Dianne.

My stepmother Jane.

Eric's dad, Ernie.

Eric's mom, Pearl.

Pearl and Dianne.

Jeff Georgi, Nicole's father. So what to do when both dad and stepdad are at the wedding? Stepdad escorts the bride and Dad officiates. How convenient that Jeff's an Episcopal priest!

Nicole with Amy, her best bud from Duke and Maid of Honor.

Jeff getting ready to do the deed.

Ernie.

The girls at tea time.

Jacs working on those decorations.

Nicole, Charlie, and Jacs enjoying the hot tub. We enjoyed the hot tub a lot.

Eric feeling good.

My girls talking with Eric.

Amy's friend Jay Jenoff, a critical care doc from Philadelphia. Here he's pouring bubbly in preparation for a wedding toast.

The guys watching a football game on the tube. They found a way to perch the living room flatscreen on a window ledge by the pool. I'm sure the owners would not have approved.

A scene that can only be remembered as funny with the passage of a considerable period of time. This was our first full day in Costa Rica, much of which we spent in this parking lot waiting for a ride to Manuel Antonio from the car rental company because they didn't have the car we had reserved weeks before.

Nicole and Dianne lovin' that infinity pool.

Why, you ask, a picture of avocado pits sitting in a bowl of chopped onions? Because this picture is a tribute to Chris, Eric's brother, from whom I learned many useful culinary tricks. Did you know that if you leave the pits in the guac, the guac will not turn grey? I also learned how to remove the pits from the avocado without making a mess.

A small group of white-face monkeys came by the house in Jacó the first day we were there. We also saw toucans there (though I couldn't get a decent shot of them) and lots of iguanas. One day, a pair of macaws flew overhead at a very high altitude.

Another monkey common to Costa Rica, the howler. They are called howlers because they start the day howling. Very strange and very loud.