The Buenaventura Golf & Beach Resort Panamá is the perfect venue to celebrate a unique wedding. Every corner can be transformed into a picture perfect spot to enjoy one of the most important moments in one’s lifetime.
“Buenaventura is a charming and marvelous setting, wherever you walk by you can find a spot to take incomparable photos. Choosing Buenaventura is definitely choosing to have your dream wedding”.
Carmen Chen, Director of Marketing and Sales for The Buenaventura Golf & Beach Resort Panamá, is widely experienced with all types of events.
The hotel is prepared for all of them; corporate, conventions, and of course, weddings. As she mentioned, every inch of the hotel could be the perfect backdrop for a wedding.
From an intimate one with a small group of guests up to a mega event with hundreds of people in attendance being served at the same time.
“We have the best team in order to exceed our clients’ expectations.
This is standard when talking about the pre-organization, set up, and all through the big day; a group of people completely committed and involved in everything allowing it to happen as was initially pictured by our brides and working as a team with decorators, wedding planners, and other technical teams.
This is what is most important for us. We approach all events as if they were our own,” Carmen confirms.
PL: Is Panama recognized for international weddings?
CC: Panama is a highly coveted place for destination weddings. It has a lot to offer clients that wish to combine a pleasure trip with their wedding. Both them and their guests can enjoy the beach, mountains and cultural, historical and traditional areas.
In Panama, you can enjoy all three types of trips in one; you can travel and experience all scenarios in a short amount of time.
In my opinion, we are very well known in the United States as a wedding destination, we have many couples that come from this country. Our task now is to spread the word in South America.
PL: Are there any prerequisites that need to be fulfilled for these types of events?
CC: Depending on if you want to get legally married or a symbolic ceremony. As in every country, legally you must comply with all the requisites that the law states such as hiring a judge or notary for the wedding day.
Destination weddings are characterized by having few complications and many choose a symbolic ceremony where you only need to hire a professional with experience to guide the ceremony.
You can legally marry in your country of origin and have a religious ceremony here; the prerequisites will depend on your religion.
PL: What is the hotel’s experience with these types of events?
CC: We have over 10 years of experience fulfilling our brides’ dreams. We strive to fulfill our couples’ requests and vision for both them and their families.
PL: What type of services do you provide? Are they direct services or do they need to be hired separately?
CC: The Buenaventura Golf & Beach Resort has a team of experts for all the details that compose a wedding. Starting with our food and beverage team up to our Event Manager that works directly with wedding planners and couples in the execution phase of everything that is planned for the event.
We assist in organization and mounting spaces, menu development, details for the ceremony, recommended teams for each area of the hotel and more. All these services are provided by the hotel and are included.
PL: What is the capacity at the hotel? Does it have additional beds?
CC: The Buenaventura has 114 rooms and 4 villas with 4 rooms each and a private pool for 8 people.
We also have houses and villas within the Buenaventura Community therefore there are many lodging options and they can be adapted to the couple’s needs.
We also have additional beds, connected rooms for families, and a bridal suite.
PL: What benefits does the hotel offer for these types of international events?
CC: Amongst the main benefits are having our own Chapel La Ermita and all the necessary contacts to fulfill your religious wedding. This is very useful since with only one person you can organize the religious ceremony and we provide the facilities.
We also have unique and special services such as a carriage for the bride to arrive in, a wedding package where we give the couple the parent’s rooms and the Bridal Suite for the wedding night, tastings to pick the menu and even a special night on their first wedding anniversary.
PL What is the reservation process like?
CC: You can contact us through our sales department: sales@buenaventuraresort.com and immediately somebody will be made available to you to invite you to the hotel to see the facilities and in this way define the areas to be used, menus and other details to provide a tailored proposal for each couple.
PL: Tell us about some memorable events that have been celebrated here.
CC: We have hosted very intimate weddings of 10 people up to events for 600 people.
All of them have been unique and special but the big events are definitely the ones that challenge us and teach us to defy limits and that we are always capable of improving.
They are the ones that are most cherished by our team. In 2019 we had a 600 guest wedding in our Golf Club that required days of logistical planning, starting with coordinating our Spa and Beauty Salon to provide services for guests, up to the set up outside of the Chapel La Ermita for all guests to participate in the religious ceremony, as well as the logistics of transportation to the Golf Club and afterwards the multiple food and drink stations as well as the decoration that our couple had dreamt of.
The structure also required external power generators and a light and sound set up that was impressive. The most important thing was that everything was executed to perfection and the bride, the groom, family and friends were able to enjoy the party until 10:00 am.
PL: What would be your ideal place in Buenaventura for a wedding?
Our Chapel La Ermita for the religious ceremony, followed by a sunset cocktail under the Corotu tree that is over 100 years old and ending with a party at the Beach or our Golf Club.
