Selecting your Cartagena wedding venue
My partner and I thought we could choose our wedding venue sight unseen but we quickly realized we weren’t those people. It took us two separate trips to find a venue that we were absolutely in love with, but that was partially because finding venue information online was so difficult. There is nothing that can replace seeing your venue before the big day and for this reason we chose to visit each one till we found the perfect fit. Not going to lie, my inner Archie was geeking out at the opportunity to tour all these historical buildings. Did I mention I work in Architecture? Haha
After seeing what felt like almost everything in the walled city, we were able to gather so many photos and personal notes about all of our favorite and most popular wedding venues in Cartagena. In true Pieces of mi Vida spirit, I want to share what we captured so it could help someone else choose their Dream Venue just like we did. The venues I will highlight are all within the walled city. Keep in mind that there are many more options just outside of the city.
Hope this brings you a little closer to choosing the perfect venue. Nothing can replace being there in person, but for now figuring out which ones you’d like to know more about is a great way to start. Happy Venue searching!
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Love,
A Bride that lived, loved it, and would do it all over again.
Updated 4/16/24- Casa Pombo is currently under renovation and will be closed until further notice.
Pros
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Centrally located
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Historical Architecture
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Intimate
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Rooftop pool/lounge area
Pros
Cons
Con
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Limited space
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Humid
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lacks natural lighting
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Centrally located
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Historical Architecture
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Intimate
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Rooftop pool/lounge area
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Limited space
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Humid
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Lacks natural lighting
Pros
Located in one of Cartagena’s most well-known plazas, Plaza de la Proclamación, and only steps from one of the most famous cathedrals in all of Cartagena, there is no other venue that can claim its spot other than Casa Pombo. Upon entering the house, you are surrounded by the sounds of water cascading down stone walls and birds chirping that call the tree in the middle of the courtyard home. One of my favorite features of Casa Pombo is that it is filled with colonial style furniture, black and white marble floorings, and original wall art painted directly onto its walls. It truly feels as though you have stepped back in time. The ground floor suites have direct views to the pool with only glass sliding doors and a few steps separating you from a morning swim. The second floor contains a mixture of duplex suites and a large salon with tall floor to ceiling height doors opening to a beautiful wooden dining table overlooking the courtyard. It’s hard not to imagine an unforgettable family dinner at this table. Casa Pombo also features a rooftop pool and lounge area showcasing some of the best views in Cartagena. The rooftop area can be accessed by both stairs and an elevator making it comfortable for everyone to access. Casa Pombo is perfect for anyone looking for an extremely intimate wedding experience located in one of the best areas of Cartagena’s walled city.
Cons
Unfortunately, the spaces within the house are not big enough to accommodate a large guest count. The main areas for your wedding consist of the pool area on the main floor and the salon located on the second floor. The first floor pool can be converted into operable floor area by an adaptable glass floor that is installed for the wedding. The biggest reason we chose not to go with Casa Pombo was because of its lack of flexible floor space for the wedding and lack of natural lighting. Due to the size of the courtyard, the house surprisingly lacks natural light. Not to say there isn’t any, but it definitely was one of the more darker venues we saw. In my opinion, it is a stunning building with rich history but lacks suitable space for traditional event floor plan layouts. The other reason was due to the humidity present in the house. As beautiful as the water feature is, it also created a ton of humidity and with humidity comes mosquitos. This might not be a big deal for everyone, after all we are in the Caribbean, but the house does feel very humid throughout.
Pros
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Historical Architecture
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Spacious
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Flexible Floor plan
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Allowed to use any vendor
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Hotel Accomodations available
Pros
Cons
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Historical Architecture
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Spacious
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Flexible Floor plan
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Allowed to use any vendor
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Hotel Accomodations available
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Larger decor budget required
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Predetermined DJ booth location
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Open air courtyard (during rainy season)
Con
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Larger decor budget required
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Predetermined DJ booth location
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Open air courtyard (during rainy season)
Pros
Casa del Conde de Pestagua, a house that was built in the mid 1600’s and took close to 100 years to be completed, is now a favorite hotel/venue in the wedding industry. Casa Conde is a 2 story venue with a large open air courtyard occupying the majority of the ground floor with a spacious and adaptable floor plan characterized by its beautiful yellow walls and colonial style architecture. We chose Casa Conde because it checked all of our boxes. It was large enough to accommodate the entire wedding day events including getting ready, ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. The house provided large beautiful suites to get ready in, endless amounts of intimate areas perfect for photos, and some of the most breath taking architecture in all of the venues we visited. The salon, located on the second floor, is perfect for pretty much anything you can think of. We used it as my hair and makeup area and quickly transformed it for family photos. Previous weddings have also used it for their ceremony or cocktail hour. Another pro to choosing Casa Conde is that you have complete freedom to choose any vendor you would like to work with (i.e. the caterer). Other well known venues have their own in house chef and require you to choose from their pre-made menu selection. Hands down I would choose Casa del Conde de Pestagua again. It was everything we wanted and more.
Cons
I’ll be honest, it was hard to come up with negatives for this venue. I might be biased because it was the one we chose, but Casa Conde truly is a gem. Casa Conde de Pestagua, not to be confused with its neighbor venue Casa Pestagua, is a very large venue. I mention this fact as a con simply because it requires a larger décor budget than other venues. This was definitely something we had to consider due to the fact that we were planning a micro wedding, but despite having a small guest count, our wedding planner and designer did an amazing job at filling the space and executing the design we wanted. The second dislike is the noise policy. Casa Conde enforces a noise policy requiring all events to position the DJ booth in the same location limiting your options of where to place the dance floor. This really didn’t bother us much because it worked with our ideas, but it could be a negative if you are trying to design your floor plan differently. Last but not least, the courtyard can be a negative if and only if you are getting married during rainy season. The entire first floor of Casa Conde with the exception of a few lounge areas, are complete open to the sky. Cartagena’s rainy season can be unpredictable and could be a problem if you are choosing to marry during these months.
"Bellas Artes University"
Pros
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Located in great neighborhood
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Versatile design
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Elegant
Con
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Limited availability
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No wedding suites
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School style restrooms
Pros
Cons
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Located in great neighborhood
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Versatile design
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Elegant
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Limited availability
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No wedding suites
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School style restrooms
Pros
Institución Universitaria Bellas Artes is a Cartagena University located in la Plaza de San Diego; a very beautiful and lively neighborhood located close to La Serrezuela, a famous commercial shopping center. Frankly one of our favorite areas within the walled city. Bellas Artes opens its doors to all events during its off season offering what I believe to be one of the best floor plans for a wedding. For a better visual, Bellas Artes event space is composed of a square open air courtyard with a large luscious tree at the center. The courtyard is lined with white arches from the ground up creating a very elegant and classic event space. Because of these characteristics, Bellas Artes made it to our top two favorite venue.
Cons
Unlike other venues, Bellas Artes is an operating university and will have many of the characteristics of a typical institution. For starters, you will likely have to choose a date that the school isn’t hosting classes or book your wedding during one of their holiday breaks. Also, keep in mind that because it is a school and not a traditional venue, Bellas Artes does not have any on site wedding suites. You will have to plan your morning of at your accommodation of choice and organize transportation to take you to the venue. Unfortunately, a university isn’t a university without typical bathroom stall style restrooms. The bathrooms are one of the most important yet sadly overlooked details of a wedding venue. At this moment, I need you to imagine yourself in your wedding attire and ask yourself, do I mind using the restroom in what I am wearing. Depending on what your answer is, this factor might not affect you at all. On the other hand, I knew I was going to need some assistance so a stall wasn’t impossible, but not the most comfortable experience. For these reasons, Bellas Artes was not our first choice.
Pros
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Sunset views
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Centrally located
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Open floor plan
Con
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Lacks privacy
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No hotel accommodations-venue space only
Pros
Cons
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Sunset views
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Centrally located
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Open floor plan
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Lacks privacy
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No hotel accommodations-venue space only
Pros
El Baluarte San Francisco Javier is an open air restaurant located on Cartagena’s Muralla otherwise known as the thick wall that protected the city. The restaurant is also known to be one of the best spots to capture Cartagena’s iconic sunsets and refreshing sea breezes. On the other side of El Baluarte, you are steps from the stunning Plaza Santa Teresa and Charleston Santa Teresa Hotel. This venue choice serves views for days and quite frankly cannot represent Cartagena any better. The space allows for you to dig into your bucket of dreams and nothing could stand in the way of it being created. The open floor plan allows for pretty much any design imaginable.
Cons
As I mentioned above, El Baluarte San Francisco Javier is a restaurant and not a hotel venue. This could be a negative for anyone who wishes to have an all in one wedding experience. Luckily though, you are only steps away from one of Cartagena’s most upscale hotels. The other negative I would like to point out is that because El Baluarte is located in a very public area, your wedding will likely lack an intimate feeling. Although the public will not be able to access your event, they can very much be a spectator at a distance.
Pros
Cons
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Large upscale resort
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Modern amenities
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Beautiful architecture
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Rooftop Ceremony space
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Not suitable for micro weddings
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Must use in house Chef
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Religious event space
Pros
Charleston Santa Teresa is one of Cartagena’s most luxurious resorts within the walled city offering elegance and sophistication in every way. The resort features everything including one of Cartagena’s best chefs to some of the most luxurious spas. If luxury and elegance is your goal, Charleston will achieve it. The hotel is made of up several courtyard spaces and a lower level event space known as la Capilla, large enough to accommodate up to 250 guests. One of the two courtyards, El Patio Colonial, is a favorite ceremony space amongst many couples.
Cons
Hotel Charleston might sound like the obvious choice unless you prefer an intimate experience with your guests. The hotel feels a lot more like a resort and less like a boutique hotel. It is more likely than not that you will be sharing the hotel with many other guests that are not a part of your group. Hotel Charleston requires you to use their in-house chef and select from their menu options. Although rated as a top chef, if you prefer complete control of what vendors you work with, this could be a dislike for you. Hotel Charleston offers a few different options including El Patio Colonial and La Capilla. Unfortunately, El Patio Colonial can only be used for your ceremony. Hotel Charleston does not permit loud music within any of its courtyards due to the fact that some guest rooms look out into the courtyards. As its name describes, La Capilla is a large chapel that is used as a reception space. If you are not a fan of religious elements, you will need to use part of your décor budget to camouflage the religious details you would not want visible.
More Venues to consider
- Casa 1537
- Sofitel Legend Santa Clara
- Casa Fernandez de Madrid
- Casa Santos de Piedra
- Casa Estrella
- Plaza de la Proclamacion
Such a helpful blog post – thank you for sharing all of these details! Your wedding at Casa Conde looked amazing <3
Hi Laura! You are so welcome, I am so happy to know that it has been helpful. Stay tuned, more posts coming soon!