This is the first question I get in my meet & greet sessions with couples. The booking of ruins is made directly to the business office that manages the ruins in Antigua. Normally they open schedules for 12 to 18 months, and for this bookings cannot be made with much advance or anticipation. To book a date, you have to give an initial deposit or payment (this deposit will be returned to you if everything goes as planned) and then you make a payment for every reserved area of the ruin site, for example Santa Clara Ruin you have many areas available for rent: Temple, Claustre, Garden, Sacristy and if you wish to make a ceremony in a temple and the wedding reception in the claustre, we have to book both sites.

In Antigua there are many ruins (the majority) managed by the government and other are privately owned. The management is made by CNPAG (link: https://www.cnpag.com/) and the ruins under this management are 7: Santa Clara, Capuchinas, San José el Viejo, La Recolección, Santa Teresa, San Jerónimo, La Ermita de la Santa Cruz. Some Private Ruins are also used for wedding venues such as: El Jardín de los González or Jardín Real de Santiago y la ruina Santa Rosa de Lima.

To preserve and maintain the ruins in good shape, as we know them today, there is law regulation to which we have to abide by. For example, Vendor Assembling or instillation time: 5 hours before the event for every site rented, Restricted decibel or sound limits (don't worry maximum is more than enough for your party), Music must be DJ or Live Music, but not a group music band with loud interpretations, that way we dont bother neighbors or the ruins. Each area of the ruin is rented for 5 hours, you can add extra hours with additional cost. Unfortunately you can’t combine 5 temple hours with 5 claustre hours to distribute and have a longer party. You may extend your Party up to 11pm. If you follow the regulations, we make sure the ruins are preserved longer and look beautiful and available for everyone.

Fortunately, they only book one event per date in each ruin. The Ruin remains open for public entrance until 5:00pm and then they are closed for public entrance, it remains open only for your event and guests entrance only. If there is an event before 5:00pm you may see tourists inside the ruin, but they will stay at a distance and your guests and pictures will be unaffected. Another advantage of getting married on a weekday is you have less tourism in Antigua, as opposed to booking on a weekend.