Being a wedding blogger means that I get wedding envy…A LOT. It’s kind of scary how many different types of weddings I fall in love with. They are all over the map. From really organic, budget friendly affairs to total opulence and everything in between. Green with wedding envy has just become my middle name. And today, I can say with total candor, it’s been taken to an entirely new level.
This wedding, shot by Leo Patron who we really love here at SMP, is actually so pretty that it’s giving me anxiety. My husband should be very afraid of a scenario in which I book two first class tickets to Bali, leaving tomorrow. It could definitely be in the cards.
The morning of the wedding was a little scary since it started raining, and our ceremony was outside…with no tents! October is the start of the rainy season in Bali, and all the days leading up to the wedding were bright and sunny. But luckily the rain stopped before the ceremony and the ground was even dry by then too. After we both got ready, we took some pictures, had a tea ceremony, and then went down to the beach and got some awesome shots. We had a quick ceremony where a good friend did the honors of officiating our wedding. During cocktail hour we took our family photos as the sun started to set. Then it was off to the restaurant for some Indonesian fare, where we were finally able to take a short breather. We ended the night with some dancing and some crazy shots inside our photobooth. It was such a fun night, and lots of 80s music to dance to – our favorite!
We loved that we were able to put in so many DIY elements, despite it being a destination wedding: my mom and aunt made the ribbon sticks; Nick’s parents stained the chalkboard table numbers; a friend helped us with our invitations; my dad set up the photobooth with an old DSLR, a tripod, and some props (that’s it!); and my aunt made small cakes as favors. We also made a game for cocktail hour to see how well guests knew us. And since our first initials (M + N) fall right in the middle of the alphabet, we used this theme to present childhood pics in a fun way during ceremony & cocktail hour.
Advice for brides planning a destination wedding…
Planning a destination wedding was hard, especially since we wanted to be so hands on with everything and we only had 7 months to plan. Getting there a week before the wedding day helped so much since we were able to finish all the last minute things by visiting local stores. We also did a lot of stuff here at home, and then brought it all in one suitcase. The time crunch helped us keep on track and not procrastinate! Plus, selecting such a nice venue definitely helped cut costs in the decoration department and gave us less things to plan. We held the reception in the hotel’s restaurant, and used their centerpieces. So the only flowers we purchased were for my bouquet and the boutonnieres! And how can we forget our families and friends, who helped prep and handled everything on the day of the wedding. We didn’t have to worry about a thing.
Vendors: Dress by Vera Wang / Makeup by LONA Makeup / Flowers by Flower Power Bali / Photography by Leo Patrone / Bride’s shoes by Pura Lopez (heels) and Zurrick (flats) / Groom’s shoes by Zurrick / Groom’s vest + pants by French Connection / Venue, Bulgari