Greg Finck has a way with gorgeous imagery. Now couple that with the tropical beauty of Bali and the result is picture perfect. For this wanderlusting couple, the Istana Villa proved a dream backdrop for their romantic, garden style wedding designed by Bali Exclusive Wedding + Gloriosa Flowers. It’s all blushing hues, chandelier draped dining and the most stunning cliffside views. Take a peek at the full celebration right here.
From Rachael, the bride… Darren and I are from Scotland originally and currently reside in Den Haag, The Netherlands. Before moving to The Netherlands we spent several years living and working in Singapore. Our love for Asia, and ultimately Bali, lead us to choosing Uluwatu as our picture perfect destination for our wedding day. After visiting Bali in 2013 we fell in love with this beautiful island instantly. Bali is named “The Island of the Gods” and it is easy to see why; a tropical oasis, filled with culture and beauty. However, beauty is not only skin deep with Bali – it in engrained within; the Balinese people mirror the external beauty with their kindness and generosity. Preparation is key when planning a destination wedding! We started our search for Bali wedding venues in the Spring of 2015. The Istana Villa caught our attention straight away with it’s impressive cliff top setting and breathtaking ocean views. After hours of reading online reviews and stalking Instagram, we were sold! Once we had settled on our venue we made contact with different wedding planners in Bali so see which would be the right fit for us. Bali Exclusive Weddings offered what we were looking for; a dynamic wedding coordinating service, specialising in private villa weddings. Organising a destination wedding was much easier than I could have ever expected! I put this largely down to having excellent vendors and also Darren and I being naturally organised individuals. We created spreadsheets to keep us on track with our budget, and also to keep us up to date with our “to-do” lists. Once we booked The Istana in May, we set up a Wedding planning trip to Bali later on in the year to meet with our Wedding planners and potential vendors. Before our visit, we created several mood boards using Pintrest on what we dreamt our wedding day to look and feel like. I created a document containing every little detail we envisaged for our day and brought this along on our trip. Being prepared with our mood boards before meeting with our Wedding Planner and vendors lead to a very successful trip to Bali; on returning to The Netherlands we had everything booked! When I envisaged my wedding day I knew exactly what I wanted to create; a soft, whimsical, romantic, garden wedding. I wanted to keep the decoration classy & elegant which lead me to select my colour scheme; white, cream, pale champagne, pale blush & pale grey. I wanted our decoration colour scheme to mirror that worn by our bridal party which ultimately created a very well put together look & theme for our day. Pinterest was great to gather ideas and categorise each design element in different folders. I spent a lot of my free time looking through bridal magazines, blogs & Instagram for decoration ideas. When I met with my decorator in Bali I discussed what I was looking to create and, for her ease, I had created a mood board for each decoration area (entrance set up, ceremony set up, cocktail arrangement, dinner reception etc)
It was important to me to use locally sourced flowers from Bali. Bali has a wealth of locally grown flowers and I wished to use them all in abundance! With the help of my decorator, Gloriosa Flower House, we selected a large mixture of different local flowers to create our elegant romantic garden theme. Other design elements which were incorporated in our decor were chandeliers. Chandeliers ooze elegance, sophistication and romance and when combined with floral installation they are out of this world glamorous! For our dinner reception I wished to have these lighting our tables outside to create and intimate and elegant atmosphere. Additionally to the chandeliers we asked to have white draping over the bridal table to emphasise the romance. We also wanted to include touches of Scotland & Bali within our decoration. We included a traditional whisky bar for the men to “take a wee dram” and also for those with a sweet tooth, a few Scottish treats to indulge on! For our Balinese elements we selected traditional Balinese umbrellas and wooden fans to shade our guests from the sun and keep them cool. Selecting vendors can be quite daunting as you are ultimately trusting them with one of the most important days of your life! I spent a lot of time researching each vendor and reading reviews where available. I found this very helpful as it provided me with a good idea on what I could expect from each vendor. It is important to listen to your wedding planner for advice as this is their field of expertise but it is also equally important to research their suggestions and source your own vendors to find someone you love. For our wedding we used a mixture of local and international vendors. I knew from the very beginning that photography was very important to our wedding so we could capture the day for years to come. I love soft, fine art photography which looks like it has fallen straight out the pages of a fashion editorial. I found my fabulous photographer, Greg Finck, through Instagram. Greg was the perfect fit for our wedding, he creates the most beautiful photographs which are timeless, elegant and romantic. Luckily for us Greg is a destination photographer and we were delighted when he agreed to join us in
Photography: Greg Finck Photography | Floral Design: Gloriosa Flower House | Bride's Shoes: Sophia Webster | Bride's Dress: Bespoke | Planning&Design: Bali Exclusive | Private Villa: The Istana Bali