I’ve dreamed about having my wedding on a beach since I was a little girl. Nothing too big, just us, sand, family, palm trees and sunset. When we moved to Australia and got engaged, the decision about our wedding ceremony was clear – we are going to Bali! How to plan a destination wedding
Bali was an obvious choice, because it’s not too expensive to get there from Australia or Slovakia, it’s repeatedly rated in Top 10 Best Islands in the World, it’s a tropical paradise and none of our friends or family has been there before, so I believe it was a great new adventure for everyone. When I started with the wedding planning and researching the Internet, I realized, that there are plenty of blogs and articles about destination weddings, but none of them was from the bride’s point of view (all of them were just companies), so I decided to put together a little ‘know-how’ from my experience. Hopefully some future brides will find it useful.
Make sure the ceremony will be legal
First things first – make it legal! Not only on Bali but in any destination, you can buy a ‘wedding bundle’, which includes the ‘the official ceremony’ with celebrant of your choice. These bundles are rarely legal though! It all depends on where you are from, where the groom is from and what are the relations between your country and the country you want to get married in. You don’t want to come back home and realize that even though you have a nice piece of paper with your names on it, it doesn’t really mean anything. How to plan a destination wedding
Here’s what we did – we are both from Slovakia, but we’ve been living in Australia for quite some time. It’s possible to have a legal wedding on Bali for Slovak people, but we would need all sorts of bureaucratic documents that we would need to apply for in person, which wasn’t possible. So I emailed Slovak embassy in Canberra and within a month we were legally married. The ceremony on Bali was official with all family and friends and stress free (after coming back home I didn’t have to go anywhere to get my name changed, because ‘technically’ I got married in Slovakia).
Hire a Wedding Planner
If you are considering having a destination wedding (without actually living in that destination), honestly the most important piece of advice I have for you is: Hire a wedding planner! How to plan a destination wedding
Some people may consider it as “something unnecessary or something extra”, especially in Slovakia the trend of having a wedding planner is not a big thing (yet). From my experience, all my friends were looking forward to plan their own weddings and get it all ready by themselves, with little help of their family and friends.
When I imagined myself doing it all without a paid help, I got anxiety. Weddings can be sooo expensive… it is the most expensive day of every couple’s life! (Every couple that decides to have an actual wedding not just elope).
I would have to do a HUGE research before starting the actual planning. Because at that time I was a working student, I didn’t really have that much free time, so one day when I was serving a nice lady in the shop I used to work for, and she told me she’s got a business in Indonesia, with a branch on Bali, and they organise all sorts of events including weddings, I didn’t hesitate a second and booked them straight away. It made my life so much easier, and I am pretty sure that the whole wedding was in the end much cheaper than if I do it myself.
Harni, my wedding planner, always tried her best and even thought we had our ups and downs, I could not be happier with her service and her team. We were doing our wedding on budget, because both of us did not feel like spending too much money on one day of our lives. We just wanted to celebrate with our family and friends from Slovakia and Australia.
Most of our communication with Harni ran through emails. She always sent me more options of everything so I can choose the one that suited us best. We decided together on simple arch, wooden tables with benches instead of chairs, simple flower decorations with our pictures on the tables and Indonesian buffet. The wedding ceremony took place in the villa we were staying in – Villa Paradise Beach, which is located on the Pasut beach in Tabanan.
We came to Bali few days before our big day and since the beginning, it was raining almost every day. I was worried about the weather a lot, so a day before the ceremony we decided to book white marquees. It must have been difficult to find some on such a short notice, but somehow Harni got them! Luckily it didn’t rain in the end, but they looked beautiful anyway.
Get an extra insurance in case of natural disasters
Especially when you plan to get married on an island, where volcanoes and earthquakes are part of everyday life. Couple months before our wedding Mount Agung looked like it’s going to erupt. Till the very last day before leaving to Bali, we couldn’t be 100% sure if it won’t happen and that we will land there safely, or alternatively, we won’t get stuck there (which wouldn’t be so bad in the end, but still).
We didn’t have insurance for natural disasters and Mount Agung was a real nightmare for me! In the end everything ended up well for us, but after we came back, I’ve read an article about an Australian couple whose wedding on Bali got cancelled because of this exact reason.
Don’t underestimate power of nature and be prepared for everything! How to plan a destination wedding
This one is harsh - Don't be too picky!
To be honest, I wasn’t a very picky bride from the beginning. I didn’t care much about what kind of flowers to choose, which dessert plates I liked the most, what kind of decoration should be on tables or what kind of ornament to put on the name tags… All these things were really not important to me. We didn’t even print our wedding invitations, we just sent them via email!
In the end, you will realize that none of these things really matter anyway. What matters is, if people are having a good time, if the DJ can sense the atmosphere and play the right song in the right moment and if there’s enough alcohol.
Consider humidity when getting your hair and make-up done
This may seem to be pretty obvious but well, it didn’t really cross my mind… My make-up was good all night (until I jumped into the pool), but hair, not so much. Because I was wearing a flower crown, I wanted my hair to be down with beachy waves. Those were not happening though, because of the humidity. Nothing worked to keep the waves nice, so I just straightened them.
By the time I walked to the altar, beachy waves were naturally made by the humid air. Not exactly how I imagined it, but well…. Having my hair down wasn’t the brightest idea either because it was SO hot! I bet I would win a competition for the sweatiest bride.
As I said before, make-up was on point thanks to generous layer of primer and lots of setting spray. The only thing I regret not having is blotting paper (the little pieces of tissue paper that sucks up oil from your skin)… Get those! You’ll thank me later. How to plan a destination wedding
Traditions are nice
Because we didn’t have traditional Slovak wedding, I tried to avoid all the traditions on purpose. Lucky for us, our parents didn’t consider my decision as a good idea and we’ve done most of them anyway. And you what? It was nice! Especially seeing our Australian friends and Balinese wedding planning team confused at certain points. For example in Slovakia, we have a tradition when bride and groom break down a plate for good luck and then they have to “clean it” while their guests are having fun kicking the broken pieces away. Harni looked petrified and she insisted on cleaning it. I had to explain this tradition to her but she didn’t seem to be very happy with it. One of my favorite moments! How to plan a destination wedding
Our wedding day was definitely my favorite day ever! (And I know that all the brides say that.) Ours wasn’t only because I married Tomas, but especially because we saw our families and most of our friends from Slovakia after three years living on the other side of the world, yet they came all the way to Bali to celebrate with us. Also our ‘Ozi’ friends, who are basically a family to us here came all the way there… I will never ever forget this and I’ll be forever thankful for such amazing people in my life. <3
What are your thoughts about destination weddings? Or do you prefer traditional ones? Is there a bride who had a destination wedding..? Tell me your stories! How to plan a destination wedding
