Wedding | Mick & Stacey | Malolo Island

Mick & Stacey met online during the very first COVID lockdown & he proposed at The Versace Hotel on the Gold Coast in July 2021.
They wanted to elope but bring their blended family of four children as they hadn’t travelled as a family before. Malolo Island was always their first choice. The relaxed, family vibe was exactly what they were looking for as a destination wedding location.

We catch up with Groom Mick on planning their Fiji wedding day:

Location | Malolo Island Resort
Number of guests | 8 + a dozen friends we made during our trip
Where did you travel from | Gold Coast, Australia

 

The Malolo Island Resort wedding team took so much of the planning out of our hands and apart from our beautiful photographer, they planned everything, from the location to the bouquet and even the two Fijian warriors that escorted Stacey down the aisle.

Naturally our home on the Gold Coast is tropical themed with a dash of Hamptons style so the thought of plantation style buildings and the colour pallet of sand and sunset was what appealed to us the most. Our idea of planning was to simplify so in the spirit of elopement we tried not to spend too much time sweating the small stuff. We planned the wedding in a matter of hours. While we spart hardly any time at all planning, we spent so many hours flipping through Bula Bride’s blog posts to get inspiration for photos and ideas for the wedding day.

Getting ready

Stacey’s best friend stayed at a nearby resort and she travelled the 2-minute boat ride to Malolo Island Resort. Rachel did Stacey’s hair and makeup for her to keep things low-key.

The dress was the Clementine by Willowby. Stacey is a little bit boho in her style and she wanted a sheer, flowing dress to compliment her long blond curls and flower crown. I wore a Boss linen suit with custom chestnut buttons, a palm tree green silk shirt, shoes from Aquila and a Pam1313 on the wrist.

The Ceremony

Stacey had her heart set on a beach wedding and while Malolo Island had so many beautiful locations we decided to take advantage of the fact that Malolo Island Resort were building a new water sports bure and the area in front of the freshly built building offered just enough privacy and it made it look like we had the entire island to ourselves.

Malolo Island Resort were able to provide everything which was an incredible feeling to know that everything was done for us. We wanted to have the full Fijian elopement experience and we wanted to the vibe to be as minimalist as possible to allow the location to shine through.

We were lucky enough to have two Fijian warriors walk Stacey down the aisle which was particularly special as Stace’s father passed away some years ago. The Fijian warriors were staff that we had come to know during our first few days on the island. Stacey’s flower crown and bouquet were provided by the local village and our colour scheme was tropical floral for the bride and leaf green for the groom.

Stacey and I wrote our own vows which were very much in our quirky style referencing our very first conversation, to our first date (Stacey came to my house in secret because we were certain the police were arresting people not in lockdown!) and the life that we had built so far including our beautiful one year old daughter and Stace’s three teenagers that I now call my own.

Photography

It became apparent after selecting Newlight Photography how much we rely on Instagram as a source of trusted vendors because before I knew it, I’d paid a deposit to someone I’d never met or spoken with in real life!

I had shortlisted a lot of Fijian photographers and whilst the rest of the wedding planning was very much ‘don’t over think it!’ I knew the one thing I had to get right was the photographer. I insisted on a Fijian local photographer rather than flying in our own and my reference platform was absolutely Instagram. After getting an idea of pricing from a half-dozen photographers I went quiet on them all for about 4 months until two months before the wedding when I finally decided on Rusila. We are so glad that we did because she was able to perfectly capture our style and the day itself. We share a love of Photography and we hit it off immediately chatting about our favourite lenses and styles of photography.

My favourite shots include action, movement and looked natural. I also love the idea of the subjects moving through the location as if the photographer isn’t event here. Some of my favourite shots from Rusila are the ones where we are walking up stairs or traveling from one shot location to the next.

While we are thrilled with every single photo that Ru provided there are some absolute stunning sunset silhouette shots and some long shots that truly capture the location and act as if the bride and groom are secondary.

Reception

Our reception was a private dinner setting on the lawn in front of the main resort building. However, as we were married on a Wednesday and Wednesday nights are Fijian buffet nights where the staff of Malolo Island Resort have traditional dancing, the entire resort gathers on the front deck. I said to Stacey, as we were dancing on the deck to the same band that played “Can’t help falling in love” as Stacey walked down the aisle, that because we had made so many friends during our trip that it was like we had our own reception of 150 people.

Our reception dinner was very much about us and our family and each of the three teenage kids who aren’t likely to give more than a grunt at the best of the times, read out their own messages and speeches for the table which naturally left Stacey in a sobbing mess!

Gregory Llewellyn is the head chef at Malolo Island Resort and he and I had bumped into one another throughout the days leading up to our wedding. without me realising that he was the head chef. Having four kids you tend not to spend too much time at the formal dining venues and so our first experience with Greg’s flaghip menu was on our wedding night when Treetops catered the entire menu. It was incredible.

Other highlights of the visit

Malolo Island was able to provide so many activities for the kids including snorkeling off the island, sailing etc. But we also took a day trip to the local village where Stacey, through her work as Operations Manager for Library For All, had provided 40 Samsung learning tablets to the school with her learning app. That was a special moment visiting and seeing the kids that actually benefitted from the not-for-profit work that Stacey does.

Another highlight was seeing our one-year-old daughter, who was born at 27 weeks and can’t attend daycare, come out of her shell after spending time with the Kid’s Club team. Her third word was “Bula”!!!

The friendships we made with the staff of Malolo Island continue on long after we returned home to the Gold Coast. We are Facebook friends with a few key people and we message every other day. We miss it so much. Serendipitously we met two couples who were staying on the island when we were and one who lived next door to my grandparents in a place called Nowhere Creek. Nowhere Creek is as obscure and remote as it sounds, nestled in the pyrenees of Victoria and to find someone who actually knew my grandparents was a moment that brought a sense of family to an elopement. These new friends attended our wedding and made it so much more special.

Who Did They Use
IN THE KNOW

Who Did They Use?

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Fiji Wedding Photographers

New Light Photography

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Wedding Venues

Malolo Island Resort

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