Alex & Esala Fiji Weddings - Bula Bride

Alex & Esala

On a gorgeous September day in Fiji, an all-day celebration was held for the marriage of Alex and Esala. Combining two cultures traditions throughout their wedding, this colourful and joyful wedding showcases a fabulous celebration with family and friends.

BRIDES & GROOM: Alexandra Theodossiou and Esala Vute
THE DATE: 29th September 2018
THE LOCATION: Musket Cove Island Resort and Marina
THE NUMBER OF GUESTS: approx. 150

THE BEGINNING

We met in 2011 at a bar in Sydney called Red Room, I was at the bar buying drinks for my netball team to celebrate our grand final win and we got talking. My friend Jess made us exchange phone numbers so the girls could leave and go to another bar!

We chose Fiji because we wanted as many of Esala’s family in Fiji to be able to attend as possible, plus it gave everyone from Australia a great excuse for a holiday.

We were in Fiji in March when we got engaged and managed to go to Musket Cove for the day to have a look around and decide if we liked it. Alex spent a lot of time contacting people in Fiji to get an idea of what was available, also speaking to friends that have been married in Fiji previously helped.

We picked Musket Cove because of how beautiful it is, the chapel, the reception on the beach and in particular, the staff were all wonderful.

We booked all the travel ourselves and prepared a website for our guests with all of the travel information and options on it so that they had one place they could go to for all their questions. We also didn’t have a wedding planner other than Gloria at Musket Cove. Gloria handled most of the ceremony and reception details which was great.

GETTING READY:

We had been staying at Musket Cove in the days leading up to the wedding, but the night before Esala went and stayed in my sister’s room and my sister and one of my bridesmaids came and stayed with me. We told Esala what time we were going to breakfast so he didn’t see me before the ceremony. Hair and makeup arrived at around 9am and they had all of us done and ready by midday, that included the bride, 4 bridesmaids, the mother of the bride and two aunties.

Hair & make up was done by Totoka Hair & Makeup. Both Lydia (hair) and Kajal (makeup) were great, really quick and exactly what we wanted, they made everyone look and feel fantastic.

My dress was by Luv Bridal in Crows Nest, Sydney

The Bridesmaids dresses were custom made from Haus of Koila in Fiji and sent to Sydney before the wedding for the girls to try on.

The Groom and Groomsmen’s Fijian Masi for the ceremony was from Esala’s Mum’s family in Tailevu and the village of Daku in Fiji. The reception sulus were also from Haus of Koila and the shirts from Tailorstore

We requested no gifts from our guests since they all had to travel to come to the wedding, some people still gave us gifts which was unexpected but lovely. I gave Esala a pendant with pictures of his father on it to carry with him on the day, as his Dad passed away a couple of years ago.

THE CEREMONY:

Our location was the Chapel at Musket Cove Resort. Traditional masi and mats were bought in by family – Musket Cove provided the flowers but the rest was done by Esala’s family

We wanted a short ceremony, partly because it was hot and partly because we had officially been married in Sydney in a small registry office ceremony the month before we went to Fiji so that all of the official paperwork was completed. We used traditional vows.

GETTING PHOTOS:

Our photographer was Anais Chaine from Anais Photography. We chose her from looking through her Instagram and we loved the photos she captured.

We wanted to keep it pretty casual and to capture the fun side of our bridal party, Anais was so great, and she instantly made us all comfortable and got some wonderful shots.

Our videographer was Nas. They were organised through Anais as part of our package, the highlights videos they did was awesome!

We love all our photos and video, Anais took almost 1200 photos so the hardest thing is trying to decide which ones we want to print out or put in an album! The videos are also great, the highlights capture all the best bits and show how fun the whole day was.

THE RECEPTION:

Our reception was on the beachfront at Musket Cove. The theme was pretty simple, just white table cloths and some runners with pineapple prints. Everything was set up and provided by the resort.

We had drinks served immediately after the ceremony out the front of the chapel while we took group photos that lasted about an hour, guests then either went back to their rooms to freshen up or headed to the pool bar while we had more photos taken.

Dinner was a Fijian Lovo feast. The wedding cake was made by Musket Cove, with one vanilla and one chocolate tier, the cake topper was ordered online from a vendor on Etsy in the UK.

For our music we had a band called Rako Pacifica. We also had some traditional Fijian dances done by Esala’s nieces to open the reception, the Musket Cove staff performed some meke and songs and then to finish off we had Fire Dancing organised through Musket Cove. When the reception ended we headed over to the Island Bar at Musket Cove and continued celebrating until about 3:30am

ADVICE FOR BRIDES PLANNING A FIJI WEDDING

Constantly follow up with people, try to call if you can, sometimes responses to emails take a while so to avoid stress give people a call to get your answers. Try to not worry about the small things, people really won’t notice and make sure to take a moment on the day just to soak it all in!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY

So many highlights, seeing each other in the chapel for the first time, saying our vows in front of all of our family and friends who travelled from as far as Boston and Cyprus, the fire dancers were amazing and just being able to celebrate at the reception with everyone we love.

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Who Did They Use
IN THE KNOW

Who Did They Use?

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Fiji Wedding Photographers

Anais Photography

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Wedding Venues

Musket Cove Island Resort & Marina

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Hair & Make Up

Totoka Hair & Make Up Fiji

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