Mat & Elly met at school aged 16 and 17 in a small country town in Central West NSW.
After they got engaged, they always wanted to have a destination wedding – mainly so they could keep the party going over a long weekend and turn it into a mini holiday. They ultimately chose Fiji because it was easily accessible for their guests and it seemed to be the happiest place on earth – turns out, it was.
We catch up with Bride Elly on planning her wedding in Fiji:
BRIDE & GROOMS NAME: Elly Oliver and Mat Cashen
THE DATE: Saturday, 14 May 2022
THE LOCATION: Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa, Denarau
THE NUMBER OF GUESTS: 31
What was involved in researching and organising your wedding?
Neither of us had ever been to Fiji before so we relied on photographs and maps of the resorts to figure out where we would have the wedding. This involved lots of research and reading lots of blogs.
We contacted about 5 resorts and went through their packages and what they could offer our guests in terms of accommodation. Once we had reached the Sofitel, it was the obvious choice. Beautiful lush gardens, amazing pools and a stunning beachfront.
I really relied on Bula Bride for my vendors – I read lots of blogs from other brides and I loved how the website showed photographs.
GETTING READY:
Mat and his groomsmen had a relaxed morning by the pool with our other guests waiting for 3pm to come around to get ready.
I spent the morning with my female guests at Totoka Hair & Make Up salon having our hair done – we decided to wait until we got back to the Sofitel to start makeup given the humidity.
Bride and Bridesmaid hair was done by Palavi at Totoka – we also had 5 other guests have their hair done at the salon on Saturday morning by Stephanie. I had a trial a few days prior and I am so glad I did because I was able to have my hair down and curled.
My sister in law – Jessica Cashen – is a makeup artist and did all makeup for the wedding. The brief was fresh, peachy and dewy.
My dress: “The Casado Gown” by Hera Couture, a NZ designer purchased at Marry Me Bridal. I also had detachable tulle wings as a substitute for a veil.
Mat wore a forest green suit jacket from Politix and the groomsmen wore white button up shirts with beige linen pants.
THE CEREMONY:
Location: North West Lawn, Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa.
Aka from Grace Creations combined with Selai, our co-ordinator from the Sofitel arranged the set up of our wedding.
Aka and I developed a unique style over a period of two years (thanks to the pandemic) – the focus was on clean whites, green foliage, and dark timber bamboo. Our theme also had a strong focus on white bougainvillea (as a Fijian substitute for hydrangeas), white orchids and coconuts.
We wanted our wedding ceremony to be intimate but relaxed. We had previously had a legal ceremony in Australia in the thick of Covid which was confined to family only and we could only have 12 guests. Because we had already completed all of the formalities in Australia, we knew our wedding in Fiji could be more personal – so we chose to write our own vows and conduct the ceremony more like a vow renewal.
Mat’s sister – Jess – read out “Blessing of the hands” which was a really special moment for us.
GETTING PHOTOS:
We chose Rose from Peachylini as our photographer – her style of photography is absolutely amazing and we knew from seeing her work on Instagram that was the style that suited us as a couple.
Our whole wedding was designed around our guests as opposed to us as a couple – we wanted our guests to have an amazing experience so we asked Rose to focus on more candid photos of us with friends and family and capturing special moments with all of our guests as opposed to formal photos.
Our photographer and videographers made us feel so relaxed on the day – Rose was helping fan my dress because I was so hot, our videographers carried my bouquet and shoes – and when we said we’d had enough kissing, they decided to bring a drone out and capture footage from the sky – we will never be able to thank them enough for capturing the happiest day of our lives.
THE RECEPTION:
The location of our reception was North West Lawn, Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa.
We continued our white / green / timber theme with coconuts, bougainvillea and orchid flowers to the reception which was set up behind the ceremony on the North West Lawn at the Sofitel. This was set up by Grace Creations.
We had drinks and canapes for an hour at sunset for our guests while we had photos. The dinner menu was the Fijian BBQ menu from the Sofitel. Our friends and family are still talking about how beautiful the meals were. Our cake was a two-tier banana cake made by chefs at the Sofitel.
My sister and I created our own Spotify playlist for the ceremony, canapes and reception. That way, we had all of our favourite songs queued up and ready to play from the end of the ceremony.
Once the reception had finished (and a few beers had been consumed) one of our family members decided to play rugby with a spare coconut – everyone joined in and we laughed until the last song played (picture all of our beautiful guests in full glam, silk dresses and linen suits playing tackle rugby on the North West Lawn – crazy!)
After that, most of our guests joined us at the Republik night club at the Sofitel and we danced the night away.
The day after the wedding, we all went to Cloud 9 for our recovery day – we left at 1pm to allow enough time in the morning and managed to capture sunset as we left Cloud 9 later that day – it was such an amazing experience to share with our friends and family – if you travel to Fiji, do not miss Cloud 9.
YOUR ADVICE FOR BRIDES PLANNING A FIJI WEDDING:
I made all of the invitations / save the date cards / menu cards and place cards myself which saved a lot of money – I put them in a box and carried them on the plane over and managed to save a lot of money on stationary which I highly recommend if you can.
I am a very organised person which helped me plan. I had a white binder folder from the start and printed all correspondence with my vendors including any changes to the package or payments made etc.
We also had a Facebook event to be able to share all updates about Covid, travel requirements and other information with our guests, and we started an airfare watch to alert our guests to any cheap deals.
I also must say, Fiji time really is a thing – I was so anxious about not having emails responded to straight away or things clarified as a matter of urgency – and that anxiety all fell away when I arrived in Fiji. All of my vendors went above and beyond any request I had made to make the day as magical as possible – and they did it in a calm, hassle-free way and executed everything perfectly on the day.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY:
Hearing our vows
Coconut rugby on the North West Lawn.
Our wedding speeches – at the reception, we had 6 speeches – one from my Dad, my sister in law Jess, my Pa, my Mum (who wrote a poem), our best man Terry and my only bridesmaid / maid of honour / sister – Hannah. Mat and I then responded by thanking each guest individually and told stories about each of them – that was the most magical part of the day for us.
We also loved having a cocktail party the night before and travelling to Cloud 9 the day after.
Check out Mat & Elly’s epic wedding video from their Fiji wedding:
Mat and his groomsmen had a relaxed morning by the pool with our other guests waiting for 3pm to come around to get ready.
I spent the morning with my female guests at Totoka Hair & Make Up salon having our hair done – we decided to wait until we got back to the Sofitel to start makeup given the humidity.
Bride and Bridesmaid hair was done by Palavi at Totoka – we also had 5 other guests have their hair done at the salon on Saturday morning by Stephanie. I had a trial a few days prior and I am so glad I did because I was able to have my hair down and curled.
My sister in law – Jessica Cashen – is a makeup artist and did all makeup for the wedding. The brief was fresh, peachy and dewy.
My dress: “The Casado Gown” by Hera Couture, a NZ designer purchased at Marry Me Bridal. I also had detachable tulle wings as a substitute for a veil.
Bridesmaid dress was from: Bec and Bridge
Mat wore a forest green suit jacket from Politix and the groomsmen wore white button up shirts with beige linen pants."
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THE CEREMONY:
Location: North West Lawn, Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa.
Aka from Grace Creations combined with Selai, our co-ordinator from the Sofitel arranged the set up of our wedding.
Aka and I developed a unique style over a period of two years (thanks to the pandemic) – the focus was on clean whites, green foliage, and dark timber bamboo. Our theme also had a strong focus on white bougainvillea (as a Fijian substitute for hydrangeas), white orchids and coconuts.
We wanted our wedding ceremony to be intimate but relaxed. We had previously had a legal ceremony in Australia in the thick of Covid which was confined to family only and we could only have 12 guests. Because we had already completed all of the formalities in Australia, we knew our wedding in Fiji could be more personal – so we chose to write our own vows and conduct the ceremony more like a vow renewal.
Mat’s sister – Jess – read out “Blessing of the hands” which was a really special moment for us."
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GETTING PHOTOS:
We chose Rose from Peachylini as our photographer – her style of photography is absolutely amazing and we knew from seeing her work on Instagram that was the style that suited us as a couple.
Our whole wedding was designed around our guests as opposed to us as a couple – we wanted our guests to have an amazing experience so we asked Rose to focus on more candid photos of us with friends and family and capturing special moments with all of our guests as opposed to formal photos.
We chose Zoom Fiji for our videography.
Our photographer and videographers made us feel so relaxed on the day – Rose was helping fan my dress because I was so hot, our videographers carried my bouquet and shoes – and when we said we’d had enough kissing, they decided to bring a drone out and capture footage from the sky – we will never be able to thank them enough for capturing the happiest day of our lives."
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THE RECEPTION:
The location of our reception was North West Lawn, Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa.
We continued our white / green / timber theme with coconuts, bougainvillea and orchid flowers to the reception which was set up behind the ceremony on the North West Lawn at the Sofitel. This was set up by Grace Creations.
We had drinks and canapes for an hour at sunset for our guests while we had photos. The dinner menu was the Fijian BBQ menu from the Sofitel. Our friends and family are still talking about how beautiful the meals were. Our cake was a two-tier banana cake made by chefs at the Sofitel.
My sister and I created our own Spotify playlist for the ceremony, canapes and reception. That way, we had all of our favourite songs queued up and ready to play from the end of the ceremony.
Once the reception had finished (and a few beers had been consumed) one of our family members decided to play rugby with a spare coconut – everyone joined in and we laughed until the last song played (picture all of our beautiful guests in full glam, silk dresses and linen suits playing tackle rugby on the North West Lawn – crazy!)
After that, most of our guests joined us at the Republik night club at the Sofitel and we danced the night away.
The day after the wedding, we all went to Cloud 9 for our recovery day – we left at 1pm to allow enough time in the morning and managed to capture sunset as we left Cloud 9 later that day – it was such an amazing experience to share with our friends and family – if you travel to Fiji, do not miss Cloud 9."
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YOUR ADVICE FOR BRIDES PLANNING A FIJI WEDDING:
I made all of the invitations / save the date cards / menu cards and place cards myself which saved a lot of money – I put them in a box and carried them on the plane over and managed to save a lot of money on stationary which I highly recommend if you can.
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY:
Hearing our vows
Coconut rugby on the North West Lawn.
Our wedding speeches – at the reception, we had 6 speeches – one from my Dad, my sister in law Jess, my Pa, my Mum (who wrote a poem), our best man Terry and my only bridesmaid / maid of honour / sister – Hannah. Mat and I then responded by thanking each guest individually and told stories about each of them – that was the most magical part of the day for us.
We also loved having a cocktail party the night before and travelling to Cloud 9 the day after.
