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Best hairstyles for a tropical climate

Hair & Make Up is undoubtedly one of the most important things brides want to get right on their wedding day. Most brides have a vision of what they are going to look like and spend time in pre-wedding preparation to look as good as they can for their special day.

With a good portion of brides getting married in Fiji coming from overseas, the climate can be very different to what you are used to back home. Particularly in the summer months (as early as November and as late as April), Fiji can be extremely humid and often wet. Whatever the month, it pays to think through your wedding day hairstyle carefully for the best result.

We catch up with one of Fiji’s leading Hair & Make Up Artists, Lydia Whippy from Totoka Hair & Make Up to get her top tips on great hair for your Fiji wedding day:

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Behind the scenes @ Nanuku Auberge Resort Photoshoot

Welcome to our behind-the-scenes blog of our photoshoot! This year Bula Bride has set a goal to get creative and bring you some pretty images to inspire you for your own Fiji wedding. It’s also a great way for us to showcase what some of our fabulous vendors can do & can offer; and a chance for us to portray ideas that you might be able to incorporate into your own wedding in Fiji.

So when we learned that our Vendor Nanuku Auberge Resort were seeking some extra wedding images to showcase their bespoke weddings, we jumped at the chance to facilitate & collaborate a shoot there as a joint initiative. Known for creating unique and inspired wedding experiences, their stunning oceanfront setting is an ideal location for showcasing a dream destination wedding or elopement in Fiji. With this in mind, we headed down to Pacific Harbour for a couple of days to make magic happen!

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Lisa & Clint

If you have been looking at options for an intimate family wedding, we have found the perfect piece of inspiration. I first came across Lisa & Clint’s wedding when I was completing another article on the perfect small wedding in Fiji. I fell in love with their gorgeous pictures showing an amazing family holiday combined with their dream to be married in paradise. I just had to reach out to Lisa and hear the story behind their family wedding in Fiji.

We catch up with Lisa:

Clint and I met as teenagers through mutual friends.  Over the years we would meet up at different social gatherings.  At our friends wedding, Clint requested to sit next to me and that night began ”our” life. 
 
Clint and I chose Fiji as it is close to our version of paradise.  Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort was chosen because it catered for everything we were interested in –  a family holiday, wedding and honeymoon.

The resort is all inclusive so we did not have to carry money (or think of finances for that matter), that contributed to our stress free family holiday. Our requirements of a small intimate wedding were fulfilled beyond our expectations. We were able to have a honeymoon (with three children) due the the exceptional Bula Kids Club. Our children were picked up at 8am and unless we went to our children or our children wanted us, we didn’t see them again until 9pm.  Being able to have dinner without children was bliss! 
 
We used an Australian based wedding planner Chelsea Jayne Weddings, I had no idea where to start and thought it might be difficult communicating with time differences etc. Chelsea corresponded with Kitty at Jean-Michel Resort to organise our perfect wedding.   
 

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Mandy & Scott

When I spotted the photos of American couple Mandy & Scott eloping at Royal Davui I was immediately taken in by the beautiful simplicity of their day. It spoke to me of everything a wedding is supposed to be – a celebration of love, two people hand in hand, sharing a special promise to each other. I immediately contacted Mandy to ask her to share her Fiji elopement story and fortunately she agreed. Being a travel writer herself it’s been an easy and beautiful read uncovering her journey from falling in love to getting married in Fiji.
Mandy shares with us her story.

Our Story
A couple of summers ago my father called and asked me to come home and spend the summer with him because he was ill. I am a travel, health, and lifestyle writer and luckily had the flexibility to do so. I made the arrangements and drove across the United States from North Carolina to Utah to see my dad in the hospital on July 4th.

Little did I know that my parents new next door neighbour would be my future husband. Scott, was his name. We met in passing a few times, and one day I made brownies and took them over to say hello. We sat on his front porch talking for about an hour and then I left. The next time I saw him he asked if I wanted to go on a motorcycle ride with him, but I was leaving for Santiago, Chile. He kind of looked at me like, who are you? I laughed and walked away.

Upon my return there was a happy birthday sign in his yard. This convinced me he had a girlfriend, since he still had not asked for my phone number. Well no harm done in buying a man a 12 pack of craft beer on his birthday, and so I took him a gift. He still never asked for my phone number, so I left him a note on his truck. We went out to dinner one time before I left for a Mexico trip at the end of the summer. I was not planning on coming back to Utah until the holidays at this point, and really did not know what would happen.

Fast forward to December that year. We kept in touch via text message, but one thing I could not shake is how much I was thinking of him, someone I really barely knew. When I came home for Christmas that year, we hit it off immediately, and started dating, I spent time between between North Carolina, Utah, and cloudsurfing (flying for work). When I made the decision to permanently move to Salt Lake City late in the spring of 2016, we both knew we would be together for the rest of our lives. He asked me to marry him December 3, 2016, and well, the rest is history.

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Where is the best place to get married in Fiji?

So, where is the best place to get married in Fiji?

Deciding on the location to have your Fiji wedding or honeymoon can be a tough choice, with so many options available. Naturally your budget will help to narrow this down, however, ultimately this is going to be a one-off and very special experience, so putting some thought into what you want to get out of your trip is very important. And if you are having guests, thinking about what will also be the best experience for the group is also important.

    Main image above: Ocean Studios Fiji Photography

We have put together some suggestions that may help you choose the best place to get married in Fiji, or find the right location or just help you to think about what can make the experience special no matter where you go in Fiji. The good news is, from small budgets to large, Fiji has a range of options to cater to everyone.

1. Choose a location that matches your needs
Checking into a resort full of kids or embarking on a trip to a too-remote island, when it was not exactly what you expected from your wedding holiday could throw a spanner in the works of your much-desired Fiji wedding or honeymoon. The atmosphere at the resort will be crucial to the success of your trip, so it is important to choose a resort that is suitable for the type of wedding you want to have, and matches your budget and needs.

Luxury resorts that specialise in romance and couples getaways offer a unique experience and an intimate atmosphere. If you are looking for a personalised experience, take a look at a 5-star resort and book a stay to include your wedding or elopement, plus several extra nights on an all-inclusive package. You can’t go past the serenity and luxury of resorts like Turtle, Raiwasa, Namale, Savasi, Tides Reach or Laucala and if your budget does happen to stretch to one of these options for your wedding day, you won’t regret it.

Images: Raiwasa Grand Villa, Matei, Fiji offers luxurious weddings and honeymoons

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Alison & Louie

We have a big following of American Brides getting married in Fiji so it is special to share this story from one couple who travelled from their home state of California to elope here at the beautiful Coral Coast of Fiji.

We catch up with Alison on why she choose a Fiji destination wedding and what made the day so special:

Louie and I have been together for over 8 years and when it came time to finally tie the knot, we wanted it to be an intimate ceremony between us somewhere memorable. We also still have a significant amount of student debt and eloping to a far off tropical destination like Fiji was the perfect solution.

We did a lot of research on various resorts that would offer wedding packages to make it easy on our end, since we were coming from California and finally settled on the Outrigger on the Lagoon, Fiji. To our surprise, we later learned of the excitement/buzz around the Outrigger as they rarely have destination weddings from Americans.