Taylor and Ben met by chance in early 2013 when Taylor accidentally attended the wrong party. Although none of her friends were there, she ended up meeting the right person, and over a decade later, they finally tied the knot.
In June 2023, while on holiday in Fiji, the couple watched a breathtaking sunset together. Taylor turned around to find Ben down on one knee, ready to ask the question that would lead to their happily ever after.
Have you been thinking about eloping in Fiji and wondering if it is the right decision for you? Is it less stress than a wedding day with guests? Will it still be personal and special if it is just the two of you?
There has been such a huge uptake of elopements in Fiji post CoVid, we decided to do some research into why couples elope, what makes this an attractive option and how they found the experience.
When we saw Tiarni & Adrian’s gorgeous elopement feature on social media, we reached out to bride Tiarni to learn more about her firsthand experience. Read on for some very insightful feedback!
Of all destinations, what made you choose Fiji?
Neither of us had ever been to Fiji, so eloping over there was a bit of a risk. We both had Fiji on a list of places we wanted to visit. I had looked up other places both overseas and in Australia, but the package is available in Fiji we’re a lot better, both money wise and inclusion wise.
What was it that made you decide to elope?
An elopement style wedding was always on the cards for us, we have never wanted a big fuss of a wedding. We both love to travel and wanted to incorporate our wedding into that, so a relaxed elopement was the way to go. Barefoot on an island was definitely our style.
Tim & Gaby met in 2016 in Vancouver BC Canada – he’s Canadian and she’s an Aussie girl who took a year off from real life to have an adventure. Gaby moved to Canada and got a job as a waitress at a bar for the summer, and Tim was was the handsome bartender – the rest is history. Gaby ended up staying for 5 years in Canada before they made the move to Sydney, Australia.
With most wedding groups staying on average 7 days in Fiji and with many guests flying in from all over the world to share your special day, we thought it would be great to share some inside information one of Fiji’s most fantastic venues for some pre-wedding catch up time or perhaps some post-wedding fun.
Surrounded by Fiji’s famous crystal clear waters, Malamala Beach Club is the world’s first beach club located on its very own island, just 25 minutes from Port Denarau. Enjoy the beach club with a day pass and experience white sand beaches, beachside cabanas, a resort style infinity edge pool, and views across the Mamanucas from Fiji’s best located island. If you were looking for a picture-perfect postcard experience, this is it!
The perfect venue for groups to enjoy together, Malamala Beach Club offers a delicious menu choices from light bites to pacific inspired meals and shared platters, an array of hand crafted cocktails and a club like atmosphere with upbeat tunes mixed all day long.
With the capacity of up to 400 guests on the island at any one time, no matter the size of your group, Malamala will be the ultimate spot for a day of rest, fun, relaxation and socialising for your pre or post wedding get together. Guests will thank you for such an amazing day out enjoying the best of Fiji!
So, you’ve decided to have a Fiji destination wedding – yay! Great decision guys!
Our brides often comment about the benefits of getting married in the South Pacific and the most common one being ‘the amount of quality time spent with family and close friends’. Your guests will often look at your wedding as a way to have a holiday at the same time, therefore enjoying your special day and the fun and activities on offer in a tropical paradise!
Below are a few tips that we trust will be of benefit when planning your dream wedding, brought to you by Bula Bride Vendor Carla from South Pacific Weddings. Carla has extensive experience planning weddings and group travel to Fiji, so these are collated from years of experience!
For some brides and grooms, the best place to have their Fiji wedding is at an all-inclusive resort. It’s a great option for those that need to stick to a budget, and still include their friends and family in their destination wedding. The upside to having a package wedding somewhere is that you don’t have to do as much wedding planning, because most of the decisions you’ll be making will be simple. Choose bouquet A, B, or C. Do you want wedding cake option 1, or wedding cake option 2? You won’t have to hunt down a bunch of different vendors because the hotel does all of that for you either in house or with a preferred vendor list.
However, the idea of having a “package” wedding is a turn off for some brides and grooms. They don’t want to be one of two couples getting married in the same place on the same weekend (or same day, in some cases), having the same décor and the same cake as everyone else. If you’re looking to be a little “different” from everybody else, there are plenty of great locations in Fiji where you can fully customise your day (or days!) to suit your personalities and get something totally different from a standard package offering.
We came across a great example of this at Koro Sun Resort in northern Fiji, as we watched the wedding video of couple Sarah & Euri with tears in our eyes! We were blown away at how this bride and groom made their wedding so personal and so much fun for their guests. So we caught up with Koro Sun Resort to say Bula! and learn more about how they put together the wedding week of Sarah & Euro’s dreams.
Photography: Allan Zepeda
Presenting our first Bula Bride wedding feature with the groom in a kilt! How has it taken this long?!
The unique wedding attire caught our eye and then we were equally impressed by the beautiful sunset images captured by Ocean Studio Fiji at Sheraton Resort & Spa, Tokoriki Island.
Many of you may not be familiar with this resort as it is a fairly new addition to Fiji – opening just a few years back and then reopening again after the resort was devastated by Cyclone Winston. Boasting an upmarket resort situated on the island of Tokoriki, it’s not hard to see why Alesha & Stuart choose this location for their wedding. It’s easy to get too, has stunning beaches and turquoise water, plus the 5-star Sheraton Resort make wedding dreams come true. We catch up with bride Alesha on what went in to planning her Fiji destination wedding:
BRIDE & GROOM: Alesha Stone & Stuart Davis
THE DATE: 11th of March 2019
THE LOCATION: Sheraton Resort & Spa Tokoriki Island
THE NUMBER OF GUESTS: 12
We met in 2011 at a Birthday party for Stuart’s Nephew who was turning 3. We had our first overseas holiday together to Fiji in 2015 and fell in love with the people, the culture and the Fijian life. We felt that returning to the place of that first holiday for our Wedding would be the perfect way to celebrate our union. We chose Sheraton Tokoriki Island because of the proximity to Nadi for guests to travel and the child friendly nature of the resort.
We spent a lot of time selecting where to stay and the logistics of getting everyone there as well as who we wanted for the various aspects. All in all it took about 4 months to organise however the help of our wedding planner Lavenia of Paradise Bride Fiji and the Sheraton staff made the process very simple.
We kick off the 2019 year with this beautiful wedding feature in the northern part of Fiji – Savusavu. Lillian and Arthur said ‘I do’ in a beautiful and intimate ceremony that clearly demonstrates their love for each other. Happiness is written across their faces the whole day long!
BRIDES NAME & GROOMS NAME: Lillian & Arthur Chaudhry
THE DATE: December 18 2018
THE LOCATION: Namale Resort and Spa, Savusavu, Fiji
THE NUMBER OF GUESTS: 5
When we saw Rachel and Michael’s 120-guest wedding at Leleuvia Island Resort over on photographer Zoom Fiji’s page, we knew instantly this would be a stunning feature! Not only is it the first time for Bula Bride to feature a wedding here, but the set up is simply gorgeous. Add the stunning background and the romantic story and we were hooked!
We catch up with Rachel on her wedding day:
Michael & I met in Suva about 16yrs ago at a poetry reading session. It was a whirlwind romance where we dated, got married and had our 3 beautiful girls and in the time it took to raise our girls and build our businesses we never found the time to have a large wedding ceremony. So finally after 16yrs and after much prodding from our girls, we decided to have a wedding.
Whilst it was a wedding ceremony, it was also a renewal of our vows and our 16 year wedding anniversary, which was made even more special because we were able to have our 3 girls involved.
We chose Fiji, because I’m from Fiji and all my kids were born in Fiji. My husband is also a Fijian citizen now. And we chose Leleuvia island resort because we are one of the owners of the resort, and also it’s one of the most beautiful and magical islands in the Pacific and a place where we have shared and created many beautiful memories with our families and friends.