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!
Melanie & Geoffrey have done what so many couple are choosing to do these days – create an intimate family wedding that doubles as a holiday at the same time. The Shangri La is the perfect venue for this as it is a family resort, with adults only options and intimate ceremony locations available for smaller wedding parties. From every part of the resort, the views out to the ocean are simply stunning. We catch up with bride Melanie on planning her wedding in Fiji.
BRIDE & GROOM: Melanie & Geoffrey THE DATE: 15 May 2019 THE LOCATION:Shangri-La Fiji THE NUMBER OF GUESTS: 10 (including us)
We met through online dating and had our first date at a coffee shop about 2 years ago. I remember being so sick prior to our date and almost cancelling on him but my mum pushed me to go and it was the best decision of my life. Geoff always says he knew we would be together from the moment he saw me. We immediately hit it off and could not stop talking, we talked about everything (and we still do!). Geoff is everything I ever dreamed of and more. He is an amazing father to my son and I couldn’t imagine our lives without him in it.
We were going on a family holiday to the Shangri-La and decided to get married while we were all together. We wanted an intimate, family wedding and couldn’t think of a better time or place to get married. Researching and organising our wedding involved lots of googling and emails back and forth between the resort and me. We kept it pretty simple and went with the recommendations of the resort. My mum is a travel agent so she did a lot of the planning for us. There were a few hiccups from the resort but mum was able to liaise with them to sort it out.
I liked reading stories on Bula Bride about other people and how and what they decided to do as part of their ceremony. Seeing photos was also really inspirational.
So you thought getting married in Fiji might mean a small group of 20 to 30 people coming to celebrate your wedding day, but you got your RSVP’s back and they all said YES! If you suddenly find yourself planning a destination wedding for 70+ and are feeling panicked, you are not alone.We often hear from Fiji Brides-to-be being in this situation, and we get emails like this one….. “Help! My fiancé and I are trying to plan our dream destination wedding with our own personal style but without going bankrupt. Our issue is we have a large invitee list of over 200 people (HUGE families). We obviously know and hope not all 200 can make it, however it is highly likely we will have 100+. Can anyone in Fiji cope with these numbers? Has anyone else planned a destination wedding that they were able to accommodate a large group for? We are open to different ideas on how to manage our wedding; we never thought it would be this big! Thanks in advance for the help!”
In this blog we will explore a few ideas on how to keep the planning under control when the group is big, and enlist some advice from one of our Vendors The Pearl Resort, Spa and Golf Course who deal with large wedding groups and events on a regular basis.
Alyce & Jai met when they were working at their local fast food restaurant at the age of 15. They had travelled to Fiji together before and both had fallen in love with it. They had always planned to have a destination wedding so that the guests would be able relax and enjoy the wedding in a beautiful location. They the Shangri La as it has something for everyone, and felt it was perfect for couples who wanted to relax and also for families with young children; plus it would make an incredible backdrop for their Fiji wedding day.
BRIDE & GROOM: Alyce and Jai Ellard THE DATE: 22nd November 2018 THE LOCATION: The Shangri-La Resort and Spa THE NUMBER OF GUESTS: 60
We catch up with Bride Alyce on planning her wedding in Fiji:
It took a lot of research to be able to successfully pull off our Fiji wedding! In particular there was a lot of research and phone calls around the flowers and the band for the reception. We used Mosese who was the wedding planner at the Shangri-La. He was extremely helpful and we found it much easier to communicate directly with him rather than through a number of different vendors. We also used Bula Bride to do a lot of our research – this is how we found our photographer!
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.
There is a growing trend of Fiji Elopements – and to be honest I don’t blame couples for choosing this option. Elopements are perfectly intimate, a special moment shared between just you and your partner and a perfect way to indulge yourselves in small but amazing wedding – your very own Fiji love story.
The money you would have spent on a big wedding can be put towards a luxury elopement experience for the most amazing week(s) of your life. And once you’re hitched it’s straight into the honeymoon – you’re already there!
Getting married, let alone overseas, can be a stressful occasion. When a couple decides that Fiji is the perfect wedding destination, the next big decision is to narrow down the selection of options and pick the right venue to suit their needs.
If you feel a bit overwhelmed at the choice available, you’re not alone. Many couples now seek assistance from a professional wedding planner or travel agent to help guide them in the right direction for their dream wedding.
Destination Wedding Planners like Anita from Wedding Travel assist couples from all over the world to plan their wedding day. Wedding Planners can help you plan and take care of everything: from the celebrant right down to honeymoon packages that you’ll love. With fantastic travel discounts and great advice on a variety of destinations, you can be assured of a stress-free Fiji wedding you will never forget.
Anita loves a deal and especially likes to find the best price for her customers. She guarantees to make every effort to search all the options to meet your budget requirements. With this in mind, she completed a recent trip to Fiji to visit 25 (!) properties to make sure she is armed with the latest information on the property, has personally seen places she is recommending, and staying up to date with all of their latest wedding offers.
After a very intensive week of travel, here are Anita’s top picks for 2023 Fiji wedding destinations:
We have been wanting to share a wedding at the Sofitel Fiji for a while as we are a big fan of this picture-perfect Denarau location. However we couldn’t quite find one recently that ticked all the boxes, until we came across the wedding of Grace and Jack, captured perfectly by Leezett Photography/Productions. In fact there are so many gorgeous photos that we couldn’t fit all of them into this blog! However we will have plenty of additional inspiration for you across on our social media pages, so stay tuned!
We catch up with bride Grace on what went in to planning her special day:
BRIDES & GROOM: Grace & Jack THE DATE: 6th October 2018 THE LOCATION: Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa THE NUMBER OF GUESTS: 62
We met at a mutual friends 21st Birthday in Adelaide and have been inseparable ever since. We wanted our wedding to not only be about us, but about our children, family and close friends so we chose a destination wedding. We love to travel and after hearing about Fiji from our friends and family we knew it was the perfect place to have our wedding.
We asked friends for location advice, followed Instagram pages, website forums and did lots of internet research. Once you know what you’re looking for, it was easy to find the perfect location and the suppliers we wanted to use. After finding the location and the suppliers we knew we had to have it, it was only a matter of getting in contact with them. The resort and the suppliers were very helpful and able to answer all of our questions.
Bula Bride is also an amazing forum with lots of really good information. We did a lot of research through this website and especially loved reading about the real Fiji weddings.
When Freddie met Lilly is an exclusive Bridal and evening wear label in the heart of Brisbane, Australia; launched in 2012 by Fashion Designer Vanessa Hoe.
After working for 21 years in the Australian Fashion industry, Vanessa saw an opening in Boutique Bridal, and sought to deliver an individualistic bridal experience to her clientele. An experience at When Freddie met Lilly extends luxury comfort, and privacy to clients, with a focus on one on one customer service – all within a stylish architecturally designed studio.
We take a look at their latest collection and inspire you with some beautiful designs we think are just perfect for a Fiji wedding.
Saskia & Ardie’s wedding caught our eye when Lydia from Totoka Hair & Make Up messaged me to say she had just done a stunning bride and thought the wedding was going to be equally as gorgeous. “I think the groom plays rugby” she said, and sent me a couple of sneak peak photos that had gone online. She wasn’t wrong about all her comments – the bride WAS gorgeous, the wedding WAS stunning, and the groom is well known All Black Ardie Savea. We couldn’t wait to take a look at this beautiful wedding!!
We catch up with bride Saskia on what went in to planning her wedding day in Fiji:
BRIDES & GROOM: Saskia & Ardie Savea THE DATE: 2/12/18 THE LOCATION: Sheraton Resort Fiji THE NUMBER OF GUESTS: 65 PHOTOGRAPHY BY:Hollow & Co
“We met at school through friends, and have been together ever since”
We choose Fiji as a location because we LOVE Fiji. We have been many times and always enjoy the atmosphere and people.
Researching and organising our wedding involved finding a resort, and then communicating with our awesome wedding planner, Miriama from Paradise Bride. She was incredible and did everything on the Fiji side of things, while we just decided on what bridal party will wear etc. She was amazing. Everything put together just looked gorgeous.
