Rhiarna & Chris’s Classic White Wedding at Villa Tamarama in Uluwatu

Planning a less-traditional destination wedding just felt right for lovebirds Rhiarna and Chris. With Bali being their annual holiday hot-spot, they chose to spend their big day celebrating abroad with a bunch of loved ones – and in their words, they couldn’t wipe the smiles from their faces!

Following an unexpected proposal on Christmas Day (just wait until you hear the adorable engagement story below!), Rhiarna and Chris wanted to share their love of Bali with their closest friends and family, creating a Hamptons-inspired setting in beautiful Uluwatu.

Taking place at The Ungasan Clifftop Resort (one of our Bali venue faves) and inspired by fresh whites, lush foliage and a classic colour palette, Rhiarna and Chris joined forces with the talented team at Global Weddings who brought their vision of a relaxed beach wedding to life amongst the stunning grounds of Villa Tamarama.

From their flower-filled beachfront ceremony overlooking the Indian Ocean, to an elegant outdoor reception under the stars, every element of this beautiful Bali wedding was styled to absolute perfection. Decked out with modern pieces from the Bali Event & Furniture Rental range, their luxe setting was complete with a statement floral arch, white tiffany chairs and crystal chandeliers suspended above intimate round tables for a contemporary and elegant feel.

Tablescapes were styled with soft linens and lush floral arrangements atop gold wire frames, with laser-cut place cards adding a personal touch to each setting. As the sun set in the evening, an incredible atmosphere was created with light-up letters, glowing lanterns and a sleek white dance floor overlooking the ocean. Not to mention the semi-naked cake from Ixora Cakes (serving up white chocolate and caramel goodness for guests to devour!) and one seriously sweet first dance.

The entire celebration was captured in such gorgeous detail from our talented friends at Terralogical, and we couldn’t be more excited to share these love-filled moments with you below. Keep reading to see all of the beautiful snaps from Rhiarna and Chris’ Bali wedding, along with their top tips for staying organised, researching suppliers and finding inspiration for a destination wedding to remember!

The Story of Rhiarna & Chris

How we met: Chris and I grew up in our small town of Ballarat and actually lived only a few blocks from each other. We met ‘out on the town’ in one of the nightclubs in Ballarat.

The proposal: To start with…I was not expecting a proposal whatsoever. Chris did an amazing job of completely surprising me on Christmas day of 2015. We had woken up and he asked me to go into our living area. He walked in with a huge box and two large canvases. I opened up the canvases which had photos of our entire relationship printed on them ( I thought it was such a nice gift but still completely oblivious to what was about to happen). I then proceeded to unwrap the box which was filled with smaller boxes until I finally got to a very small box at the end and as I looked up Chris was on his knee and asked me to marry him. I was in absolute shock so I think it took me a while to actually process it all. I love that he completely surprised me!

Wedding date: 27/09/17

Wedding Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Ungasan Clifftop Resort- Villa Tamarama

Total Guests: 80

Our style/Inspiration: We wanted everything to be really fresh and white. Villa Tamarama was perfect as It has a very ‘Hamptons’ feel to it and was the most perfect backdrop along with the stunning views of the Indian ocean.

Who we couldn’t have done it without: All of the amazing suppliers sourced by Global Weddings.

Advice for future Bali Brides: Do lots of research of real weddings and start to get an idea of what you both are really wanting…for us, finding the ideal location was our first priority and once we locked Villa Tamarama in we went from there. We would recommend having a wedding planner. Global Weddings were so professional and having planned so many weddings they really made such a difference to the execution of our day. Especially with little things that you don’t even realize can make an impact. Chris and I both work full time with quite busy jobs and being able to rely on Michelle and Narelle took so much pressure off and allowed us time to actually enjoy the process.

Our Wedding Day…

Wedding Planner/Stylist:

Global Weddings

Décor/Furniture:

Bali Event and Furniture Rental. I loved our large initial letters for our reception!

Flowers/Florist:

WIB Flowers. I remember when I saw our flower arch as I walking down the aisle and I was blown away. It exceeded my expectations and was a beautiful feature.

Hair & Make-up:

Hair by Kat O’Hara from Dollface Darlings: Kat and her team were so experienced and lovely to work with.

Make up by Catherine Louise (Australian make up artist)

Photography:

Terralogical– they made us feel so relaxed and were so friendly.

Videography:

Point One Designs

Favours:

We had personalized wooden fans for our female guests and fedoras for the males (these doubled up as useful accessories to help with the Bali heat).

Celebrant:

Greg Egli– Chris and I were wanting a really relaxed ceremony. Greg was brilliant and made us feel so relaxed and was able to add lots of humour which is what we wanted.

Catering:

Ungasan Catering

Cake/Dessert:

We had an amazing semi nude cake made by Ixora Cakes. We opted for two of our favourite flavours, White Chocolate and Caramel. Our cake was served on the night in addition to tiramisu.

Stationery/Invitations:

Our Save the Dates were made by Wedding Paper Chic and Wedding invitations by State of Elliott.

Entertainment:

We opted for a DJ.

Transport:

N/A for wedding party. Guests arrived on a bus from seminyak.

Wedding Songs:

Down the Aisle: As the aisle was so long we actually had 2 songs. My bridesmaids walked down to Ed Sheerans’s Tenerife Sea and I walked down to Sam Smith’s acoustic version of Latch.

Signing the registry: Ed Sheeran, Photograph

Announcement: Coldplay, Something Just Like This

First Dance: Ed Sheeran: Perfect

The Bridal Party Details…

Bride’s Dress: Pallas Haute Couture. I travelled to Sydney to have my dress made… I knew I wouldn’t be able to pick a dress off a rack so I decided to have my dress completely made for me. It was amazing to be a part of the process of making my dream dress.

Bride’s Shoes: Sergio Rossi

Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Forever New

Bridemaid’s Shoes: Forever New

Groom’s Attire & Shoes: Purchased from Eddi Elias Menswear

Jewellery: I wore Samantha Wills earrings.

The rings: Custom designed from the diamond guys.

Honeymoon Details: We decided to stay in Bali but travelled to the Gili Islands which we absolutely loved and would recommend to any honeymooners. We finished our honeymoon staying at a beautiful villa at the W hotel in Seminyak.

Where did you find your styling inspiration for your Bali wedding?

It is fair to say that I did lots and lots of research online to gain some inspiration. I used Pinterest as a starting point and just began to pin lots of ideas that I liked. From there I found Instagram a great resource and searched lots of hashtags that included #Baliweddings….this is where I found The Bali Bride and found several ‘real weddings’ that I gained inspiration from.

I also looked at so many wedding videos and this is where we really decided that the Ungasan was the venue we had to go with. It felt right and was definitely ‘the look’ we were going for as we wanted our guests to be ‘wowed’. We also made the decision to keep our wedding location a ‘secret’ which was one of the best decisions to add to the ‘wow factor’.

What was the hardest part about planning a destination wedding?

Initially we found the decision to have a destination wedding the ‘hardest’ part. We both knew that this is what we wanted but we were apprehensive about our guests being willing/able to travel. Once we put the feelers out and had such a positive response we felt so much better. It was important for us to send out a Save the Date super early in order for our guests to be able to start organising themselves. Having a wedding planner made the rest of the planning side of things so much easier. Global weddings are absolutely amazing and we honestly could not have planned the wedding we had without them.

Why did you choose Bali as your wedding destination?

Chris and I had been to Bali for the first time roughly five years ago. Chris was in a very close friend’s wedding and we just fell in love with Bali. Since then we have been back every year and always have the most amazing holiday. For us, Bali is everything that we want in a holiday. We love the people, food, sun, shopping and the amazing hotels and beautiful relaxed vibe.

We both knew that we didn’t want a ‘traditional’ wedding and always loved the idea of a beach wedding. We also wanted to share our love for Bali with our family…many of whom had never been there. Our wedding was a great excuse to get everyone together and I honestly don’t think Chris and I could wipe the smiles off our faces knowing we could share this with our loved ones.

How did you stay organised while planning a destination wedding?

Having a wedding planner!!! Once again I cannot stress enough how easy Global Weddings made it. After meeting with the Global Weddings team in Melbourne and talking through what we wanted, we were then able to correspond via email. I was able to share photos of ideas I liked….whether that be a flower arch or the table centres…..they were able to get it for me! Nothing was ever too much trouble and it made me feel so relaxed.