Laura and Jacob’s Colourful Tropical Bali Wedding

Laura and Jacob’s colourful Bali wedding was filled with tropical influences, thoughtful details and some seriously beautiful natural backdrops. With the bride and groom holding a special connection to Bali already, they decided to create even more memories in their favourite location, and invited their closest friends and family along for the ride!

Situated in front of the world-renowned Seminyak beach, these guys could not have picked a more picturesque setting for their ceremony at The Legian Hotel, with a private villa and lush green gardens surrounding the resort.

We love a breathtaking ceremony entrance, and Laura and her girls were no exception! Descending from the incredible stone architecture of the venue, the bridal party was greeted by a sea of white petals creating a natural aisle on the lawn. An asymmetrical arbour was adorned with vibrant foliage, sitting between towering palm trees with panoramic ocean views at every turn. Talk about a picture-perfect backdrop!

Our stunning bride Laura radiated happiness and natural beauty, with the talented team at Glo Day Spa working their magic to create relaxed side-swept waves and soft, romantic makeup to complement her dreamy gown. The gorgeous bridesmaids rocked palm-leaf prints, while the groomsmen were decked out in white linen shirts and colourful boutonnieres. Even the guests were greeted with their very own parasols and straw fedoras – a fun, personal touch that exemplifies everything we love about Bali weddings!

After a heartfelt ceremony, guests enjoyed a cocktail party by the ocean before making their way to the Beach House to continue the festivities. With tropical influences and metallic details being Laura and Jacob’s brief for the styling, a botanical-inspired reception was created on the deck with two long, intimate tables. Tropical foliage spilled out from tall gold vases, with pops of bold magenta and fuschia tones adding some colour into the tablescapes. A sweet scattering of lanterns and tea lights created a beautiful glow along the earthy jute runners, enhanced by the strings of festoon lights hanging above.

It wasn’t long before the dance floor sprung to life, with acoustic entertainment and a pool filled with inflatable toys to kick off the evening’s celebrations! And to end the night – an amazing fireworks display, organised by Laura as a sweet surprise for her new hubby.

It’s obvious through the incredible images by Bali Photo Factory exactly how much fun was had by Laura, Jacob and their crew of friends and family. We chat to the newlyweds below about their experience planning a destination wedding, their top tips for seeking inspiration and their wise words of advice for other couples getting hitched in Bali!

How we met: We meet through mutual friends that worked with Jacob
The proposal: Jacob proposed to me while we were on a holidays on South Stradbroke Island in Queensland. We rode bikes to a private beach on the island and he asked me while we were at the beach and had written a beautiful letter. It was very romantic.

The Details…
Wedding date: Thursday 31 August 2017
Wedding Ceremony Venue: The Legian Hotel – in the gardens
Wedding Reception Venue: The Beach House – A large private three-bedroom villa apart of The Legian Hotel
Total Guests: 43 adults and 8 kids

Our style/Inspiration: The style of our wedding was a tropical theme, lots of tropical leaves and greenery with hints of gold included throughout our reception.
Who we couldn’t have done it without (Bali Supplier): All our suppliers were fabulous. Our wedding coordinator Lady from The Legian and Glo Spa for our hair and make up. They went above and beyond assisting in hair, make up and last minute mani/pedicures on the day.
Advice for future Bali Brides: My advice is to research all your suppliers very well if you are planning overseas, as most will require deposits to lock them in and you need to trust they understand your vision of your special day. The Bali Bride website have great suggestions of reputable suppliers which is very helpful. Having a wedding planner or coordinator in Bali can assist in contacting and organising everything along the way.

Thanks for your great suggestion Laura! Head to The Bali Bride Directory HERE!

Our Wedding Day…
Wedding Planner/Stylist: Lady Gweene from The Legian Bali. Lady was helpful from the very minute of speaking with her. She helped from our menu, to decorations, contacting suppliers and helped me make sure our wedding was perfect.
Décor/Furniture: The furniture came from either The Legian Bali in our wedding package or our florist also hire’s out some décor which we used from the reception.
Flowers/Florist: Martha Florist, Gustra Putra the owner has an amazing Instagram my sister in law had been following. He has years of experience in wedding and events he was helpful in assisting in everything, even a few last minute items.
Hair & Make-up: Hair and Make up was by Glo Spa Bali they did the most amazing job. We were very busy on the day with 5 bridesmaids, 1 junior bridesmaid, my mum and mother in law spent the day with the team at Glo Spa all making us look beautiful. Every bride on her wedding day wants to feel as beautiful and I felt like a princess!
Photography: Windee from Bali Photo Factory. I came across the Bali Photo Factory online and the pictures he takes are so magical. We had a meeting the week of the wedding and Windee was happy to work with the style of photograhy we liked.
Videography: We didn’t choose to have a videographer on the day, but our photographer from the Bali Photo Factory did have this as an option.
Favours: Our Favours were bought over from Australia. The males at the wedding received a gold palm tree bottle opener and the females got a gold pineapple wine stopper. The kids also received gifts, which had a polaroid camera with a fun photo game included, colouring items and things to do at the reception. All our guests received a hangover kit in a beautiful woven bad. We placed these on the chairs at the reception, these included everything they may have needed the next day with items such a Berocca, Pocari Sweat drinks, panadol, chewing gum, wipes and sanitizer etc. All of our guests loved these.
Celebrant: The team at My Bali Celebrant assisted in every aspect in becoming legally wed overseas in Bali. There package included the trip to the Australian embassy, the church and a meeting with the priest.
Catering: The Legian Bali have the most amazing team of chefs and we choose a delicious menu buffet style with live cooking station. The chefs prepared some of the items on the spot for our guests.
Cake/Dessert: The Legian Bali provided amazing desserts in our wedding package. Our cake we brought over from Australia and was a white chocolate smash cake from Nina’s Chocolates in Sydney. My mother in law is the cake queen and she put together and decorated the master piece the day before. Instead of cake our guests received a gourmet chocolate, which once we smashed the cake these were handed around by the team from The Legian Bali.
Stationery/Invitations: I hand-made all the invitations myself using an online program called Canva and to go with our tropical theme we collected banana leaves and wrapped the invitations with the leaves.
Entertainment: Our entertainment for the day was a band called La Puja, they played our wedding ceremony when I walked down the aisle, during a cocktail party at the beach and then at our reception at the beach house. I would highly recommend the band for anyone. As a surprise to the groom we organised with the hotel a fireworks display, which was extremely special and topped off a perfect day.
Transport: Majority of our guests were staying at the The Legian Bali hotel or close by in Seminyak so we did not have to organize any transport on the day.
Gift Registry: We did not make a gift registry, but we left it up to our guests if they would like to give a gift. We were so grateful for everyone traveling overseas to share our special day that for us that was more than enough.
Wedding Songs: I walked down the aisle to Somewhere over the rainbow the band La Puja sang the version by Israel Kamakawiwo, our entrance song was All of the Lights by Kanye West.

The Bridal Party Details…
Bride’s Dress: My dress was by Tara Lauren and it was their Violet Dress. It comes in two parts. There is a tight beaded dress with a low back which I wore for the reception, but it comes with an overlay which I wore for the more formal ceremony.
Bride’s Shoes: Wanted Shoes
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: The bridesmaid dresses where from a great site called Show me your mumu. My bridesmaids could chose what design would suit there body shape but they were all in the same print
Bridemaid’s Shoes: They chose there own they just had to be tan or light brown.
Groom’s Attire & Shoes: Sportscraft linen shirts, industry shorts and Ralph Lauren Polo tan shoes.
Flowergirls/Page Boys: Our Flower girl wore TuTu De Monte and the page boys matched the groomsmen
Jewellery: Angus and Coote
Honeymoon Details: Everyday feels like a Honeymoon for us. We stayed for a week after at The Legian Bali as it is an amazing hotel and we have a baby Oscar and it is a great pace travelling with a baby.

The final part…
Where did you find your styling inspiration for your Bali wedding? We got our inspiration from lots of bridal websites Pinterest and Instagram.
What was the hardest part about planning a destination wedding? I found it hard not being in the same country as the suppliers so I could only have a face to face meeting once we landed in Bali. It is important to use suggestions from websites like The Bali Bride so you know you can put your trust into the supplier you choose.
Why did you choose Bali as your wedding destination? Jacob chose the venue and we both love Bali so it was an easy choice. Growing up Jacob and his family spent lots of family holidays in Bali, it made sense to add some more special memories in a great country.
How did you stay organised while planning a destination wedding? Planning a wedding you need to be very organised. I am grateful for the help and support from my mother in law, my mum and our families.