Meaghan and Luke’s Romantic Bohemian Wedding at Villa the Sanctuary in Canggu

Meaghan and Luke’s romantic Bali wedding is the bohemian celebration of our dreams! Filled with eclectic styling and colourful blooms, these two tied the knot at Villa the Sanctuary in Canggu alongside their closest friends and family.

Planned by the incredible team at Wonderland Bali Events, Meaghan and Luke wanted to create a relaxed boho wedding that reflected their free-spirited personalities – and we think you’ll agree their stylist Anastasia executed their vision to an absolute tee.

This beautiful Canggu celebration began with an intimate garden ceremony, styled beautifully with oversized floral arrangements and romantic linen draping. From there, guests enjoyed a colourful cocktail hour on the lawn, decked out with an eclectic array of bohemian furniture from Wonderland Rentals.

As the sun set, the group enjoyed an al fresco dinner under the stars amongst long white tables, rattan chairs, and the most incredible canopy of florals and fairylights. Table arrangements were filled with bold pops of colour and elegant gold tableware, while hanging basket lights completed the boho-inspired setting.

Diktat Photography was there to capture all of the beautiful details from this romantic destination wedding, so keep scrolling to see how this epic Canggu day unfolded. Meaghan and Luke also share their inspiration for the day, their top tips for planning a destination event, and the dream team of Bali suppliers that made it all happen!

How we met:

It was a beautiful summer night and I was with my girlfriend – we had ordered take out from a place in our local town and Luke called her asking what she was up too. Turns out he was literally around the corner with a friend, so they ended up meeting with us. I was so mad at my girlfriend because I had just hopped out of the shower, my hair was wet and I had no makeup on. When they arrived, it just so happened to be that Luke’s friend and I had met a few years earlier in Bali. We all got talking and we decided to head to the beach, to a place which became one of our favourite spots, our ‘secret location’. Luke was 18 and I was 20, so both very young.

The very next day, Luke decided to have a party as his parents had gone away for the weekend. Myself and 3 girlfriends went and the rest is history. All it took was to meet that one night and we became infatuated over each other. It wasn’t long before I moved in with him. He bought me our very first kitten, Bronson. We built our first home, got engaged and now we have another little baby kitten, Betty. Everything happens for a reason and I count my lucky stars everyday that we had met that night.

A little fun fact is that we both went to a housewarming party when we were around 5 & 7, how cute is that! Fate obviously drew us back together.

The proposal:

I had organised for us to go glamping at a beautiful property in Eltham, Victoria. This was a month after our 4 year anniversary (he was going to propose on our anniversary (I didn’t know this) but we were unable to get into glamping as it was fully booked)! I had NO idea as I had planned the whole thing. The host of the glamping location was going to take us into town so we could enjoy a nice dinner together, little did I know that Luke had gone behind my back and organised for the host to prepare a 3 course dinner (pasta being the main course, my fav). The host had organised for the jacuzzi to be turned on warmed for the night. I wasn’t keen on going in the jacuzzi as it was the middle of winter, but Luke insisted, I now know why he was so persistent. It was a beautiful clear night, under the stars and it was perfect. The host had brought out desserts for us to enjoy, in a beautiful platter with fairy lights & there it was.. my ring! I turned to Luke and he had this big smile, I couldn’t believe what was happening & he said ‘So, how bout it?’ A classic Luke line and of course the answer was YES!

Wedding date: 17th June 2019 – our six year anniversary

Wedding Ceremony Venue: Villa the Sanctuary, Canggu

Wedding Reception Venue: Villa the Sanctuary, Canggu

Total Guests: 88

Our Style/Inspiration: Pinterest & Instagram. A LOT of wedding venues and planners from BALI! I’m a very free spirit & love boho style everything. This was our main goal, and our wedding felt so intimate even though we had so many guests there with us. Romantic feels.

Who we couldn’t have done it without: WONDERLAND BALI

Advice for future Bali Brides:

Don’t stress! It is going to be the most magical day of your life, enjoy EVERY second. Take everything in and create precious memories that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Have trust and faith in your wedding planner, they will make your day more than you could ever imagine.

Wedding Planner/Stylist:

The AMAZING Anastasia Wolf from Wonderland Bali. I cannot fault Ana, she is such an incredible stylist. I honestly cannot put into words how grateful I am for everything she did over the year whilst organising our wedding. I was SO indecisive, stuck for ideas as I was in between styles and inspiration. The hardest thing for me to choose was flowers. Ana and I went back and forth on this for months, I was stressing so hard. I put my faith in Ana and told her to do what she thinks, and boy do I not regret that decision. The flowers were phenomenal. She covered everything so perfectly, every detail was captured & I am literally still in awe of the whole day. I am truly blessed to have found her.

Décor/Furniture: Wonderland Bali Furniture – Wonderland Rentals & Bali Event Furniture.

Flowers/Florist: Gloriosa Flower House

Hair & Make-up: My girlfriend did our hair. Her Instagram is @hair.mkm. Make Up was Renee Petit – incredibly talented makeup artist. I HIGHLY recommend her to any brides looking at using her services. I am very picky when it comes to makeup, and she made me feel so comfortable and beautiful. I wore less makeup on the day of the wedding than I do in everyday life, and the coverage was exceptional.

Photography: Diktat Photopraphy – WOWEEEEEEE. These gents nailed it. I am so blessed that they captured our day so perfectly. They got so many photos of the guests too, which was extremely important to me. I wanted our guests to reflect back on our day just as much as we can.

Videography: Arum Film. I literally decided on these guys 2 weeks before the wedding as Ana had suggested them. They only had a few videos to go off, but I felt confident and trusted Ana. Our video is the most precious thing I have from the day. The captured everything so perfectly. I cry every time I watch it. It just leaves me speechless.

Favours: I had bought over wooden carved name place cards as their favours, to make it a little personal! I bought these off a site on Etsy – Candy Bar Sydney!

Celebrant: Matt George – he was American, recommendation by Ana. He was fabulous and made everything run so smoothly & told our love story perfectly.

Catering: Table D’or & Beverages were through Elite Bar Solutions

Cake/Dessert: Butter Bali supplied the cake – I didn’t have a chance to eat any BUT apparently it was the most amazing vanilla cake they had EVER tasted. All other desserts were supplied by the catering company.

Stationery/Invitations: We did wooden Mandalas for our save the dates off Etsy – Red Pineapple Shop. They were a hit. Our wedding invitations were from an Aussie company called Sail and Swan – the invitations were also timber, to match in with our save the dates! I had these personalised to add a mandala print.

Entertainment: DJ was Ian Taylor!

Transport: Our beautiful Bali friend, DJ who is like family had organised 4 12 seaters buses for us to collect from 2 locations (Legian and Seminyak). He attended the wedding as guest but organised this prior to the wedding for us. His facebook is DJ BALI TOUR & Instagram @djbalitour

Gift Registry: We specifically asked for no gifts as we preferred our family and friends coming over to Bali to be with us. Their presence was far more important than presents!

Wedding Songs:

Before the wedding: We played Ziggy Alberts & Ben Howard to set the mood, 2 incredible folk artists!
Down the Aisle – Crazy Love – Juke Ross
Signing – Slow Dance – Ziggy Alberts, we also used this song in our wedding trailer video!
Announcement – Riptide – Vance Joy
Bridal Entrance to reception – Shake it off remix by Taylor Swift – huge fangirl of Tay Tay.
Daddy daughter dance – Butterfly fly away – Miley Cyrus
First Dance – You Are In Love – Taylor Swift cover by Mackenzie Johnson
Cake Cutting – Only Love – Ben Howard

Bride’s Dress: Grace Loves Lace – Fabienne. Discontinued style & my second dress was the Canyon Moon Mesh Gown from Spell Designs.

Bride’s Shoes: Barefoot & then foot jewellery when I swapped into my second dress. The foot jewellery was off Etsy – Forever Soles

Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Coven & Co

Bridemaid’s Shoes: Barefoot

Groom’s Attire & Shoes: Shirts were white linen from Peter Jackson, pants were from Politix & shoes were from Betts (men). They ended up going barefoot on the day!

Flowergirls/Page Boys: The girls dresses were from a store on Etsy – Jolijolies

Jewellery: I wore my engagement ring, a half crescent moon ring and borrowed blue ring. I’m not a big jewellery person. My sisters (bridesmaids) wore earrings from Lovisa & their own rings.

The rings: All our rings were from Michael Hill

Honeymoon Details:

After the wedding we were in Bali for another 2 ½ weeks. We spend 1 ½ weeks with our families as this was their first trip to Bali. In the final week, Luke and I packed a backpack each & jumped on the scooter and off we went. We explored so many beautiful parts of Bali that we had never been to before. It was such an incredible experience, and I am thankful that we were able to spend that time together in a place that we both love so much. We started in Uluwatu then headed to Gianyar, Candidasa, Selat, Ubud, Kabupaten & then back to Gianyar. The places were sensational, Our favourite being Camaya Bali, right near Mt Agung.

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

Pinterest and Instagram were my two mains. All wedding villas & planners I would follow and take bits and pieces from their weddings. I had been collecting images for years, even before I was engaged we all do it, haha)! Ana and I would share thoughts to achieve a style best suited for me and Luke. I wanted to have a wedding that was so different from every other wedding that we have been too. Our wedding was a complete fairytale, it was breathtaking. I still receive so many compliments and messages, it’s such a nice feeling.

What was the hardest part about planning a destination wedding?

The guestlist!!!!! I struggled with this so much, it is by far the worst thing to do when planning a wedding, especially overseas. I made a small weekend trip with my bridesmaids to do food tasting, alcohol tasting, makeup trial and to meet with Ana, Nothing was too hard, and I highly recommend a destination wedding. You will not regret it.

Another hard thing was knowing that some family members wouldn’t be able to attend due to travelling/costs etc. We chose to go ahead with it, and they were all so supportive.

Why did you choose Bali as your wedding destination?

Bali was my first overseas holiday with my best friend Taylah. I finally convinced Luke to come to Bali, he had no interest in coming whatsoever & he LOVED it. It has always been a special place for us as it was over first overseas trip together. Our wedding trip was my 8th trip & it was Luke’s 4th trip.

How did you stay organised while planning a destination wedding?

I had a big folder with everything printed. I used this right at the beginning when I first started collating ideas and inspiration. Ana and I talked on WhatsApp pretty much everyday & I found that it was such an effective way of communication. She always used a program called DRIVE which had our quote and moodboard. I ended up using this for pretty much everything. I’m a very organised person as is, so that helped.

Budget: We went in with a budget of around $35k -$40k

Actual Cost: $45k – $50k, including dress & flights etc. It was worth every penny, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.