Pat and Saskia

Pat proposed to me in the back of a horse and cart in Melbourne CBD one weekend and were due to go on a holiday to Bali and Thailand only 2 weeks after. It was a passing suggestion from Pat after we got engaged “what about getting married in Bali, we could have a group holiday?”.  I started looking in to destination weddings and low and behold, it was an entire section on some bridal blogs and websites. It was now a solid idea and I was more than ready to get on that bandwagon. Pat and I did some quick research around where we could potentially get married in Bali, we picked out some resorts and let it go from there. Fortunately Pat has family in Bali so we were lucky to have some help with communicating and getting the facts. I fell in love with Bali and I didn’t need any more convincing. We came across a resort that wasn’t on our list and knew immediately that it was the place. The Royal Santrian, and all its glory, a simply luxurious resort made up of individual private villas, a luscious green lawn and gardens, it was certainly the place, venue and reception ticked of our list. Finding a wedding decorator was the next big thing and we spent a number of months researching and reading blogs to get an idea of other people’s experiences. All of our friends and family were very excited about not only our wedding overseas but having a holiday at the same time. My family in particular is spread out over Australia and very rarely get to meet up, so this was an excellent opportunity!

I styled the bridesmaids’ outfits myself and essentially took the ladies on a guided shopping trip providing flexibility but maintaining some control on overall style, Sass & Bide sequin skirt, Sass & Bide dress and custom fascinators by Miss Show Pony and rose gold accessories. My wedding dress is the ‘Hortensia” gown from Hilde Heim, with an additional ruffle shoulder strap to balance my custom fascinator and waist brooch also by Miss Show Pony, bridal shoes were just a pair of beautifully jewelled sandals from Joanne Mercer.

There were a couple of hiccups along the way, my mum accidentally place a tea bag on my wedding gown sash. She said at first it wasn’t too bad and tried to get the stain out with toothpaste because it wasn’t that big. In the end, she didn’t want to tamper with it anymore so she took it to the hotel reception to get dry cleaned, only for it to be returned in a completely discoloured state. Never fear, mum is a bit of a jill of all trades and has extensive sewing experience and with a big of clever placement she was able to hide the most stained part behind where my shoulder strap ended at my waist. The second small disaster came when I asked the resort to steam my dress before I got dressed on the day only to receive it 15 minutes before the ceremony started, hence why I have no wedding photos of me in my dress before the wedding. Bridal flowers were arranged by The Royal Santrian and table decoration flowers were arranged by Bali Wedding Organiser.

Pat wanted to introduce a bit of colour also with the outfits that the men wore, so he matched shoe laces with bow ties as a quirky touch.

I found this cute little gift on Etsy – Pamela Loops and had one custom made to say “I love you Mr Brunet, see you soon, xx Mrs Brunet”.

Our invites and place cards were also sourced from Etsy – Skip to my Lou designs.

Just before heading to the ceremony, my bestie and I thought that the bouquets were looking a bit bland so we went at them with a few different shades of lipsticks.  Painted the petals of each flower to give them some colour, DIY just went to a whole different level!  This is obviously before they got beautified ;).

Photography by Veli Photography, an extraordinary photographer capturing moments in a unique way.

While we were off getting photos our guests had a few games of bocce.

We had these custom drink coolers made. We bought a stock photo of Bali with beautiful colours and sent the artwork to the supplier, added some text and Voila they were delivered in about a week.

Ikat table runners sourced via Etsy (shops no longer action) and the centrepiece holders I sourced from Etsy – PetiteSophisticateDZ.  I also did some DIY and glued fine glitter to all of them in different areas, either the base of the candle holder or the top rim in similar colours to the ikat runners.

It took about 7 months to complete the ribbon curtain (close to 2m long), spending time on it every few weeks or each time I received more rolls of ribbon. It was setup during the ceremony and then moved to behind the bridal table. It looked absolutely beautiful especially when there was a bit of a breeze.

Our guests enjoyed a 3 course meal, while a 2 piece band were playing in the background including fire throwers as entertainment during the evening.

Pat and I have always felt, if you put on a party it should have some element of great entertainment. For our engagement party we had a dance group come and perform and wore costumes similar to our party theme, it was freakin’ awesome! So of course for our wedding we needed to keep the party going and had a group of fire throwers come in and do two performances for us.

Photography by Veli Photography

Ms Gingham says: I love the fusion of Aussie quirkiness and the colours of the Bali setting. A gorgeous wedding!

Saskia says: “Saskia Brunet, recently married in Bali. I’m an interior design student and marketing and events manager every other day, husby is an events photographer and geekoid. “