Lucy and Nick
I’m always a little excited when it comes to sharing a destination wedding on Polka Dot Honeymoons. It makes me feel like I’m on holidays, which of course is part of the delight behind a destination wedding! Today’s celebration? A beautiful Balinese one with plenty of gorgeous details and holiday atmosphere!
Lucy explains how she and Nick came to be. “Nick and I met in 2003 at Bond University on the Gold Coast where we were both studying Film and Television. He was 20 and I was 19. From the moment we first met I knew something special was about to happen. It was when Nick was in Bali on a holiday with his mum that he tells me he decided he wanted to marry me.
However it was 7 years after we first met that Nick popped the question when we were in Perth visiting his family for Easter. We had talked very openly about getting married and above anything we both knew that we wanted to be together for the rest of lives well. The proposal was the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done for me. He had concocted an intricate plan that resulted in me peering through binoculars to find his Mum and sister on the back of his step-dad’s yacht with a massive hand painted sign that said “Marry Me Lucy”. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and when I turned around Nick was on one knee and asked me to be his wife. Such a magical experience.”
Photos today are by Photo Factory Bali who know Bali like the back of their hand (so they know the sunsets, the amazing locations and how to get the most out of your photographs!)
Lucy wore a gown by Rachel Gilbert . Gloriosa styled the event and created the floral arrangements. Lucy remarks “We wanted Shades of white, ivory, green and accent shades of pink colors & purple colours. The flowers roses, spray roses, lisianthus, hydrangeas, tuberoses blooms, cymbidium orchids. My bouquet was a mixture of ivory roses, white spray roses, pale pink roses, dusty pink lisianthus, pale blush pink spray roses and accents of light green hydrangea tied with natural twine. The bridesmaids had a mixture of ivory roses, white spray roses, white lisianthus and few green leaves tied with natural twine. Nick had a buttonhole using pale pink roses and white spray roses and the groomsman and woman had buttonholes and corsages using an ivory rose and white spray roses with a green leaf.”
Lucy and Nick married at Ombak Luwung, Canggu, Bali . Lucy recalls ” We wanted to keep the wedding intimate and after toying with the idea of holding it at a hotel, we decided for a private residence in gorgeous Canggu. We wanted a garden wedding with ocean views and a nice breeze. Ombak Luwung gave us exactly this. It also meant that we didn’t have to go anywhere for our photos because the estate had so many gorgeous areas for us to use. ” For the ceremony, the couple chose bench seats for the guests, a scattered white rose petal aisle and a gorgeous square bamboo canopy decorated with white chiffon drapes on each pole, and each pole decorated with flower tassel with white dendrobium orchids.
Lucy paid homage to her parents marriage. She remarks “My something old was my mum’s veil and flower headpiece that she wore at her wedding in the 70’s. They were in perfect condition, so beautiful and I felt incredibly happy to be able to wear them. I wore a pair of silver jewelled flats by Sandler. If I wore heels my outfit would have turned out too formal and I wanted a glam bohemian style so the flats worked well. They were also great for dancing in and easier to walk in on the grass!”
Lucy walked down the aisle to a solo acoustic guitarist playing an instrumental version of ‘Loving You’ by Minnie Ripperton and Stevie Wonder’s ‘For Once In My Life’ as the recessional. The couple hired Traffic Blues Band for their ceremony music and pre dinner drinks music.
One of Lucy’s favourite memories was “Walking down the aisle with my dad was such a surreal but beautiful experience and when I saw Nick standing under the canopy I was beaming ear to ear and I couldn’t help but sneak in a quick kiss after my Dad gave me away.” Kathy White, an Australian celebrant based in Bali performed the ceremony.
Lucy loved “Our vows – we didn’t say the traditional vows, instead we pieced together our own from various poems and ideas that our celebrant gave us. Writing them together made them so much more personal and heartfelt and when we said them on our wedding day they held that much more significance.”
The couple chose wedding rings from Brinkhaus. Lucy recalls “Karl Brinkhaus is an incredible jeweller. My husband designed my engagement ring using the ruby and diamonds from his grandmother’s ring. Karl did such beautiful work with the engagement ring we wanted him for our wedding bands also. My wedding band is a handmade 18 karat white gold band, pave set with 23 pointer diamonds. Nick has a classic plain flat palladium ring. We couldn’t be happier.”
Of marrying in Bali, Lucy explains “Bali is such an incredibly spiritual and peaceful place that it immediately created the perfect tone for our wedding. Being there with our friends and family was such a unique and beautiful experience for both of us and one we will remember and cherish dearly.”
Lucy and Nick chose to make the most of their intimate guest list. Lucy says “Because we had such a small guest list – 42 people – we had one long rectangular table that was set up under a beautiful white marquee on the decking area beside the pool. We had 6 table centerpieces in cylindrical glass vases of different heights filled with a beautiful pink, purple, green and white flower arrangement and the glass was wrapped with green leaf inside. We then used our bridesmaids and bridal bouquet as the three middle centrepieces.”
Lucy adored “Seeing everything come to life – having organised every detail from Australia and not being able to see the venue, the flowers or decorations or tasting the cake or food before the wedding day, meant I had to have complete faith in our suppliers. They were all incredibly talented, understanding and professional. What we saw and experienced on our wedding day was exactly as I had pictured it in my head, and having everything as a surprise made it all the more beautiful.”
An abundance of light transformed the reception into a magical space. Lucy explains “We hung fairy lights in the trees and had 2 bamboo floating platforms on in the pool filled with white and soft balsam flowers and candles in banana trunk shades. We also lit the grounds with 100 candles in banana trunk shades to go along the entrance, the dinner area, along the edges of beach front lawn and around the pool.”
Of their photographers, Lucy says “Photofactory were incredible. We wanted photos that weren’t too staged or traditional. We ordered a 6 hour package with 2 photographers. They arrived at 3pm and we had two hours of pre-wedding photos, the ceremony at 5pm, an hour of photos and then they were there for two hours for the reception which meant we didn’t have to stage the cutting of the cake or wedding dance and they just got it as it happened. The turnaround was unbelievable. We received the online album, two CD’s and two albums within 5 days of the wedding!!! I trusted them wholeheartedly and they delivered above and beyond what we could have imagined.”
Each guest received a favor purchased from Pink Frosting. Lucy explains “I love elephants and lucky elephants with their trunks up, so thought I would incorporate this in to our wedding, also seemed fitting due to our destination wedding in Bali. I ordered these gorgeous tea light candle ivory elephants from Pink Frosting and had them at each person’s place setting. The tea light candle also doubled as table decoration. I wanted something that people could and wanted to take home with them and that they would keep.”
Lucy says “Our first dance was to ‘Someone Like You’ by Van Morrison. We didn’t get dance lessons, instead it was Nick who taught me. It wasn’t something we wanted to stress about so we really only practiced a handful of times. It worked out perfectly and I think having had Nick teach me made it a very romantic moment.”
The cake was made by Ixora and catering was by Bali Good Food . Lucy recalls “What is a good wedding without good food. It was so important to us to have a yummy menu and people were talking about the food for weeks.”
DJ Cozi provided the music, turning the black and white chessboard into the dance floor for Lucy and Nick and their guests. “Nick and I are huge fans of music of the 60’s and 70’s and all of our main songs were from this era – Stevie Wonder, Minnie Ripperton and Peter Frampton. ”
Congratulations Lucy and Nick! Thank you for sharing your wedding day with us! Thank you also to Photo Factory Bali for sharing today’s photographs!
Photographer: Photo Factory Bali /
Styling & Hire: Gloriosa /
Bride’s Dress: Rachel Gilbert /
Bride’s Shoes: Sandler /
Groom’s Attire: Anthony Squires /
Hair & makeup artist: Yeanne /
Flowers & Decor: Gloriosa /
Venue: Ombak Luwung, Canggu, Bali /
Ceremony Officiant: Yeanne /
Ceremony Musicians: Traffic Blues Band /
DJ: Cozi /
Favors: Pink Frosting /
Catering: Bali Good Food /
Cake Baker: Ixora /
Wedding Rings: Brinkhaus
