Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship…
At the time of the wedding, Mark and I were living in a one bedroom villa in Mt Victoria Wellington. We both enjoy visiting the local bays, cafes and restaurants on offer.
During our holidays, we love exploring NZ and travelling overseas. We are prone to doing things slightly different to the norm; one example of this is the unique story of how we met.
Mark and I met in Bali in 2014, where we’d both gone on holiday with friends. I was living in London at the time and he was in Wellington, New Zealand.
We all got chatting at Ku de Ta beach club one afternoon and ended up hanging out the rest of the night. Unfortunately, Mark was at the end of his holiday and I was just beginning mine, so our next and final catch up was an afternoon at Potato Head before he headed to the airport. During our short time together in Bali, we’d made quite the impression on each other and decided to stay in touch.
Soon we were Whatsapping or Skyping on a daily basis and after a couple of months, Mark invited me to New Zealand for the Christmas break. The thought of going to the other side of the world to spend two weeks with a guy I ‘barely’ knew and to meet his whole family was pretty terrifying. However, I’m always up for adventure and I knew I’d have regrets if I didn’t go. Worst case scenario, it would make an entertaining story for my colleagues at work, who always enjoyed my dating chronicles. Fortunately, we ended up have a brilliant time in NZ and it was all just so easy, in what could have been a multitude of awkward and disappointing moments. We’d both really fallen for each and decided to at least try long distance, the longest distance, London to Wellington
Fast forward ten months, a trip to Thailand and Mark meeting my family in the UK, I gave up my job, and left my family and friends behind to move to New Zealand. This was a huge leap of faith, but you don’t meet someone who’s potentially ‘the one’ every day and we had to find out if this could work.
Two and a half years after I moved out to Wellington, we were back in Bali and getting married in front of 60 of our closest friends and family.
Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details…
The main reason we chose Villa Batujimbar was its rich history, which included Mick Jagger’s wedding to Jerry Hall, and the beautiful Balinese architecture and décor. The villa is full of character and set within stunning gardens, we didn’t want to detract from this and decided to keep the styling simple.
We went for a chic garden party vibe, coconuts for guests on arrival, festoon lights, lots of little flower arrangements and floating lanterns in the pool. The colour scheme was white with some gold details, like the cutlery and brass candle holders. The flower arrangements and bouquets included lots of peonies, orchids and tuberose. Tuberose has such a sweet heady scent and brings back happy memories of my childhood in India.
We really enjoyed the creative process, but it was challenging planning and visualising things from so far away. We didn’t get chance to visit Bali prior to the wedding and just kept our fingers crossed that it would all come together on the day.
Tell us about your main outfits:
The dress was the first thing I had sorted, which I hadn’t expected at all. Despite having a very clear idea of what I wanted – spaghetti straps, a full skirt and no lace, that style wasn’t popular at the time. All of my online searches were unsuccessful until I came across the Rue De Seine Sophia. Luckily Paperswan Bride in Wellington stocked the dress and my mum was visiting from the UK, so timing was perfect. The Sophia dress was the second dress I tried on at the consultation and I immediately felt very excited. I fell in love with the dupion silk, it had such a luxe feel to it and the simple silhouette gave the dress a timeless quality. The deciding factor was that I felt relaxed and totally myself, it even had pockets!
What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?
The pool party at the end of the night is one of my favourite memories. It started with the MC being pushed in and then most of the guests got involved. It was such a spontaneous part of the wedding and kept the party going well into the early hours – we even had synchronised diving at one point, all caught on a friend’s drone.
With Mark and I coming from opposite sides of the world, one of us is always missing our loved ones. Sharing this occasion with our nearest and dearest and having them all together in one place made it incredibly special.
Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?
Always be as open as possible with each other and don’t take your partner for granted – you’re a team.
Photography: Tut De | Videography: P1 Designs | Celebrant: Reverand Eka | Ceremony and Reception location: Villa Batujimbar, Sanur, Bali | Bride’s gown: Ru de Seine dress from Paper Swan Bride | Rings: The Village Goldsmith, Grae and Jacque Fine Jewellery | Shoes: Bianca Buccheri from Dolci Firme and Florsheim | Jewellery: Jennifer Behr | Fragrance: Gabrielle Chanel | Bridesmaid’s dresses: Reformation dresses | Groomsmen’s suits: Mix of suits
