Images by Terralogical I had always pictured getting married in a tropical paradise with running water and a tranquil rainforest setting. Bali immediately came to mind and Brian and I took a holiday to go and look at locations. We saw many beautiful places but none that felt quite right. I stopped in North Qld to look at locations there also but still had no luck finding our dream wedding venue. We had been to a wedding at Villa Botanica in Airlie Beach so our hopes for our wedding were set sky high. When we heard that Botanica Bali were starting to organise weddings in Bali and the venue was in Ubud which is a rainforest setting we knew that it would be exactly what we were looking for. We immediately booked the venue.

Bali had long been on our to-do list and after our initial visit we were convinced that it was the right location for our wedding. It had all the things we could ask for, beautiful scenery, lovely people, amazing food and a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. It was our version of paradise.

We had 40 guests attend (approximately half family and half friends). We thought it was the perfect size wedding because we were able to spend time with everyone. Our guests were excited to be attending a destination wedding and they all made holidays out of the trip. We stayed at the same hotel and the hotel filled with our family and friends in the days leading up to the wedding giving our guests a chance to get to know each other prior to the wedding.

My favourite memory of the day was our wedding dance. We were both quite nervous to perform our dance so we decided to do our dance as soon as we walked in to the venue. When we walked in to the venue it was breathtaking. I have never seen a scene so beautiful. All our family and friends at one long table under the soft lights and lanterns in the trees. It was magical. The music began and we danced our waltz. It was the one and only time we managed to dance the whole dance through, just as it was meant to be. We couldn’t have been any happier.

We wanted our wedding to represent us exactly as we are. It was extremely important to us that everyone felt included and so we decided on one long table for all our guests. We were very lucky that our guest numbers allowed for one table. The colour and theme for the wedding was modern elegance. We had white flowers and lights and let the scenery speak for itself. We included champagne sashes on the chairs and the bridesmaid wore a champagne silk flowing dress. We wanted our wedding to feel relaxed and above all to be a fun celebration of our lives together. All of our guests described the wedding as beyond anything they could imagine.

The night before the wedding we had a dinner at the Ubud Jazz Café. It was the perfect ice-breaker and the food and venue were amazing. The venue was recommended to us by our wedding coordinator Kathryn.

Our wedding coordinator was Kathryn. She was quite simply, amazing. She was organised, and was a pleasure to deal with. Kathryn went out of her way to make sure that every idea we had could be achieved and on the day every last detail was taken care of. I felt completely assured with the wedding in her hands.

Having all of our family and friends in the one place and making such a memorable holiday out of the experience was something we will never forget. Our guests have even suggested making it an annual trip.

We took our honeymoon a month later so that we could enjoy the time in Bali with our guests. We travelled down to the beach and spent another week with our friends celebrating.

For our honeymoon we headed to Bangkok, Thailand and then back to the Pan Pacific at Tanah Lot, Bali.

Make sure you find a planner who understands you and your partner and who you can trust with your day. Don’t be afraid to ask. If you have an idea or a picture in mind go for it.

Images by Terralogical

Watch the wedding video of Natalie and Brian - Video Production by Light and Love