Planning a Wedding in Bali

Wedding on a beach in Bali - photo by Marie

What a romantic idea - a wedding in Bali! Idyllic tropical beaches and magical sunsets! What could be better? Well, it looks like a lot of people think that this is a good idea as weddings in Bali appears to be very popular. Many of the resort hotels along the coast offer wedding packages.

Waiting for the bride on the beach- photo by Marie

Room in hotel to get ready- photo by Marie

Planning a wedding in South Africa can be a daunting thought. So, much more so planning a wedding overseas, one would think. But one would be wrong! Planning a wedding overseas is basically the same as planning a trip overseas. So, what are the steps in planning an overseas trip and including a wedding. If you have a trusted travel agent lik,e Jessica Cameron, from Travel counselors,  (e-mail address: jessica.cameron@travelcounsellors.co.za  ) planning an overseas trip is a piece of cake. Step 1, book flights. Step 2, get travel insurance. Never leave home without travel insurance. Hopefully you will never need it, but boy when you need it, you really need it! Step 3, book hotels. I pretty much do all of my hotel booking on www.booking.com Works pretty well and I have made use of this system many times. Step 4. arrange transport in the country. We always make use of Widi
(e-mail address: gedewidiarta13@gmail.com) in Bali to do all of our transport and tour needs. We have made use of his sevices many times and he is really great. Always goes out of his way to help.
Once these four basic steps are done, you have pretty much arranged an overseas trip! Now what about the cost of arranging a wedding in Bali?

Transformed wedding venue

Long walk from the hotel room to the beach- photo by Marie

When looking at the traditional wedding venues, it can be super expensive. For example,  just making use of a very small quaint wedding venue in the Western Cape was R 20 000-00! This does not include anything else - just the privilege of making use of the venue for a day!  Yes, this venue was made popular on a South African TV program on weddings, but still - R 20 000.00 just for the venue! No food, no decor, nothing else  - just the empty room! A traditional wedding with just a few close friends and family members can cost upwards of R 200 000.00. That is the cost of quite a few overseas trips! You can see where my priorities lie!

Flowers for the wedding - photo by Marie

What are the costs involved in arranging a wedding in Bali?  Well, obviously there is the cost of the plane ticket which can be the most expensive part of arranging the wedding.

Hotel costs in Bali are substantially cheaper than in many other countries. A good hotel will cost not much more than between R 1000.00 to R 1500.00 per room per night (around R 500.00 per person sharing - breakfast included). We found a really great hotel at R 900-00 per room per night! Obviously there are some really expensive hotels, but the average price for a good quality hotel is affordable. The cost of food in Bali is also pretty cheap. For example we had a wonderful seafood dinner, plus Vegan options for 6 people and it cost a little more than R 1000-00. The seafood dinner included high cost items such as crab and lobster. The average good meal will be around R 60.00 to  R 80-00. So basically, traveling to Bali is still a pretty affordable option, even with our terribly weak rand!

Now what about the costs of arranging the wedding? As I mentioned at the start of this blog, most of the bigger hotels along the coast have wedding packages. The costs obviously depend on what you want and how many people will be attending. The average package starts at around R 25 000-00 which pretty much includes everything, except food and drinks.  It does include the venue, a lot of flowers, including the bride's bouquet, flowers for her hair, boutonnieres for the groom and father of the bride and generous big flower arrangements on the tables, on both sides of the isle  as well as a flower petal isle on the beach. The cost also included setting up with chairs and a table for the ceremony as well as some traditional Balinese umbrellas. This cost also included setting up the table for the celebration dinner after the ceremony. The dinner was at additional costs and was a wonderful 5 course dinner, including vegan options for the two vegans in the group.

Notice to the hotel guests

One thing in Bali which is a bit expensive is alcohol. Beer is pretty affordable, but wine and champagne is costly. You can pay around R 400.00 to R 500.00 for a nice Australian red wine. This is at the lower end of the wine prices.  The cheapest champagne is around R 600.00 per bottle. Other drinks such as whiskey is also on the expensive side.


So, when Hardy and Natalie decided to get married, they  decided to get married in Bali! Just the immediate family.


Now the fun started. Looking at wedding venues in Bali. There are so many options as all of the big hotels along the coast offer wedding packages. They decided on the wedding package at the Keraton Jimbaran Beach Resort keratonjimbaranresort.com in Jimbaran Bay. Jimbaran Bay is a wonderful place in Bali. It is perfect for sunsets. The sun sets into the ocean and you often have the most stunning reflections and lighting along the beach. If there are some clouds thrown in, then you get the most stunning sunsets. We also booked into the hotel for three nights. One night before the wedding, the wedding day and another after the wedding.

Sunset on the beach in Bali

The beach area at the Keraton is really spectacular. The main restaurant looks out over the beach. In the middle of the beach, stood the bamboo structure that was used for the wedding ceremony and celebration dinner.  The day before the wedding, the hotel put out a beautiful sign letting all of the guests know that there was going to be a wedding on the beach the next day. The beach area was cordoned off to other guests and was for our exclusive use for the entire wedding and reception until late evening.

Bride's bouquet- photo by Marie

The big day arrived. In the morning, the area around the bamboo structure was  cordoned off so that we would have exclusive use of the area. Once Hardy was ready, he and I moved down to the beach area. Then, people started arriving with everything needed. In minutes, the flowers were set up and everything was transformed into a stunning wedding venue.  The table where the ceremony was to  be done was beautifully set up and the flower petal isle was in place. Everything ready for the big day, while the groom and I had a beer.

Natalie, the bride arrived, looking absolutely beautiful. She was walked down the isle by her father, Peter. This was a very intimate wedding with just four guests. Well actually three guests, as I did the wedding ceremony for them, so I guess I could not be counted as a guest!

After the ceremony, the happy couple where whisked off to get official photos taken. Oh yes - the wedding package included a photographer. Not just one photographer, but three!

The ceremony

You may kiss the bride!

Beautiful Sunset on the Beach with a beautiful couple

Official wedding photos

While the photos were being taken, the hotel staff moved into the area and transformed the wedding venue into our reception venue with a beautiful table and lighting on the beach. They even dug a small trench to put in electrical cables for the lighting at the dinner! Then followed a wonderful meal including options for the vegans in the group. The perfect ending to a perfect day.

Set up for dinner on the beach  - photo by Marie

What a wonderful and stress free day. Pretty much all that we had to do was arrive and be there. Everything else was taken care off.

I must stress that as this wedding was done in Bali (and any other weddings that are done outside of South Africa ), the wedding is not official and the couple must make the marriage legally binding once back in South Africa.  

End of a perfect day. The perfect wedding in Bali- photo by Marie

The perfect wedding!