This Bride is Sharing All You Need to Know About a Destination Wedding in Thailand

Destination weddings are always worth a share, but even more so when the bride has so much fantastic advice to share! Lesley and Ben made their way to Phuket, Thailand for their wedding, hiring DarinImages to capture their wedding day, IAMFLOWER to handle all the floral details, and Ruffled vendor The Wedding Bliss Thailand to help plan it all. Let’s see how the team pulled it all off, shall we?

From the wedding planners, The Wedding Bliss Thailand: What happens when a perfect looking couple chooses a perfectly looking wedding venue? A perfect wedding like this simple and gorgeous celebration we put together for Lesley and Ben! Hosted at somewhat legendary hotel in Phuket — Sri Panwa — this wedding was a quintessence of elegance and lightness, stylish, but not over the top, personal and very emotional; it encompassed everything the couple was looking for. Lesley and Ben both have very sociable and outgoing personalities, and they wanted to spend the most important day of their lives with people most dear to them in a nice laid-back atmosphere, so a destination wedding was a perfect choice. The ceremony took place at iconic rooftop location with 360 degree views, and was decorated in an elegant and almost minimalistic way, with airy canopy delicately framed with white flowers and greenery. Reception dinner styling took over this trend, and with the help of fresh greenery garlands added to warm restaurant lighting we created a whimsical rustic chic atmosphere, further enhanced by candles and laconic flower arrangements on the tables.

Tips from the bride:

-Start planning as early as possible to get the big items and decisions out of the way first such as venue, wedding planners, celebrant, photographer and DJ. We got engaged at the end of May 2015 and by the first weekend of July, we were in Phuket scouting for venues and good thing we did because the venue we eventually chose (Sri Panwa) was actually booked up a year in advance and it was only available end of May/early June the following year so if we had waited any longer those dates could have been snapped up. Wedding dress wise – I am based in Singapore and I didn’t realize how long it takes to have a dress shipped over if you are buying from an overseas designer. I think this applies to other countries as well – it can take up to 6 months! So start shopping early for your dress. Also make sure to do a couple of make up trials well in advance so you are very comfortable with how you will look on the day.

Don’t cut out the important things you really want or you’ll end up regretting it. For example I was going back and forth between having a white carpet or no white carpet for the ceremony as we were over budget already but in the end I am glad we did it because it looked beautiful and I have no regrets spending that extra money! Having said that there are other things that we forego such as a dance floor for the after party as we figured it was okay for us to dance on the terrace without this as well as a a fire dancer as we had quite a lot of speeches and videos during our wedding as well. So it’s really about thinking about what you really want and need and prioritizing.

Planning a wedding can be really stressful and trying not to stress is like saying trying not to care/breathe so I know it is hard! Try to soak up all the fun parts like the venue searching, food tasting and picking out your dress. Stop and enjoy those moments because it all leads up to the big day and should be celebrated with your fiancé and your family/bridal party.

Recognize that you can’t do everything! I am a control freak and wanted to do everything but I realized I couldn’t. Have faith in your planners and your bridal party – they are your best friends for a reason. You shouldn’t expect anyone to be your slave or at your beck and call but having people around you that can help you where you need that little bit of help is important. It may be a small task for them but to you it’s another thing of your checklist and can lift a huge weight off your shoulders when you have so much going on.

During the wedding weekend or day, take quiet moments away for yourself and with your partner to really enjoy the moment. You hear lots of wedding stories about how the couple hardly spent time together which is fine as you are entertaining but try to take just 5 minutes just to catch up with your new husband after the ceremony or even in the lead up. After all, the day is about you two! Choose a good photographer! Yes it can be expensive, but those photos last with you forever so it’s not something that is worth scrimping or saving on.