A Colourful Destination Wedding in Beautiful Thailand
Written by on April 30, 2014.
Tagged under: Destination Wedding Thailand, Real Wedding, Thailand, Weddings Dubai
A Destination Wedding in Thailand
A sizeable number of our UAE readers are planning a destination wedding abroad, with the most popular locations including Italy, Cyprus, Santorini, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
If you’ve ever been to Thailand, you’ll understand its appeal for a destination wedding. Relatively close to the UAE (a 6-hour flight), Thailand has great weather and climate for the most part; weddings are cost-effective depending on your hotel/location of choice; Thai people are known for their welcoming hospitality; and who can deny the beauty of the country’s beaches and surrounding scenery?
But it’s normal, of course, to worry about the logistics of planning your special day in a country in which you do not reside. For this reason, we are delighted to feature the wedding of Bride Club ME readers Marwa Kaabour and Fadi Saad, a Dubai-based couple originally from Palestine and Lebanon, who met via the social networking site Facebook.
Below, Marwa talks us through her beautiful colour-burst wedding held at the Banyan Tree resort in Phuket, Thailand, and offers some advice to other BCME readers thinking of planning their own destination weddings in Thailand or abroad.
Why Thailand?…
My husband and I have always loved the beach and staying close to nature. When we started our wedding plans, we felt that being barefoot on the beach exchanging vows is the best representation of us.
We chose a destination wedding because we love to travel. He had proposed earlier in the year on the shores of the Maldives, so Thailand seemed like a nice extension to the love story. We decided to continue the beach theme by heading to the Banyan Tree Phuket.
The wedding theme…
Eternal vows by the sea. The theme of the wedding was inspired by three elements. Firstly, the simple life we lead, hence the branding was a hand-sketched illustration of Fadi and myself. Secondly, our love for the sea. Seashells were present in the background of most of the graphics, and organic raw paper in sand colour was used for the invitations. And, thirdly, Thailand. We chose two colours that represent Thailand – pink and purple, the colours of the national flower, the orchid.
The entrance of the groom was marked with a casual dance with a baby elephant with a pink ribbon. As for the bride, I walked down the aisle with two bridesmaids, one wearing a pink dress, and one wearing a purple dress.
After the ceremony, the guests and groom enjoyed a fun photo-shoot on the beach, posing with the elephant in an open frame.
The wedding cake….
Our wedding cake was inspired by the simple life on the island; it was coconut flavor and decorated with pink and purple orchids.
The dress…
My dress was inspired by an Ermanno Scervino beach wedding dress and a 1920s’ Christian Dior Peacock wedding dress; it was hand-stitched in Dubai using matt organza, vintage lace and hand-pasted Swarovski crystals.
Most enjoyable part of the planning process…
I really enjoyed putting the decorations together, creating the centerpieces and invitation boxes, and shopping for textiles. All décor items for the dinner party were handmade and flown from Dubai, from the pink drapes, table cloth and centrepieces to the plates, chocolates, candles and champagne bottle dressings. The invitation to the wedding was a sand-coloured box containing a small glass bottle filled with sand and an invitation printed on raw paper.
Guests arriving at the wedding hotel received a goodie bag that contained a printed itinerary, location map, give-aways from Thailand (including handmade soap and essential oils) and a personally written welcome note from us. In addition, we created a compilation of our favourite songs and gave it to our guests as a branded CD. The same tracks played at our wedding reception.
Most testing part of planning a destination wedding…
Not having a chance to recce the venue was stressful, as was having to review and confirm the seating arrangements only a few days before the wedding, testing the menu, trusting the service provider and being a good host to the guests all throughout their trip.
Top three tips for our readers planning their wedding abroad…
- Take the weather seriously. It did rain on our wedding day, luckily five minutes after the outdoor ceremony finished.
- Invest in a good photographer. You may need to fly in a photographer you trust.
- Back-up every email with a phone call and be extra meticulous with every detail of the wedding, from the size of the plates that will serve food to the type of speakers the DJ will be using.
The Bride’s Little Pink Book
Venue: Banyan Tree resort in Phuket, Thailand // Photographer: Siddirath Siva // Wedding Set Up: Nastya Yafi & Nathalie Shardan.
Looking for more real wedding inspiration? Click here.
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