Image via Shibawi.com
My partner and I have been dating since November 2007 and got engaged January 2011 before he was to go away for 8 months overseas. It was a big surprise for me even though I knew it was coming. Eight months later he arrived home safely. We made a decision to have our vintage, elegant, garden wedding in Fiji on 17th of July 2012. The closer it gets to the date, the more excited I get and I’d love to share some of the inspiration behind our plans.
Our wedding is a mixture of things. The wedding itself will be in Fiji, but it’s going to be an outdoor garden wedding. The theme is Vintage elegance. The ceremony will happen on the grass with the beach behind us (it will have my love of gardens and Adrian’s love of the water). The reception will be outdoors with lots of floral arrangements, chandeliers, white paper lanterns and fairy lights. Each element of our wedding reflects each aspect of our personalities.
The bridesmaid’s dresses are 3 different colours in 3 different styles. Strapless pale pink, spaghetti strap pale peach and one shoulder pale green. I have chosen roses for the pridal party bouquets, mine being white and the bridesmaids being the same colour as their dresses. The decorations are going to be very floral … lots of flowers and colour … I’m quite excited. And OMG my dress is amazing. A white mermaid strapless gown with lace, beading, silk tulle and organza. Adrian has chosen the colour grey, but will not be wearing a suit. He has chosen just a white shirt, grey vest, grey pants and a white tie. As for his groomsmen, they will be wearing the same but with a slight difference … their ties. There’s will be pale pink, pale peach and pale green, to match the bridesmaid’s dresses. Believe it or not this wedding is quite cheap. Our Budget is no more than $10,000. I’ve been having so much fun planning and I can’t wait for our wedding day.
Ms Gingham says: Just a little taste of what’s to come … can’t wait to see the wedding photos!
Renee says: “I’m very excited about our wedding and I cant wait to share it with you.”
Can I ask, is the hotel arranging the flower arrangement, lanterns and fairy lights or are you have to arrange it?
I’m getting married over there next year and love what you are doing. Any hints, tips, venue advice would be amazing!
Hi Evelyn,
With mt flowers I am arranging it, only because they didnt have the flowers i wanted. for the decorations like the crystle centerpieces and fairy lights ect, I arrange it but they suply it over there.
For the Ceremony and reception, We are having it at the outrigger on the lagoon. One of the most amazing places on the main island. Its a 5 star resort. Just devine.
The only advise i can give u is sort out what type of wedding you are wanting and work around that. They dont have many options over there so you might also need to supply a few things. Also dont go for a package deal cos it does make things more expencive.. well, all depends of the amount of guest if you are having. if you are having less then 50, then go the package, if its more, then no. cos you will end up paying more anyway.
if you have anymore quetions please dont hesitate to ask
Thanks Renee, that’s awesome!
Outrigger is top of the list at the moment and we are currently waiting for the travel agent to come back to us with final quotes for the wedding/reception and for guest’s accommodation/package options.
Its hard to anticipate numbers however we have confirmed with both of our immediate families so we know of 24 adults confirmed (my fiance has 5 sisters – hence the huge immediate family number!) Then with some cousins and friends and their partners we think we may get close to 50. Hard to say, as we are planning this for October next year so we are just wanting to get the info together so that we can send out invites really early. We want to give lots of notice so that everyone has plenty of time to save/prepare if they do decide to join us.
Did you book through a travel agent and did you give your guests alternative options if they were looking for more affordable accommodation? We noticed there is an option right next door to Outrigger that we are also looking into.
I would definitely love to hear how you go collecting the decorations over there and anything else that you think may help – all tips and info welcome! Your theme and vision is surprisingly similar!
Hi Evelyn
Yeah we sent out our invertaions in october last yeah for a wedding in July This year. so we gave a fair bit of notice. The sooner u send them out the easier it is for guests. Our guest list at the moment is 43. Thats not including kids. With Kids will be about 50. Which is still a good number. Not the amount i was hoping, but yeah.. all good.
Yeah we did book through a travel agent. I dont recament going through who we went through. I felt we got ripped of abit, we personly didnt have anything to do with the travel agent, My partners Mum was doing all that stuff, shes alittle bit on the controling side. LOL
With the deorations we are going through Fiji weddings. They are amazing. Kim (The lady im going through) has helped me so much. They have everything that we are wanting. The crystle candle holders, dancefloor to the fairylights.. and we got them all at a really amazing price.
I do recomend tho, something that we couldnt do, go to fiji first before planning anything so that way u can see what you want and how you want it. also that way you can see what the resort looks like. Me personally photos arnt really doing me justice. but we couldnt aford to fly there to see it all.
The photos do look amazing. and im happy with what i have seen. Its just hard to decide where to have the reception and ceremony. We want gardens for both.
anyway i hope everything i have said helps. If you do go to fiji, ur more then welcome to come and veiw our wedding to get ideas for your wedding. If you have anymore quetions dont hesitate to ask. 🙂
Hi Renee,
Just wondering how your wedding went at the Outrigger?!
We have just booked ours there for August 2014 and sound as though we like the same kind of vintage style.
Would love to hear all about yours and any comments you may have about anything at all! Appreciate all the help we can get as is hard to guess what everything’s like when you can’t get over to see it.
Kim
Hi there Kim,
You can view my wedding on here, pink peony wedding in Fiji, it will show you everything from my wedding, also below if you view my comments you will see how I planned everything from Australia… Any more questions don’t hesitate to send me and email..
Renee
Hi Renee,
I’m thinking about my wedding for next year and would love to plan it in Fiji. I love the idea of a vintage themed wedding by the water. Do you have any photos of your wedding? How did it go? If love to see pics, it sounds so lovely!!
Thanks, shevaune
If you view the page of my wedding (pink peony wedding in Fiji) and view all my comments, it will tell you everything you need to know.
Renee
Hi there
Thank you to all for your posts this info has been really helpful my fiancé and I just came back from visiting fiji and have decided on the outrigger. However no one has gotten pack to me via email to book a date is this the norm? I will have to call them next week anyhow I love the elegant beach themed idea it’s what we want but it’s hard to picture it with the outrigger being so tribal if you can post pics it would be very helpful
Thanks ladies 🙂
If you view the page of my wedding (pink peony wedding in Fiji) and view all my comments, it will tell you everything you need to know.
Renee
Also with arranging your own flowers do you mean you took your own over or did u find a local supplier?
I’m not a fan of the tropical flowers and would like others as well
Hi Renee
Had a look at your pictures and your special day looked amazing made me even more excited about our big day
I found a supplier for flowers in sydney I’m not a big fan of artificial but your flowers looked nice I also love the lanterns and fairy lights idea
Again thank you for sharing