Roxanne & Luke

If you ever wondered if a black tie wedding on a tropical island could really be a good idea, then this  Black tie Bali wedding is going to answer the question with a big fat yes! High school sweethearts (the bride’s brother and groom were best friends!) Roxanne and Luke wanted a classic sophisticated wedding and every detail worked together to create their beautiful clifftop occasion that overlooked the stunning Bali scenery with all the sense of occasion they desired.

Their celebration was beautifully captured by  Terralogical the culmination of many months planning after Luke popped the question at a beautiful Melbourne Estate.

Roxanne remembers “I’m really terrible at surprises and always guess them (or snoop until I find out) so Luke had to be very careful. He told me he was getting help with a tutor at uni one night (which I was so impressed by) but really he was out celebrating and drinking tequila with my parents after asking for my hand in marriage, I had no idea.

A few months later he organised my best friend to organise a Christmas breakfast together. She convinced me that we were going somewhere nice and that I shouldn’t wear active wear and said her car was getting serviced so I had to pick her up. I was a bit suspicious at this point but then she started send me photos of her getting ready so I believed her. I got to her house and the door was locked but there was a note on the door. It was from Luke and said to turn around and get in the car that was waiting for me. He had organised a driver to be there right on time and the driver wouldn’t tell us where I was going.

Finally, I arrived at Ripponlea Estate and Luke was waiting out the front for me with roses and looking very lovely. We walked into the estate and we had set up a picnic under a tree and then popped down on one knee and asked me to marry him. In true form, I giggled instead of crying and then we spent the day eating and drinking champagne, it was really magical.”

Roxanne chose Craig Braybrook Couture  to make her long sleeve lace ballgown. She explains “Craig and I worked together to come up with a unique design. He was absolutely fantastic to work with, my favourite part of the fittings was going to his studio and playing with his two pugs who love to nestle between the dresses and get cuddles from brides. The dress was a pale blush, something I’d never thought of having until seeing Craig’s design, the colour was light enough that it wasn’t pink but still wasn’t cream. It was huge, but in a great way, long train with an even longer veil, beautiful soft lace on the top and on the sleeves, buttons on the sleeves and down the back. It was just a dream. The moment I met Craig I knew he was going to make my dress and I didn’t have to look anymore, he was very accommodating and never pushed his own opinion but always had fantastic ideas.”

Roxanne and Luke chose the beautiful clifftop venue of Pandawa Cliff Estate for their wedding, “I’d never been to Bali before and hadn’t seen the venue until the day before, so I was very nervous, but in the end it was just perfect” tells Roxanne. “We chose Bali as a lot of my family live overseas so they’d be travelling anyway. It was amazing to have 80 of your closest friends and family on holiday with you, it’s something that will never happen again and we really will cherish it. We stayed with our bridal party and their partners for three days at Pandawa Cliff Estate, it was so lovely to have that time together. Pandawa itself is a beautiful venue, we had two of the villas on the property, both overlooking the ocean, we had the ceremony in the Pala and the guests could see the reception venue so afterward they opened the fence between Pala and the Rose and everyone moved into the second villa, which was so magically set up, it was just a dream. The staff at Pandawa were so lovely, we feel very lucky and privileged to have gotten married there.”

Guests were welcomed with handmade fans that doubled as programs. A slight regret for the bride and her non-crafty skills. She explains “We made fans that doubled as programs for the guests to help with the Bali heat. Being a scientist I absolutely loath craft, it should have taken a few hours but with multiple printer issues, lots of glue trouble and my general un-craftiness it took two days. Craft is the devil. I also hand wrote thank you notes for our guests for travelling across the globe for us, but that was more love and feelings than craft, so not so bad.”

The bride walked down the aisle to “Open” by Rhye, noting “I love this song because she says ‘I’m in love with your belly’ and I always joke with luke that I love his little belly or power paunch as we call it. The moment I walked out and saw Luke I actually couldn’t stop smiling, it was like it was just the two of us, I didn’t look at the guests, just him and kept thinking how lucky I am to be spending the rest of my life with my best friend and the best man that I have ever met.”

“I said to Luke that if he cried during the ceremony I’d laugh at him (I’m not one for happy crying) but about two minutes into the wedding I was the one sobbing like a baby, I couldn’t believe it” remembers the bride. “My mum did a beautiful reading of the song, “At Last” – it was very pretty special, she hadn’t told me what reading she was doing so it was a beautiful surprise. My wonderful bridesmaid Frances read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, she chose it and I think it really summed up Luke and me perfectly. The ceremony was my favourite part of our day, we’ll never declare our love for another in front of the people we love probably ever again, it was just magical.”

The couple worked with Global Weddings to plan their day from afar. “My motto with the whole wedding was, I’m not a designer/wedding planner/caterer/etc so I should just trust the experts and it worked out perfectly” tells Roxanne.

“There is one simple photo of Luke and I after the ceremony of us holding hands, he’s looking at me and I’m just smiling from ear to ear, I think it sums up our whole day perfectly” says the bride of her favourite photo.

 WIB Flowers  styled softly toned bouquets for the day, “The flowers were beautiful.” remembers the bride “Originally I wanted peonies, for their soft and beautifulness but that just isn’t an option in Bali (like many things in Bali it’s just too hot for them) but our florist was lovely and organised to have some David Austin roses put in the bouquets for a similar feel.”

“Our bridal party are our nearest and dearest friends, they went above and beyond to be in Bali and make it all so magical, Luke and I couldn’t be more grateful to have them in our lives.”

Roxanne notes “Our photographer was great. We asked for natural shots and nothing too posed or stiff and they really followed the brief.”

Guests gathered on the grass, overlooking the ocean, for an evening reception. “My absolute favourite detail was the setup, very broad I know but I loved it all, lots of planning paid off. We had beautiful white and green flowers throughout, on the pergola, a white petal aisle, a real greenery photo wall for the photo booth, white and green flowers on white tables. Beautiful gold cutlery and crystal glasses. Because my dress was blush I had put hints of blush throughout, with a blush watercolour stripe at the top of the gold handwritten name cards, I attached personal notes to the chairs for each guest that were in blush envelopes. We had blush David Austin roses in the white bouquets, tiny hints throughout that tied it all together.”

In lieu of a cake, the newlyweds poured a champagne tower.

The first dance was a highlight for the couple, who surprised their guests! Says the bride
Luke and I had had professional wedding dance lessons, we danced to “Let’s stay together” by Al Green, my dress got in the way a lot which was funny because Luke had no idea it was going to be so big, we ended our first dance in a long beautiful dip and then suddenly the music changed and our bridal party joined in and we had a surprise dance that we had all been practicing. It was meant to be funny and cheesy and loads of fun and it was all that and more. Our guests were screaming in shock and loved it, we danced to mash-up of Men in Black, Wanna Be by the Spice Girls and ended it in “let’s get married” by Jagged Edge. The ending was Luke picking me up and holding me in the air whilst our bridal party formed a circle and did spirit fingers. The absolute best.”

The couple chose Point One Design to capture this beautiful film of their day (including all the action of the aforementioned first dance!)

https://vimeo.com/237263935

A big congratulations to the newlyweds! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us! Thank you also to Terralogical for sharing today’s celebration!