In our opinion, the best way to create your day is to be true to you both as a couple and stick to what you know you want for the day – whatever that looks like. This is the simple recipe for making your day reflect your love story, and be one you’ll have beautiful memories from. And sometimes this means leaving it up to the professionals to get the hard stuff done for you. Bianca tells us about their destination wedding in Fiji captured by Leezett Photography.

We always wanted a destination wedding – a tropical setting and theme, with green and white flowers, to have a fun and casual day with just close friends and immediate family. A friend recommended we look at the InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa after she had been to a wedding there. We went for a holiday and fell in love immediately. We knew it was the place we had to get married!

Josh and I  met at the gym. He was training with a friend of mine and I made sure my friend introduced us. Very unlike me to approach a man first but I think I knew there was something special about him and it wasn’t just his muscles. For the proposal, Josh completely surprised me. It was like any other Sunday doing a walk along the beach which we love. He captured the proposal on his drone which I still didn’t even click when he said let’s take it for a spin on this walk. It was perfect!

I couldn’t speak more highly of the girls from Totoka Hair and Makeup! They were absolute professionals and so wonderful to deal with. They were happy to tailor makeup and hair to meet every individual’s needs. It made getting ready with my girls at the stunning Spa InterContinental so lovely.

For the florals we went with neutral colours to complement the tropical beach setting – we chose green and white flowers.

Joshua’s suit was from Peter Jackson. It was a little more casual than a traditional wedding suit to suit the destination wedding theme.

The Intercontinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa was wonderful. The wedding was right next to Natadola Beach and to us, Fiji was the most fantastic wedding destination. Minimal décor was required as the scenery was just stunning. The staff arranged everything for us, and the flowers, fairy lights, and table setting were stunning! Better than I could have imagined. From lanterns to a beautiful Arbor draped with flowers.

My father walked me down the aisle which is incredibly special. I walked down to Josh with our favourite song playing – “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri. We always knew it would be our wedding song.

We wanted the ceremony to be short but fun. We did our own vows which were promises to each other, but also had a little bit of humour behind them which is very us. When Josh made his vows he said many wonderful comments about me and promised to make me coffee daily. Our celebrant was fantastic and made the ceremony engaging and very personable.

My beautiful best friends wore stunning emerald dresses from Forever New. They all looked gorgeous. Joshua had his best mates as part of the wedding party too.

Our favourite photo is of Josh and me on the sandbar in the Fijian ocean, it’s an epic shot. We went with Leezett Photography. The photography and wedding video was amazing, and they captured every wonderful moment.

My dress was from Jenny & Gerry’s Bridal – Australia. It was a couture style, bought pre covid and we had to delay the wedding for two years so it was lucky I still loved the dress and it fit! It was gorgeous though with a timeless design. It had a beautiful long train and I was able to pin it up for the late-night festivities and dancing.

My dad’s speech was so memorable – he managed to make a few jokes and tell some classic stories about me making the crowd laugh. My mum’s speech was a real tear-jerker and full of emotion. She read a beautiful poem about love.

I’ll always remember dancing to the YMCA and doing a conga line with the wait staff from InterContinental. We all got into the dancing, it was fantastic!

There was just plenty of champagne, music and good times! We also included a cultural Fiji dance performance and a fire show which was incredible! The guests absolutely loved the surprise.

We are not the best dancers and I was quite nervous about this part of the day, but we fumbled our way through and invited the rest of the group to dance as soon as possible. It was quite special still. And then we both danced with my dad and his mum which they loved. My dad is quite the groover so couldn’t wait to be on the dance floor!

In Fiji, all things are in Bula time so don’t expect that all your arrangements are going to happen quickly, and be prepared to go with the flow. A beautiful tropical destination like Fiji was so worth it and I would highly encourage anyone looking to do a destination wedding to do it at the InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa. They were fantastic! We had many incredible moments around the wedding and I will treasure those memories forever. It was the most special day and week I could’ve ever asked for. Take moments to take the day in as it’s over so quickly and extend the party for as long as possible.

I will never forget marrying my best friend and the most gorgeous sunset you couldn’t pay for. The fantastic food, service, and fire dancers. Drinking and dancing the night away in Fijian style. These are magic moments I’ll never forget!! It truly was the wedding of my dreams.

Thank you to Bianca & Joshua for letting us relive their incredible destination wedding, and to Leezett Photography for sharing their beautiful images.