Romantic Indian Fusion Villa Wedding

VISION: Shayan is from Iran originally and I am half Australian, half Indian and grew up in Indonesia so it was very important to us to showcase our cultural pride during our wedding. The wedding had elements have all these cultures.

PLANNING: We spent about eight months (not long enough!) planning the wedding. Having lived in Indonesia for many years (my mother still lives there), I always wanted to have a wedding overseas and thought Bali was the perfect place because of its location and my connection to the place.

My mother lives in Jakarta, so she was heavily involved in the planning process, and we were fortunate enough to have an excellent wedding planner, Sinly from Bali Wedding Paradise. She was incredibly patient and willing to make all my crazy ideas come to life with her amazing contacts and experience. She was an absolutely amazing asset to have on my team. The best part about planning our wedding was working together with both families to create something that we would love, our guests would love and that showcased our amazing traditions and cultures.

PHOTOGRAPHY & CINEMATOGRAPHY: Our photographer Bonjo from Terralogical, as well as our videographer, Garry from Axioo captured all the amazing moments from our wedding, and we couldn’t have been happier with their work.

TIPS: If you are planning a wedding abroad, it is really important to plan early and efficiently! I’m a big believer in having a trustworthy planner on the ground who is working to make your dream come true. So while you are coming up with big ideas, be sure to take on the recommendations of a wedding planner, including suggested vendors and choices.

Our wedding was held over an extended weekend in July 2014 at various locations around Bali:

1. Welcome Dinner – Thursday PM, Potato Head Beach Club, Seminyak. As our guests had traveled far and wide to join the day before official wedding events started
2. Sangeet – Friday PM, Villa Teana, Jimbaran, 100 guests.
3. Wedding Ceremony – Saturday AM, Villa Latitude, Uluwatu, 100 guests.
4. Wedding Reception – Saturday PM, Villa Latitude, Uluwatu, 100 guests.

The Sangeet was held at Villa Teana. We had a very non-traditional Sangeet which started with a traditional Indonesian (Hindu) purification ceremony. Having grown up in Indonesia, it was an important tradition for me to incorporate. We had mehendi stations and lots of dancing. Indian food catered by Queen’s Tandoor

DECOR: By Steve’s Décor. We had pops of orange and pink draping and florals around the venue to add some color.

UNIQUE DETAILS:

• Mehendi station – a chance for guests to have henna designs applied by local henna artists.
• Family dance – My family and I danced to Dance Pe Chance from the movie Rab Ne Banadi Jodi – one of my father’s favorite songs.
• Guest activities – We also had a get-to-know-you game for our guests at the Sangeet, where guests were to take a picture with a guest they had just met and upload it onto social media with our own hashtag #psbali2014.
• Guest favors – The women who attended our Sangeet were given bindis and bangles from India, and boys and men were given an Indian scarf and Barnaby Socks (Shayan’s business venture).

PRIYA’S OUTFIT: I wore a navy blue anarkali by Indian designer, Ridhi Mehra. We purchased it online at Pernia’s Popup Shop, after a lot of research. I loved how unique and regal it was.

JEWELLERY & ACCESSORIES: For the Sangeet, my aunt in India helped me with all my accessories, as I was not able to make a trip there myself.

GROOM’S OUTFIT: Custom made in India.

We chose Villa Latitude after looking at many different places in Uluwatu because it was a breathtaking property with an amazing flexibility to create your own dream wedding. The wedding was everything we could have hoped and dreamed for. It was personal, romantic and seamlessly blended all our unique traditions, Iranian, Indian, Australian and Indonesian. Guests were provided post-ceremony cocktail and canapés catered by Bali Catering Company. We took this time to have our photo shoot.

HIGHLIGHTS: There were far too many highlights to choose from! I loved the special touches, the family involvement, our friends’ readings and the speeches. Shay cried during the vows which was almost as surprising as the fact I held it together.

DECOR: My vision for the Wedding Ceremony and Reception was to have a beautiful white, romantic, floral wonderland overlooking the ocean, and our decorator Agam from Steve’s Décor made it come to life. He imported some of the flowers just for the wedding (hydrangeas, jasmines and baby’s breaths).

UNIQUE DETAILS:

• Guest welcome – Our wedding guests were greeted at the ceremony by Indonesian Rindik music with traditional Balinese flower girls offering mocktails. We had La Puja, an amazing acoustic Balinese band play the entrance music. DJ Stevie G was responsible for the music at the Reception.
• Fusion Ceremony – These were featured throughout, including the purification ceremony and the aghd which was put together by my mother-in-law. The traditional Iranian ‘aghd’ included fruits, sweets, candles, and coins to symbolize important aspects to a successful marriage.
• Painter – We had a painter from Ubud, in Bali capturing the ocean view of our wedding location during the ceremony.
• Special songs – We had La Puja play acoustic versions of various songs throughout the ceremony. My bridesmaids started the procession to Somewhere Over the Rainbow. My father walked me down the aisle to Different Worlds by Jes Hudak. Aisle exit music was arranged by my mother – All You Need is Love, just like in the movie, Love Actually, which was a great surprise!
• Jasmine flowers – Guests were given jasmine flowers (imported from Java) to bless us as we walked down the aisle. Jasmines are such an important flower in Indian weddings and I love the smell.

The Reception followed shortly after the post-ceremony drinks at the same venue. The Reception was a true celebration of culture and love. It was simply amazing having my 90-year-old grandmother, friends, and family from all over the world be in one place to attend our wedding. The food was catered by Bali Catering Company. To this day, we still get compliments about the food at our wedding.

HIGHLIGHTS: I loved getting the opportunity to dance with my dad and Shay. My favorite moment was surprising our guests with a two-minute fireworks display to the song A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay after our first dance.

DECOR: The floral wonderland theme continued at the Reception with Steve’s Décor filling the marquee with beautiful white florals and chandeliers. It was magical.

UNIQUE DETAILS:

• Photobooth – We created a photo booth with DIY props for guests.
• First dance – First dance was to Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli (which we learned over six dance lessons at So You Can Dance in South Melbourne).
• Cake – Our amazing five-tiered cake was made by Ixora, and it was topped with customized figurines of me and Shayan!
• Favors – The wedding favors were delicious macarons in silver Bali boxes, also made by Ixora.

PRIYA’S OUTFIT: My wedding gown was purchased at the most amazing boutique in Woolhara, Sydney, called Anna Dafonte. I was lucky enough to find my dream dress, the ‘Dahlia’ by Amsale (a New York-based designer) in time for our wedding!

PRIYA’S SHOES: My shoes were by Badgley Mischka, purchased online at Nordstrom.

JEWELLERY & ACCESSORIES:  My unique hair accessory for the ceremony was by Viktoria Novak in Sydney.

HAIR & MAKEUP: My hair and makeup were really hard to organize in Bali because I had no local contacts. In the end, I went with Metha Sart and team from Yeanne Makeup Art for my makeup and we had Herman, a freelance hairdresser from Jakarta to do our hair. They made me look and feel gorgeous.

SHAYAN’S OUTFIT: Blue suit from Suit Shop.

BRIDESMAIDS OUTFIT: Outfits were purchased online from For Her and For Him

GROOMSMEN OUTFIT: Blue suits from M.J. Bale.