Kim and Tony’s Tropical Bali Wedding at Taman Ahimsa

Kim and Tony’s Tropical Boho Bali Wedding at Taman Ahimsa

These Gorgeous Lovebirds Kim and Tony seized the opportunity to get married in Bali right before the whole world fell apart, but enough of that now more of Kim and Tony’s Bali Wedding. Nothing was going to stop them having their Tropical Boho themed wedding so they acted quickly and pulled it off with one of Bali’s best wedding planners, Wonderland Bali at Taman Ahimsa, Canggu.

After the epic Nusa Dua proposal where Tony had pre-organised an overnight stay and a photography tour to capture all of the best spots, it only seemed fitting for a Bali Wedding. Little did Kim know he reached out to a local when proposing to capture the whole thing, they have photos and a video to treasure forever. Once the planning began the two of them invited 50 of their nearest and dearest for an extended celebration in their favourite place, beautiful Bali.

Choosing from the monopoly of Bali Wedding Villas they chose the ocean views of Taman Ahimsa and were not only drawn to the location but the tiki huts on the property set the perfect tone for the theme of the day, Tropical Boho. With this venue and the visionary behind Wonderland Bali their wedding embodied a sense of closeness through their circle ceremony and archway filled with draping marigold flowers and greenery hanging from above, plus a divine sea of orange petals. Their guests circled around them and each played their part in a heart breathing ceremony, a Filippino blessing and a Greek Stefana blessing.

Post-nuptials, guests enjoyed coconuts on the lawn before sitting down for a magical dinner overlooking the ocean under a luxury tent with draped chiffon curtains. There was a circular mandela recreated to sit over the newlyweds as they sat together on their lovers peacock chairs. A relaxed boho vibe was created using earthy byron whitewash chairs and intimate round tables, adorned with marigold flowers, peach serviettes, woven placemats and tealight candles. Festoon lighting hanging overhead, while a large, lit up moon stole the show with the words ‘to the moon and back’ sitting beside the pool to create a truly romantic setting. As the sun went down, guests danced the night away on the dancefloor– but not before they indulged in the incredible dessert wall filled with donuts supplied by Butter Bali.

Captured in such beautiful detail by the clever Diktak photography team, check out all of the amazing images from Kim and Tony’s Tropical Boho Bali Wedding below. Kim also shares her tips on writing the perfect ceremony, and how she used The Bali Bride to source inspiration and advice in the lead up to their special day!

The proposal:
Tony surprised me with an overnight trip to Nusa Dua… I thought we were going for just the day but he had made plans to stay overnight so we could go to all these cool photography spots to take some photos. He did all of the research on places to go around the island…which I loved as I usually do the planning. Little did I know he had planned 3 spots to propose to me…
He proposed to me at the first location but the second spot as it was too hot at the first spot and I was getting hangry, ha ha! It was so perfect where he did it at the bottom of the tiki hut ladder. He asked a local tourist to capture it on video and take photos it was perfect!

The Wedding Details:

Wedding date: March 17, 2020 the day that Australia made an announcement advising travellers not to leave Australia. (Whoops)
Venue: Taman Ahimsa: We picked the venue online before we hired our wedding planner. That was probably the most difficult thing for us to pick together as we couldn’t visit it in person and there are so many lovely venues in Bali. We searched for locations all over the island but decided on being not too far away and thought Canggu area would be the perfect fit for our style of wedding. We knew we didn’t want to be on the beach but having the ocean in the background for our ceremony was just perfect. The tiki huts were the perfect vibe and setting we were looking for.
Total guest: 50 … only 29 people attended due to Covid-19

Our Style: Tropical Boho…the inspiration for our wedding came to me through meditation… I knew the ceremony would be in a circle with a mandala on the group and then Ana our wedding planner came up with this brilliant plan to hang the flowers above and created the most beautiful piece I could ever have imagined… honestly, getting married surrounded by all of the flowers felt magical like Tony and I were the only 2 people there.

Who we couldn’t have done without: ANA from Wonderland Bali! She was brilliant with suggesting all the suppliers! She understood my vision so clearly that I had 100% trust in her abilities, I just let her do what she needed to do. The caterers Oma Thia’s were fabulous and I’m so happy we got to enjoy a food tasting a month prior because on the day we both lost our appetite due to excitement and nerves. Everyone loved the food which was so important to us.

Advice for brides: Create your own unique style of wedding…. the ceremony I wrote from scratch and had one of my best friends marry us as we got married in Australia. I had so many guests say that the ceremony was beautiful and the best they had witnessed in a long time. As I wanted it to be meaningful to both our cultures as Tony is Greek Orthodox and I am a spiritual yogi that has been raised by my family of Protestant and Catholic … honouring all of our cultures was important. We had a heart breathing ceremony, we had a Filippino blessing and a Greek Stefana blessing and we wrote our own vows.

Wedding planner, styling & florist: I loved that Ana (Wonderland Bali) was going to do all the flowers herself it made me feel so confident in her abilities as a planner to make the vision come to life. She made it better than I could have imagined and same with the furniture and decor she selected for the event.

Hair and make up: was done by my friends Jesse and Amanda which was awesome to save money and also wedding hair in the heat is so hard to keep maintained. I knew the floral headpiece was what I wanted featured in my hair.

Photography: was important as I’m a photographer so I went with Diktatphotography – Diktat was an amazing photographer and captured above and beyond what was expected… we didn’t even leave the venue like most couples do on the day which I liked. He was able to capture so many lovely photos on site and a few props made it perfect. I have honestly too many photos and I love them all.

Videography: Salmon Studio
They created an amazing 45 minute video of the whole day and a 6 minute highlight video which I love watching over and over. My mother in law says she watches it at least twice a week to relive the day over and over. Our holiday together got cut short due to COVID-19 so having this footage is an amazing reminder that something wonderful did happen during this pandemic. We are a lucky couple that got to celebrate our day.

Favours:
Homemade essential oil rollers for the women
Homemade mini whiskey bottles for the men
Catering: Oma Thia’s Catering
Cake: Donuts from Butter Bali
Digital Invitations: email and website … we went paperless
Wedding song: Stand by me
Bridal party: Celebration
Groom: Zobra the Greek
Bride: At last
Bride’s Dress: Rue De Seine – bought secondhand on Stillwhite.com
Shoes: MB
Bridesmaids: got to choose their own pink dress so that they would love it and wear it again. I styled their outfits with Ixiah adornments with shell chokers, and shell harnesses to create unity with all their different style dresses.
Groom: White jacket and pants are from Myers
Flower girl dress: H&M
The rings: Engagement ring is by Violet Gray

Styling Inspo: Pinterest, Bali Bride blogs, Instagram

Hardest part: Trusting your choices. As you put so much faith into your wedding planner with the hope it will turn out as you imagined it. I found it easy but I know I am more visual person but for Tony he likes to see things how they will look and feel before agreeing so for him there was a bit of a struggle. We got to go a month before the wedding to meet Ana and the caterer and see the venue which help put the final decision making at ease for him.

Why did we choose Bali: Tony proposed to me in Bali and we just felt an amazing connection to the island and wanted to share this place with all our family and friends from around the world. We did look at Santorini, Greece and Tulum, Mexico but for us, it was harder for us to get to. We love the food and vibe in Bali and thought we wanted everyone else to experience something new and different.

How did you stay organized while planning?
Hired a wedding planner… it’s a MUST! You are crazy not to unless you can go over it yourself but even then wedding planners just make it all easy. We worked off google documents and WhatsApp.
Budget:
$25k-30k (with Covid-19) we tried to recover costs where we could which helped. But we got to stay at the venue and enjoy a holiday with our family and friends which is what made the wedding feel like a week vs just 1 day!