Simona and Florian’s Tropical Bali Wedding in Villa Vedas

Simona and Florian first met during their Master’s degree at University in Austria when Florian asked Simona if she had decided on her exchange semester and if Bali could be an option. Years later, they chose to bring their loved ones back to where it all began for their Bali Wedding. Joined by their closest family and friends they treated their loved ones on their special day to a view overlooking the ocean at Villa Vedas.

Planned by the creative Henny from The Wedding Mood, this tropical beachfront wedding was filled with endless white & green florals with brass/gold elements (with a dress code for guests of white & beige) with pineapple decorations as well.

Even the music selections reflected the couple being huge fans of bands and oh, Beyonce, playing all of their top tracks at every major part of their day. We love how they chose to wow guests with the canapés during cocktail hour and a three-course set menu.

After an intimate beachfront ceremony, guests enjoyed the most incredible reception with scenic views, cascading greenery overhead and chairs and tables from luxury furniture company, Bali Event Hire. And the celebration continues to shine as fairy lights, geometric lanterns, and vintage globes above the dinner table made everything extra special.

To see more from this classic, tropical Bali wedding adorned with so much greenery keep on scrolling. Plus Simona and Florian share pieces of advice for future Bali couples. All the magic below…

About Us…

Bride’s Name: Simona Urban (Pavlovic)

Groom’s Name: Florian Urban

How we met: We met in Sep. 2014 during our Master’s degree at University in Austria. On the first day we met, Florian asked me if I had already decided on my exchange semester yet and if I could think about Bali as an option – I said yes definitely since I’ve already been to Bali just a year before (obviously we found each other interesting from the very start haha)! 3 months later we finalized all the paperwork for our exchange semester. One thing led to another and in May 2015 we were officially a couple. In Aug. 2015 we left for 6 months abroad and spent 24/7 together in Bali and traveling around the world – best decision ever!

The proposal: The proposal happened during our spontaneous trip to Santorini / Greece, as our intended trip to Canada got cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic (where Florian planned to propose). On 20th July 2020 we went for a sunset hike to a cliff where a barely known typical blue dome church awaits at the end. Our best friends and us were the only ones there at that time. We watched the sunset from the roof and Florian all of a sudden wanted to take another picture with me. I didn’t mind, so we took a picture (or at least I thought so). Florian started telling me all those sweet things (I still did not have any clue at that point) & all of a sudden went down on his knees and had the most beautiful ring in his hands, asking me to be his wife. My whole body started shaking, I could not hear anything anymore and my happy tears just started falling. I couldn’t even say “YES” out of surprise and just confirmed by nodding, haha! It was literally a picture perfect proposal and the most wonderful overwhelming surprise!

The Details…

Wedding date: 7th July 2022 (former date 26th Oct 2021 was delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic)

Wedding Ceremony Venue: Villa Vedas (Mention The Bali Bride upon enquiry for your complimentary cocktails for the Bride & Groom upon check-in. You’re welcome!)

Wedding Reception Venue: Villa Vedas

Total Guests: 40 pax invited / 25 pax attended

Our style: Tropical beachfront wedding in white & green with brass/gold elements (with a dress code for our guests being white & beige)

Special touch: Pineapples! Since our last name is “Urban” and “Nanas” means pineapple in Bahasa Indonesia, we went for “The Urbananas Wedding”! For example we had: a pineapple wedding drink called “The Urbananas”, real pineapples were a décor element at the ceremony/tables, pineapple tarts in pineapple boxes + bags as wedding favours, brass/gold pineapple spoons for dessert (& guest favours), my bridal shoes had a golden pineapple logo, the polaroid photo station had pineapple photo props & pineapple stickers for the guestbook and we had pineapple floaties for the pool party at the later hour.

Main Goal: Our wedding should represent the two of us as a couple with typical “Simona & Florian” touches & stay in the minds of our guests to be a very unique wedding worthwhile the long travel from Europe

Who we couldn’t have done it without: The Wedding Mood!! There are no words to describe Henny’s devotion, passion & professionalism concerning wedding planning. She and her amazing team managed to bring our dream wedding into reality & not only did they nail each and every detail but also went above and beyond all of our expectations of how the wedding might turn out to be. Henny was very reliable, punctual & also caring, who understood our vision/ideas and kept track of the set budget. Most of all she has wonderful vendors she works with and all of them were on the same page with her/us since she speaks German, English and Bahasa Indonesia – so there couldn’t be any misunderstandings. The rundown, set up & communication worked seamlessly and excellently! Although we planned the whole wedding during the pandemic, online from Austria, had to postpone and start over with the planning and never met any of our vendors before – Henny put 200% effort into it and was available for us at ANY point. She really made the whole process enjoyable and fun!

Advice for future Bali Brides:

It is YOUR wedding – how crazy or silly some of your ideas might seem to others, go for it! It will make YOUR big day special and most of all personal. The wedding should represent YOU as a couple!
Invite only your closest friends and family, who you really want to be part of your big day – a smaller, intimate wedding will give you so much quality time to spend with your loved ones & let me tell you the party atmosphere will be fantastic with your closest circle!
Pick a wedding planner, who you feel that you can trust & understands your needs/visions. With the support, local knowledge of the vendors & experience you can truly enjoy your wedding planning process – even if you occur unexpected circumstances along the way.

Our Wedding Day…

Wedding Planner: The Wedding Mood – without any exception, all of her recommendations were 100% a perfect match to our vision!

Décor / Furniture:

Bali Event Hire – for the perfect set up with the Amalfi high table set and the teak wood furniture
The Host Table – for brass / gold stiletto cutlery, ivory linen napkins & placement mats
Bali Neon Letters – for the special Beyoncé touch we got neon signs: “Crazy In Love” for the ceremony arch we turned into a polaroid photo station & “Drunk In Love” for the cocktail bar

Flowers / Florist:

WIB Flowers – the team did a great job, the greenery & orchid theme paired with the pineapple touches was on point for us – it turned out exactly how we pictured it! They came early in the morning and did the whole set up right on time. Rose petals in banana cones, bamboo fans, the welcome sign, brass/gold metal cubes, hanging greenery for the dinner table, décor for the coconut cart + bar and the hair flower wrenches for the bridesmaids were also provided by WIB
The Florist Wedding Conceptor – for the bridal bouquet & boutonnieres

Sound / Lighting: Virtuoso – for the structure of fairy lights, geometric lanterns, and vintage globes above the dinner table & the dancefloor. The accuracy of work was great – they came the day before for set up and did not stop until each and every light bulb was working.

Hair & Make-up: Anja Buerck – is a German H&M artist who did a light make-up for my bridesmaids and myself with a natural beach wave look, which lasted perfectly until the morning hours! We never did a trial and it turned out wonderful!

Photography: DIKTAT Photography – we chose Kadek & Komang for our wedding based on our online research. Without any hesitation, we knew that we wanted THEM to capture our wedding since we loved how they work with natural light. We did not regret it – it was so much fun working with them & we did not feel uncomfortable at all! They have such a great eye of capturing the perfect framing, details and emotions. Our guests & we are blown away by the work they did!

Videography: LEURA Film – the team is exceptional! They managed to capture all of the small details of our big day and made a film that gives us the opportunity to truly relive the day again – you can really feel the love, joy & atmosphere we had through the video. Our guests did not even notice that we had a video team! We could not be happier that we had LEURA accompany our special day.

Favours: For the special pineapple touch we gifted our guests mini pineapple tarts packed in a pineapple box and a pineapple bag (from Dijon Catering) + handmade brass pineapple spoons & bamboo straws (both from the local market)

Celebrant: Mr. Ericht Allessandro – he has a very calm and pleasant way of talking. It was a pleasure listening to him during the ceremony speech. We texted & talked via Whatsapp and he thought about everything – even his matching outfit to our theme.

Catering:

Dijon Catering – we opted for canapés during cocktail hour and a three course set menu with a 50/50 drop for dinner. We have never been to the restaurant or a tasting but all recommendations and reviews were 100% true. The service is exceptional, the food presentation/quality/taste are superb and everything was on point. It was a tough decision which dishes to choose but each and every dish was delicious. Our guests are still talking about the food!
Mr. Pong’s Bar Service – for our cocktail bar, individually branded coconuts incl. coconut cart, midnight snack (mie goreng), and a taco cart at our pre-wedding pool party. They are very flexible and reliable – we did signature cocktails & “The Urbananas” welcome drink, which all were delicious. Quality spirits, well prepared and mixed.

Cake: Butter Bali – we had a two tier wedding cake with two different cakes. Carrot cake + cream cheese and coconut + passionfruit curd. To die for! We even had cake for breakfast the day after.

Stationery / Invitations: Sendmoments

Wedding Website: With Joy

Entertainment:

SolidDev Band – just by listening to their Instagram videos we definitely knew that we wanted to have them perform! The female lead singer has an incredible voice – she can literally sing everything and nailed my favourite Beyoncé songs! The male singer has a beautiful voice which pairs very well with her in a duet. We had the opportunity to provide them a song list beforehand. It was an honor having them perform!
DJ Arshad (KuDeTa) – we wanted Hip Hop R’n’B and he NAILED it! Each and every song was a match. We were only a small group of people but the atmosphere he created was brilliant! He knows what PARTY means!

Transport: Mr. Wayan Budiarta

Wedding Songs:

The Piano Guys – A Thousand Years (Walking Down The Aisle)
Sixpence None The Richer – Kiss Me (Official Announcement)
Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z – Crazy In Love (Grand Entrance)
Coldplay – A Sky Full Of Stars (First Dance)
Beyoncé – Single Ladies (Bouquet Toss)
Maroon 5 – Sugar (Cake Cutting)
Toploader – Dancing In The Moonlight (Closing)

The Bridal Party Details…

Bride’s Dress: Pronovias – Albiorix Gown (ivory/mermaid cut)

Bride’s Shoes: Aquazzura – Bow Tie Pumps (crème/with a pineapple!)

Groom’s Attire: Cinque (beige/three piece suit)

Groom’s Shoes: Lloyd (brown leather shoes)

Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Nicowa

The rings: Von Koeck

Honeymoon Details: We did not have a designated honeymoon – but we went to the Seychelles & Mauritius after our legal wedding in 2021 & we finally did our Canadian roadtrip after our Bali wedding in 2022!

The final part…

Where did you find your styling inspiration for your Bali wedding?

Instagram & Pinterest – especially the accounts of The Bali Bride & Bali Event Hire, which I’ve been following since 2015 when we lived in Bali (just in case we would ever get married haha!).

What was the hardest part about planning a destination wedding?

Micromanagement! Coordination of flights/accommodations, providing all necessary information about Bali, travel documents (due to Covid-19 entry restrictions), etc. to make the guests’ travel as seamless and comfortable as possible since most of them were first time visitors.

Why did you choose Bali as your wedding destination?

Our love story began in Bali and was a big part of the beginning of our relationship. The time we lived in Bali we will cherish forever and it will always feel like our second home, which we wanted to bring closer to our friends & family.

How did you stay organised while planning a destination wedding?

Being a numbers and figures person, Excel sheets were the crucial element for everything – keeping track of the budget, guest list + information (food choice, arrival date), runsheet, seating plan, etc. Everything was shared via Whatsapp with Henny and was easily traceable. We did a lot of calls via Zoom online – worked perfectly fine & was super efficient! Thankfully we are both very decisive and stick to our ideas without changing them permanently.