It’s so exciting to have a wedding in an exotic place, such as charming Bali. Professional wedding organizer Alise Kolosova knows the best about the nuances you need to know if you want or are planning to marry in Bali. Alise lives in Bali, has been hosting weddings in Bali for foreigners for several years, and has met and selected the highest quality and most customer-friendly service providers. She is familiar with wedding planning and the market offer from a-z.
One of the most beautiful and comfortable pluses when planning a wedding on this exotic Indonesian island - you will be on your honeymoon immediately after the ceremony. It is also a very practical step, as the flight to Bali is long enough to plan a much longer time on the island. Also, you need to adjust to a different time zone. As Alise reminds us, those who love Bali come back once a year and want to stay in Bali longer and longer.
Wedding organizer Alise Kolosova has established cooperation with all the most important service providers in Bali, devoting enough time to selecting the best service providers. It has been important to find both local service providers whose prices have not been increased, and able to understand what western people expect.
Alise says: “It is very important to establish contacts with proven, highly qualified service providers. In addition to the venue of the ceremony and celebration, there is also a wedding ceremony officiant, a musician, a company of sound and light, a decorator so important to me. I am very pleased to have found partners in all of these positions to work with, including photographers and videographers.
Due to the pandemic, it is more difficult to bring a photographer and videographer from Latvia, as I have done so far. Local photographers have different understandings of what photography should look like, so I work with professionals who happen to live in Bali and have experience in the world. At the last wedding, I am organizing here, I was working with French guys - one of them is a photographer in the fashion industry, but he has also photographed weddings for many years, so we immediately understood each other; the videographer, also a Frenchman, is currently filming the Netflix series. "
Most often couples from abroad celebrate their wedding in Bali when it is uncomfortably cold in the homeland - in autumn and winter. "In that time on the island is the wet season. During the wet season, it should be noted that there may be more and heavier rain in the middle of the island, it will be sunnier by the ocean, but even then it may be cloudy and rainy. If the wedding is celebrated in the wet season, I choose a location by the ocean. Bali has the same air temperature all year round, that is, 28-31 degrees Celsium warm. The north of the island, where there are mountains, is colder. In the dry season, with mostly sunny, dry days due to the hot weather, the ceremony will take place no earlier than 4.30 pm when the heat has dropped slightly. After the ceremony, the sun is low - golden hour, - an hour and a half, which is very popular with photographers. Then the couple can take a photo both at the ceremony and drive somewhere nearby because the sun sets in Bali all year round. 18.30. Then it is already dark and we can spend time for a romantic dinner.
Considering that the greater interest in organizing weddings in Bali is in the wet season, my favorite is the coast of Uluwatu - the green coast in the south of the island, where there is white sand. The coast is very rocky with small, hidden beaches. This rocky coast is very beautiful and grateful, because it rarely rains here, even in the wet season. Bali also has volcanic beaches with black sand that also look very exotic. The regions I am currently focusing on are the coasts with the most beautiful, exquisite high-quality resorts and villas for weddings.
The last wedding organized by me was held at Uluwatu Alila Villas - it is a very large, spacious, beautiful area, a resort with a geometrically specific, modern style. There are small villas in this location and a large three-bedroom villa for a wedding at the top of the cliff. If you have a bigger party for which the villa area is too small, the location has a separate private area, right on the cliff shore with cabana-style terraces for romantic dinners, gardens for a large tent, and a local temple where all the Balinese traditions can be held. This is a place that meets all standards and where everything is thought through.
The Ungasan Clifftop Resort is a beautiful venue for weddings of all sizes. It consists of several large villas, each of which is isolated - for an important event as intimate as a wedding, you do not have to go through public spaces, every unique and beautiful villa is located separately. Another place I love is Uluwatu Surf Villas, which is also located at the top of a cliff. These are several boho-style villas, not so luxurious, but it definitely belongs here. Some villas are more open, some with their part of the jungle, which means a completely private view of the ocean surrounded by a garden."
What are the costs if you want to marry in Bali? Apart from the cost of the flight, which would be usually spent on a wedding trip, local villas for the wedding ceremony and celebration, as well as local Bali service providers will be much cheaper than in Europe. If you choose the whole service package offered in one place, you will receive significant discounts and various bonuses, such as spa treatments or private access to the beach. Everything needed will be provided by the wedding organizer – marriage officiant, music, decorator, photographer, videographer. Alise tells: “Half of the total budget will be for the location and all the costs involved by location. If you take one of the villas for only one night, it can cost 500-1500 euros, while if you take a service that includes both celebrations and everything else, then it is always packaged in one advantageous offer.
Prices for such an offer can range from 3000 - 6000 euros, it includes accommodation for two or more nights, meals, venue, dinner venue, service, very often a private butler, spa treatments for a couple, access to a private beach, and various other bonuses. The cost of Bali services is cheaper, but with the best - the most beautiful, the most exclusive locations, the richest decorations.”
"Bali has a lot of flowers, there is a lot of variety and they are cheaper - decoration services are also cheaper. The amount and richness of flower decorations we want to receive here will be more gainful than doing the same in Europe. The make-up artist service here costs 150 euros - both make-up and hair care are included.” Alise recommends choosing proven masters (she can recommend specific service providers) - not local Bali residents, but immigrants from Europe or Russia. The same refers to photographers and videographers, as they have a specific taste and understanding of what the client expects, a specific image processing, and make-up artists have a different understanding of what a ceremonious make-up and hair arrangement is. If wedding make-up is usually associated with natural, calm, and fresh nude tones, then local Balinese masters "try" too much and dramatize makeup.
Most often, weddings in Bali are held in an intimate, private atmosphere - just a couple, or a couple ar vedējiem. However, if you decide to invite more guests, you can find beautiful villas and good hotels at great-value rates in any of the regions.
Bali is one of the places where five-star service is offered at almost the lowest price in the world.
Alice says that a wedding in Bali can be arranged really quickly: “Since I have the practical experience and very often it doesn't matter to the couple whether it's Friday or Saturday, the location and other partners will always be available. Tourism on the island has not yet fully resumed, so third parties are available, if not immediately on the first desired date, then on the second or third definitely. "
If something needs time – it is getting visas. Plan for it 10 working days to be sure you get them on time, but usually visas are issued sooner. So, if you decide at the end of March that you want to get married in Bali, at the end of April it is possible to realize it. If someone really, really wants to get married in a hurry, then the minimum time to prepare for a wedding in Bali would be two weeks. Such a scenario is intended for weddings, the official arrangement of which has already been done before, saving an emotional moment, the wedding ceremony itself for Bali.
It is also possible to organize an official marriage ceremony on the island, but then you have to spend time and extra expenses to get the bureaucratic side in order - to translate documents, certify, legalize, etc. Therefore, in the experience so far, couples sign marriage papers in Europe without assigning emotional value to them, and already with the new surnames and new passports in their pockets, they are going to hold a wedding ceremony in Bali.
Author: IEVA KRASTINA
Photo: JERRY MIHIMANA, C-REEL, IMAJGALLERY
Video: BESPOKE FILM
