Bride's Diary | My Bali Wedding: An Indispensable Little Beauty in My Lifetime Memories

Recently, due to the pandemic, I've been spending more time at home, so I reorganized the photos from my Bali wedding, hoping to help those in need.

We decided at the end of 2018 to hold our wedding in Bali. Why overseas? First, because both of us were quite busy with work, and friends who had held weddings said it was extremely troublesome to arrange everything, especially if the groom is busy—most of the work falls on the bride, including finding a suitable hotel. Second, I am a romantic at heart and didn't like the chaotic feeling of domestic weddings. I initially considered an outdoor wedding in China, but later found that the cost was high, and there was often a gap between the sample and reality. Also, for outdoor weddings, if there are many guests, it's hard to guarantee the quality of the food. Third, our relatives and friends are scattered all over the world, so whether we held the wedding overseas or in China, everyone would still need to travel.

So we finally decided on an overseas wedding. As for the destination, we considered Bali, Phuket, New Zealand, Okinawa, Europe, and various islands. After some research, we found that many places weren't very mature for weddings—there were few cases, visas were needed, and some details were unclear even to planners (since planners haven't necessarily been everywhere). We also considered Okinawa because it's close and flight time is short, but we gave it up because we couldn't find a suitable venue. In the end, we chose Bali. Although most relatives and friends had to transfer flights, the wedding results made everything worthwhile.

Choosing the wedding venue wasn't too difficult. The Ritz-Carlton Chapel in Bali—during our research, we saw many other venues that were also nice, but we liked the Ritz the most. Perhaps because this chapel is one of the high-end chapels in Bali, I asked many wedding planners and they all recommended it. Finally, we chose a company with the most cases at the Ritz, and it turned out to be the right decision. Even though everything is transparent, there were still many details to handle. More on that later.

We arrived in Bali two days before the wedding.

First night: Due to flight delays, we spent the first night on the plane.

Second day: We arrived in Bali early in the morning, arranged for everyone to rest in the morning, had lunch, then the elders went to the beach to play and watched the sunset at Uluwatu (情人崖), while the young friends went paragliding. My husband and I mainly rested, and went to the Ritz hotel for a spa (complimentary from the hotel). The hotel offered us a wedding suite, but we gave it to our friends because we wanted to play bridal chamber games, so on our planner's advice, we booked the Ritz's villa room type. The planner was experienced and knew exactly which room numbers to request, coordinating with the hotel to reserve rooms for us.

Third day: The wedding day. Early in the morning, the photographer, videographer, and makeup artist arrived, and we took various photos. My husband doesn't usually like taking pictures, but the photographers were good at creating a lively atmosphere. The bridal chamber games were also really fun, thanks to our friends. I don't know how to describe the wedding ceremony itself—it was even more beautiful in person than in the final photos and videos. I'm a bride who wants everything, and my planner and wedding coordinators did their best to meet my requests. After the ceremony, we went out for outdoor bridal portraits, then headed to the dinner venue: the InterContinental Bali.

The dinner was quite stunning. The weather was perfect, so the sunset was extremely beautiful. For the dinner, we had cold fireworks, sparklers, a small band, and fire dance. I highly recommend these—they were the most cost-effective combination after comparison. Of course, if you have a big budget, you can directly go for large fireworks.

Overall feeling of the wedding: The days before and after were quite exhausting because we had to take care of other guests. I recommend letting the wedding company or travel agency handle the guests. But on the wedding day itself, it was quite comfortable because the coordinators took care of everything—ironing clothes, changing outfits, guest transportation, and communication with the hotel.

In the following days, following the planner's advice, we didn't choose time-consuming activities like swing rides or the Gates of Heaven. Instead, we went paragliding, watched dolphins, and visited Seminyak Beach. The most recommended activity was watching dolphins; the sunrise was beautiful. While paragliding, we saw the Ritz chapel. Excitedly, I told the paragliding guy, "Look, we had our wedding there two days ago!" He even flew closer so I could take another photo with the Ritz.