Bali Magic Wedding

We've been lucky enough to be invited to Vicki and Justin's wedding in Bali (it was yesterday). So on Thursday, the day before the wedding, we set out from our hotel in Nusa Dua to find our friend David (Vicky's Dad). Going by the sandy entrance track winding in amongst the scrubby jungle, complete with rangy looking cows grazing on cleared patches, we thought he must be staying in some rough, beach side shack. However when we opened the timber gates to Nirvana Biru this is what we found........

In all our previous visits to Bali we've never been to the West Coast of the Bukit Peninsula. The magnificent surfing beaches of Bingin, Padang Padang, the Impossibles, have obviously attracted the owners of these beautiful and opulent villas, set in seclusion on the clifftops overlooking the ocean.

Near to David's Nirvana Biru we found the Villa Permutih, where Vicki and Justin were staying in preparation for the wedding there, the next day. Another magnificent villa!

We stayed until sunset and could easily understand why this was the place they had chosen for the celebration of their marriage.

We enjoyed a relaxed pre-wedding catch up with the gorgeous Vicki, her Justin, and some of the other younger wedding guests.

The Villa Permutih has a beautiful swimming pool which overlooks Padang Padang Beach.

Yesterday, the wedding day, we arrived a bit before the 4.00pm scheduled start. It gave us enough time to thoroughly appreciate the beautiful detailing in the set up before most of the guests arrived.

There was a perfect fresh white rose tucked into the green bow on every seat. Roses don't even grow on Bali!!

And fresh white rose petals forming the "aisle".

David's partner Vanessa and I were both feeling nervous for David at this stage because he was feeling his F-O-the-B responsibilities very keenly.

But a few drinks in the garden helped settle the nerves.

Vicki looked absolutely stunning.

We enjoyed the ceremony very much, with its inclusion of literary reflections on the nature of love, some Hindu elements, including a ceremonial blessing, and traditional Balinese musical pieces (as well as the usual vows).

Justin is over 2 metres tall, a funny, smart adventurous man of Australian Scottish descent who is into adventure travel (He publishes Get Lost, an adventure travel magazine). Vicki is a tiny powerhouse of a woman, highly skilled in Corporate Law, and of Vietnamese descent. They seem to adore each other!

It was a magical wedding, very stylish and heartfelt, staged in this most beautiful and exotic setting with plenty of Balinese detailing to make it extra special. It also helped that with all the guests contributing a bottle of duty free champagne to the celebrations (you can't get champagne in Bali) it meant all of us at our table were drinking Moet all night.