Kathy & Dylan: Fiji Wedding, Outrigger on the Lagoon

This day was full of fun and laughter and so much LOVE! We loved being able to capture the fun and festivities of Kathy & Dylan’s wedding at the Outrigger! Kathy was a stunningly happy bride throughout the day and Dylan made sure the day had a bit of his style included. He wore a steampunk top hat along with a few other steampunk accessories! After finishing up a long and beautiful wedding day, we were happy that we’d be able to get together with Kathy & Dylan in a few days for their Underwater Portrait Session (we’ll be doing another post from that session later)! Here’s a little bit from Kathy & Dylan about their Fiji wedding and planning:

Tell us your engagement story: We were traveling around Mexico, Guatemala and Belize on a holiday. We were in Tulum and in the morning had been scuba diving in “Cenotes Dos Ojos” an underground cave and cavern system which was breathtaking. We really wanted to see the Mayan ruins at Tulum which are beautiful overlooking the ocean. We rode push bikes to the site and then looked around. Our tour was leaving Tulum that afternoon and we were running out of time. It was so unlike Dylan who is usually buzzing around double pace, but here he seemed to be dawdling, so I gave him some stick!! He sat me down on a stone in the ruins overlooking the ocean and pulled out a ring! A beautiful spot and a day that will stay in our memories forever!

Now that you’re home from your wedding, take a look back, and tell us about your day: The morning of the wedding we had organized our included champagne breakfast to be bought to our room. The spread was amazing and was a perfect start to the day. Mum and Dad had chosen to stay in a bure so we decided this would be the best place for the girls to get ready. It was pretty relaxing getting your hair and makeup done and having time in between to chill out with my nieces. When it came time to put on the dress, it was probably the most nervous I got all day, it seemed to catch me by surprise. Having the girls there made it easy not to focus on yourself and put a light hearted mood into the day. I really loved spending that getting ready time with my parents, Kerry and the girls. The ride up to the chapel was fun and then it was time. When I head the aisle music I got pretty emotional, and am so glad I didn’t have to go down the aisle first, so I got some time to compose myself! When Dad and I started down the aisle, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face! I saw Dylan at the end and felt so happy. The ceremony was over in a flash and the rest of the day was heaps of fun! We were lucky the rain held off for our photos, and the wind gave us some lovely photos, but was pretty annoying! After taking some magic shots at the beach we quickly hair-dryed the bottom of my dress before our grand appearance at the reception. There were some beautiful speeches, the ice-cream cake was amazing, and our first dance was clumsy, but all good fun! I had the best time dancing at the reception and really enjoyed the music. It felt like a weight was lifted as all the planning had come off without a real hitch, and relief to see the hard work come to fruition!! All in all I think I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the day, a small wedding meant I didn’t feel obliged to spend time making sure everyone was ok and was able to just let loose and have fun!

How did you end up choosing Fiji as your destination? We only wanted a small wedding, and loved the idea of getting married overseas. We wanted it close enough to Australia so that it was still somewhat affordable for the attendees to travel, but also somewhere exotic and beautiful. The short list was Fiji and Vanuatu, but we had traveled to Vanuatu a couple of years earlier, and were keen to see another corner of the globe. There was also a bigger range of venues to chose from in Fiji which finally swayed the decision.

What was the most memorable part of your day? Kathy – The most memorable part of the day for me was waiting and walking down the aisle. The emotion of the moment when the doors opened and I heard the music, then the laughter seeing Imogen (one of the flowergirls) run to daddy, and the happiness of seeing Dylan at the end of the aisle waiting for me.

Dylan – The most memorable part of my day was kissing my new bride at the altar. I also really enjoyed listening to the speeches.

Is there anything you wish you knew before you started planning your big day? Any advice for future Fiji brides/grooms? Try not to leave any decisions to the last minute, as you will end up running out of time. And the morning of the wedding leave all those missed jobs behind and just enjoy the day. It’s too late to really change anything and it will just make the day stressful!

Special Thanks… Adele from Outrigger on the Lagoon. Nothing was too much hassle, not even my last minute requests and changes! We also spent a fair bit of time procrastinating about photographers, but are so glad we chose Stu and Malia. The photos were amazing and they were really great to hang out with too!