Nishita and Gary – Phuket, Thailand
Nishita from Thailand and Gary from the UK met in Dubai and fell in love. Their destination wedding in Thailand was a dream come true.
The couple met at a mutual friend’s party. “We both moved here in 2008 but only met in 2012. Call it fate.”
Wedding Venue
Gary says, “Nishita is Thai, she grew up in Bangkok where much of her family still resides. Deciding on Thailand for the destination wedding was easy. It was much harder picking the region and venue with so many beautiful parts of the country from which to choose.
After much online research, we shortlisted seven potential venues in Koh Samui, Phuket and Si Kao considering many factors including setting, size of property, ability to make each day feel different in the same venue and the attitude of the hotel staff.
The Anantara in Si Kao was the only property that ticked every box on our wishlist. It was remote, bordering the National Park as opposed to being in a busy area with many resorts. It was small enough for us to book the hotel exclusively for our celebrations and large enough for each event to be held in a different part of the property. The clincher was, when visiting the hotel for a tour, although their a la carte restaurant serves Italian cuisine, their Head Chef who is from India cooked an entire Indian meal for us (we were expecting Italian) to demonstrate their ability to cater for the wedding. The food was fantastic, as was the attitude of the entire Anantara team throughout.”
Wedding Planning
“We hired “I Do Etc.” from Bangkok. They have close family ties to Nishita and it is fair to say no other planner was even considered. I did insist on being involved, clearly stating from the start that family ties would not prevent me from speaking up if at any point I was unhappy with either the plans or the execution.
There were many fun aspects of the wedding planning process: choosing the venue, menu tasting, setting themes, shopping for outfits, selecting music. It was incredible watching the whole thing come together. Finalizing the guest list and setting the table plan for the reception dinner was definitely the most stressful aspect.
When invitations are sent out almost 12 months in advance, the additional stress of not receiving confirmed RSVPs until merely weeks before the wedding creates stress that any Bride, Groom or Wedding Planner could do without.
We could not have organized the wedding without a planner. The level of detail and organization involved was extensive. In the end, our wedding was greater than we could have imagined and we could not recommend the “I do etc.” team highly enough.”
Wedding Events
“We had events spread across 3 days.
On the first night, we had a Thai themed Welcome Dinner. It was on the beach with Thai food, Fire Dancers, Traditional Thai Dancers. We then moved to the after-party that was set up in the restaurant, converted into a nightclub with a sea view. The celebrations had started!
On the following day, we started with a Sagri which led straight into a Pool Party with a Mojito / Ibiza theme.The entire pool and garden area was decorated in white and azure blue, a rain shower built over the pool.
The Sangeet later that evening had a Peacock theme.
A firework display signaled our entrance before the evening of dancing.
On the wedding day we started with a Ghari Pooja and lunch before everyone departed to prepare for the wedding. I had a Baarat that included two traditional Thai long boats that ferried an entourage of 20 people who arrived with me at the hotel pier to be greeted by the parents of the bride and Nishita herself.
Nishita and I then entered the mandap that was on the beach, with a backdrop of the Andaman Sea. We were blessed with beautiful blue skies throughout the day, despite it being rainy season, a risk we had accepted when booking the date. >
Our reception was a James Bond themed black tie dinner. The ballroom had been fully staged with some major and other extremely subtle Bond decorations. After the dinner and speeches we partied to our live band, Abri & Funk Radius who we had flown in from Dubai. They are one of our favorites, and knowing they had never played in Thailand before, we knew that it would be a first for many of our guests.”
Advice for to-be-weds
“With all vendors, you must meet them and make sure they understand what you want. If they push their own agenda and seem to want to override your wishes, talk to others.
Try and keep your plans within a tight circle of you and your planners, especially table plans. It is impossible to please everyone and no matter what you decide on, someone will complain somewhere to someone else.
You’re the Bride & Groom. It’s your wedding day, it’s the one day in your life where no matter what, you should have what you want so relax, stop worrying about everyone else for one day and just enjoy.”
Photos Courtesy- Uttam Videos
