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15 Advantages of a Destination Wedding in Bali, Indonesia

  • roseeng3
  • May 13, 2021
  • 7 min read

Updated: May 14, 2021


Rice Terrace, Sun Rays
Tegalalang Rice Terrace Engagement Photoshoot

Destination Weddings in other East Asian Countries will also share some of these advantages, but since my experience was with Bali, I'm going to stick with what I know.

  1. Intimate

  2. Affordable - As low as $10K to however luxurious you want

  3. A Wedding Planner and Wedding Coordinators come with the wedding package!

  4. It's a Vacation for Attendees and a Honeymoon for Yourself. Most of our guests have amazing stories and unique experiences to tell their colleagues when they return home. Infinity Pools are everywhere!

  5. Your guests make new friends, maybe even meet their special someone.

  6. Learn to get around using a moped

  7. Get Pampered Everyday: The Balinese Massages, ManiPedi, Facials

  8. Food: Indonesian Cooking Classes, Ubud is a culinary gem for fine dining

  9. Yoga and Meditation Classes or Retreats

  10. The Sights: Rice Fields, Waterfalls, Mt. Batur, Pura (Temples), Sacred Monkey Forest, Beaches in Gili Island, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu, Seminyak

  11. Handcraft Goods: Ceramics, Wood Carvings, Silver Smiths, Linen, and etc.

  12. Coffee: Luwak Coffee, Coffee and Tea Plantation Tours

  13. Tropical Fruits

  14. Hiking

  15. Getting the picture-perfect shot

An Intimate Wedding

Not everyone will be willing to take off time or pay for flights far away from home in a foreign country. The ones that really want to show up to celebrate with you will make this work. The appreciation you feel for them and the fun you'll have with them are priceless. Our wedding venue was rented out for 3 full days, so we had a day to rehearse, a day for the ceremony and reception, and a day to have a casual bbq with Babi Guling (a roasted suckling pig) and to finish the leftovers from the amazing 3-course menu reception dinner we had. We almost had a 4-course menu, if it wasn't for the lesson learned from other destination weddings we've been to where guests got too full from the hors d'oeuvre to finish the meal. Most destination weddings are less than 50 people and as small as 5 people. If you want 100+ people there, destination wedding is definitely not for you.


It's Affordable (Itemized breakdown for my wedding in link)

There is a way to have a beautiful dream wedding without spending your life savings. The conversion between U.S. dollars is 1 USD to about 14K IDR (in 2020). Everything is a few thousand IDRs which makes math a bit hard, but just remember:

  • 15K IDR is ~ $1

  • 50K IDR is < $3.50

  • 100K IDR is < $7

  • 150K IDR is ~ $10

  • 250K IDR is < $20

  • 750K IDR is ~ $50

  • 1 Million IDR ~ $70

There's always a way to get a better deal by bargaining, but even though it sounds like a couple thousand it's literally a couple of cents, so unless you like bargaining, you can just let them have it. The average Indonesian makes less than $30 a day (12 Million IDR). When you get there, you may believe it is actually significantly less than the information you find online.


Easy to Plan

I truly can't emphasize how easy it was to plan this. The hardest part for us may have been getting the invitations out and confirm it was received and some of the overachieving personal touches we wanted for our guests. I'm a bit picky in certain aspects and literally did not want to think about other aspects of a wedding so the fact that the package we went with gave us a project manager that gently prodded me to make decisions for the wedding made it a whole lot easier. You get a standard list of different options that fit your budget and you can decide to remove or add things you want. The agency we went with has done literally a thousand weddings, so whatever religion, union, or type of party you want, they've probably had experience planning.


Vacation and Honeymoon

Everyone has a different feeling about destination weddings, however, every destination wedding I've been to (Hawaii, Phuket in Thailand, Asheville North Carolina, Utah) has always been worth it despite the heavy upfront cost. The first destination wedding you ever decide to go to is always the hardest since the cost seems a bit overwhelming unless you're just rolling in dough!

Here are a few things people love to do when they're in Bali:

  • Seminyak, Canggu, Ubud, Uluwatu, Nusa Dua, Gili Islands were our favorite areas

  • Pool Parties (Mrs. Sippy Bali), Beaches, and Watersports (try Nusa Dua) - Get that sunblock ready!

  • Shopping - You won't regret bringing an empty suitcase

Making New Friends

I've been to destination weddings as a single, unmarried woman, as an engaged, as a married woman, and soon in May 2021 as a married with a newborn. One guarantee unless you and your guests are antisocial is that they'll all end up being friends and keeping in touch after the wedding. Why? You're asking people to go to a foreign place with nothing else to do than to celebrate your wedding and have fun, so why not have fun together?

We had guests come from all over the world (U.S., Canada, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore, and it would have been China if it wasn't for COVID-19) and they keep in touch and are excited to visit each other. So many have told us that they wish we can have another huge party during the next leap year (our first anniversary) so they can all rendevous (We got married on February 29, 2020).


Scoot Around Town

It's $5 to $7 to get around for a full day. Henry knows how to ride a road bike and we found a semi-private area to get comfortable driving a moped around. He learned a new skill (so I didn't have to). I remember the first time, I was super scared to get on, so I was fully clothed from head to toe in case we fell while the person next to me got on her moped with flip-flops and a mini skirt since it's 80F/26C weather with humidity. The speed is quite slow since there's traffic sometimes AND it's a small scooter so your feet can reach the floor.


Get Pampered like a King and Queen

I got so many massages, manicures, pedicures, and facials. I even got unwanted hair professionally removed. You will be GLOWING. My guests went almost every morning since there was one close by to where they were staying. All pampering services range from super cheap to luxurious, but affordable. Trust me, you might even get tired of being pampered!

Uluwatu - Esthetics, D'Nail Bar, Kuta - Re Day Spa, Nusa Dua -



Food Culture - Street Food to Fine Dining

  • Balinese Specialties:

    • Sambal - This is similar to mexican salsa, and there are many types. Our favorite is Sambal Matah (we still make this from time to time), but seriously try them all, you won't regret it especially if you like to turn up the heat

    • Babi Guling - Roasted Suckling Pig with Spices

    • Bintang is their country's beer - get the radlers

    • Luwak Coffee (google this! it might make you laugh)

    • Pepes Ikan - Steamed Fish in Banana Leaf

    • Bebek Betutu - Slow-cooked duck

    • Ayam Betutu - Slow-cooked Chicken

    • Nasi Campur - Rice with a little bit of everything

    • Gado Gado - it's a salad that our friends loved when we had it at the bbq

    • Goreng (means fried, so Mie Goreng - Fried Noodles, Nasi Goreng - Fried Rice, Pisang Goreng - Fried Banana)

    • Sate or Satay - Skewered Meats

    • The edible flowers - seriously this is a MUST TRY - it's like the best salad you've ever had - Locavore will have it

  • Mom & Pop Shops called Warungs: Uma Cekingan Warung, Warung Babi Guling Pak Dobiel Nusa Dua , Naughty Nuri's Warung for Pork Ribs (I chose the one in Seminyak because it's next to Gusto Gelato)

  • Fine Dining: Locavore and all their sister restaurants, Blanco par Mandif, Moziac

  • General Amazing Food Places in Uluwatu: Mana (Mexican Indonesian fusion), Suka Espresso (there's one in Uluwatu & Ubud - the one in Uluwatu is next to the D'Nails place), Ours Uluwatu, Dugong Restaurant & Bar, Sarong, Merah Putih

  • Cooking Classes: Casa de Luna

Yoga & Meditation Retreats

We did not have the time during either of our 2 trips ( 1st trip to check out venues and celebrate my birthday, and 2nd trip for the actual wedding) for a whole retreat, but we went to Yoga Barn, in Ubud. There are a ton of different yoga classes so we did the Thai Massage Yoga where you and your partner can learn to massage each other using your body weight. It's amazing. You get to learn, have a light workout, and get a massage!!!


The Sights

Photo Credit David Yi Wong of Mt. Batur Sunrise Hike

Handcraft Goods

Luwak Coffee

This is all over the Ubud area if you want a tour, or you can buy it at any store. It's one of the most expensive coffee in the world. There are a ton of good coffee at so many cafes. We really liked Suka Espresso, Revolver Espresso


Tropical Fruits

Have you had fresh passionfruit or lychee? Try it in a margarita or mojito. It will blow your mind if you haven't had this yet. Seriously you're missing out on life. There are also some unique fruits that I've never met in my life until going to Bali, Indonesia. Here are a few you have to try and if you have tried it in America, it's 100x sweeter and juicier from the source than imported. If you've traveled or are from many countries in Asia, this is nothing new, but you probably miss it a lot if you live outside of these countries

  • Mangosteen

  • Snakeskin Fruit

  • Rambutan

  • Guava

  • Passion Fruit

  • Dragon Fruit, also known as Pitaya

  • Yellow Coconut, Green Coconut (I still think Thai Coconuts are the best in the world)

  • Durian

  • Papaya

  • Mango (it's just better here)

  • Lychee

  • Longan

  • Soursop

Hiking

Mt Batur is more than a short day trip - people usually camp and do a night hike to watch the sunrise

Going to most of the waterfalls are short hikes


The Photos are worth a Million Bucks

Memories are everything. It almost looks to good to be real. Bali makes most of it's country's income from tourism. In fact, a lot of the photos are somewhat staged. Like the swings - there are so many swings! The people who hike with you to help you take that perfect waterfall picture for a small price. The photogenic rice fields (we did our engagement shoot there and then used it for our invitations). The classic Indonesian gate "Doors of Heaven" that reflects the sky like you're in the water, but it's really just at a golf course or something. Don't get me wrong, we loved our Bali trip, but what you see in social media is curated.


In summary, we had the party of our lives and it exceeded our semi-low expectations due to not believing people on youtube paid only 10K to 15K for their dream wedding. Dare to have that beautiful wedding without breaking the bank!




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