OUTRIGGER FIJI WEDDING REVIEWS & PACKAGES

OUTRIGGER FIJI WEDDING

Outrigger Fiji Wedding Photos | Outrigger Fiji Weddings | Sophie + Josh | Outrigger Fiji Wedding Photography by Videoticz Fiji

Our Wedding Review

Date – 18.04.18
Ceremony – 3pm @ The Chapel
Reception – 6pm @ Vahavu Restaurant & Pool

The planning

We first inquired with Outrigger in December 2016 and booked the Dream Wedding Package a month later. I dealt with Mere from the very beginning who was wonderful to deal with. No matter how many questions I asked, or how many times I confirmed something, she was more than willing to assist and has a beautiful nature. The planning didn’t begin straight away. This was one thing that was hard to understand, but when I realized ‘Fiji Time’ was actually real and remembered everyone at Outrigger do this every single day (they definitely know what they’re doing) it was a lot easier to just let the process happen. I couldn’t believe it was basically as easy as choosing from a checklist. The whole process was so much easier to deal with compared to getting married in Australia (I imagine).

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<a href="https://www.google.es/url?q=https://www.fijiweddingvideoticz.com/">Fiji Wedding Photographer & Videographer</a>

Our stay at Outrigger

We arrived in Fiji on the night of Friday 13th April (I know!) which was great! Gave us plenty of time to settle in before the big day. A lot of our friends and family arrived on the Saturday which was an amazing feeling seeing them all after a good night’s sleep, in a new country that we were about to get married in, all there just for us <3

We began our stay in an Ocean View room and then moved to the Plantation Bure (which was included in our package) the day before our wedding. I would definitely recommend staying in a Bure for the wedding day – so much more room to get ready! We stayed at the Outrigger for a total of 9 nights (4 in the Ocean View room and 5 in the Bure). This was a great amount of time, but of course it went so quickly!

The staff at The Outrigger are just amazing! Everyone is so friendly and just want you all to have a great time!

Hens and Bucks

We had our Hens and Bucks parties on the Monday before the wedding. My bridesmaids organised a half day trip to South Sea Island which was incredible! We had to get a bus to Port Denarau which takes approx. 1.5 – 2 hours depending on traffic (allow 2 hours to be safe) and then a ferry out to the island. Again, a big drive back to the Outrigger in the afternoon so allow for this. We then went to The Warwick for cocktails and an amazing dinner in their restaurant at the end of their jetty. I had the best seafood platter I’ve ever had in my life!

The boys had a golf day at the Natadola Bay Golf Course – this is a world class course and a lot of them are keen golfers so this was right up their alley. They hired anAir BnB house near Port Denarau (again travel time) which came with a traditional Fijian dinner – they had a great time!

Final details once we got to Fiji

We met with Va Virivirilau on the Saturday, after arriving the night before. She is AMAZING! She went through our check list and made sure we were happy with everything we had chosen. She gave us advice on what works best and we could really tell she loves what she does.

We had previously chosen to have our ceremony on the Reef Lawn but Va questioned our decision. I was quite adamant on making this happen but I’m so glad she got us to really think about it. It was quite windy in the afternoons in Fiji which could really ruin the ceremony. She took us in the golf buggy and showed us the Chapel. I had always said I didn’t want a chapel wedding but as soon as we got up there and saw the pure beauty, our decision changed straight away. It’s breath taking. Photos don’t do it any justice. All I could think of is that our guests who had travelled that far for us deserve to see it! Va then took us to the reef lawn and we knew the Chapel was the perfect venue for us. The reef lawn isn’t private at all so other guests could watch you, as well as the wind causing none of your guests to be able to hear what you’re saying.

Va added me on Facebook and was available to answer any questions I had up until the wedding and of course on the wedding day. Like anyone, questions came to me after the meeting and she was more than happy to answer them and settle my nerves. I met with Va again the day before the wedding as I was a struggling stressful mess. That morning I had sent her a HUGE email confirming everything to make sure it was the perfect day we had dreamt of and straight away she replied saying let’s meet this morning. I had to provide her with some things I had brought over from Australia as well but she definitely put my mind at ease with a huge hug. I think I need to repeat how amazing she is!

The big day

As I said earlier my bridesmaids (5) and myself got ready in a Plantation Bure which gave us plenty of room. I booked Totoka Hair and Makeup for… you guessed it, hair and makeup  OMG they were amazing! Lodo is insanely good and so happy to be a part of the big day. They started around 8am and were done by around 1pm, ready for photos! Lodo even made us our very own video of getting ready which really captures how amazing the morning was!

While the girls spent all morning getting hair and makeup done, the boys went to the driving range for some more golf, had some fun in the adults pool and chilled out until about lunch time – lucky boys!

Our ceremony began at 3pm. Va came and got me from our Bure and took us up to the chapel on the golf buggies. She had already got everything ready – music, guests, groom and groomsmen and now it was our turn. Her direction was exactly what we needed when the nerves were so high. We wanted a quick ceremony, not wanting too much attention on us haha. We did the standard Fijian vows and they actually suited us really well. I think our ceremony took about 5-10 minutes which was perfect!

Once the ceremony was done we had plenty of photos with family and our guests before the bridal party headed off for 2 hours of photos. We organised pre-dinner drinks for our guests at the Sundowner Bar, with wine, beer and soft drink available on us from 4.45pm – 5.45pm. While some of our guests did take up this offer, I’m not sure we made it clear that we had paid for all of them. In hindsight, guests could’ve just gone to their rooms to freshen up or have drinks wherever they pleased.

Our reception was at Vahavu Restaurant & Pool – this was the best part of the day! We didn’t want a bridal table and with having 36.5 guests including us in total and we didn’t want to have people who had travelled overseas for us to be excluded from sitting with us. We had one large rectangle table with Josh and I at one end, and all of our guests down each side. It looked incredible! We used all of Outriggers decorations and flowers and it looked amazing!! The only things I did myself were wooden names for each guest and created my own menus and welcome signs. I also got letter blocks for the baby, spelling her name 

We had the Ocean Feast Buffet which was part of the Deluxe Wedding Package upgrade – the food was incredible! I only wish we could’ve taken some back to our room to have the next day! Everyone raved about it!

We upgraded our drinks to include 2 cocktails, 1 imported beer, 1 cider plus Australian wines/Fijian beers. This was a great decision – most people were drinking cocktails and after being there for a few days, the last thing I wanted to drink was wine. The staff were amazing and kept replacing my half empty cocktails with new ones!!

We didn’t hire a DJ or anything like that. We planned out our playlist and had it on an iPod for the Outrigger staff to play. It worked perfectly and obviously were all of our favourite songs.

The best part of the reception was being able to dance the night away with our family and friends. As everyone had arrives a few days earlier, everyone got to know each other and we got to speak with everyone then, so on the wedding day we didn’t feel obliged to sit down with everyone. This was critical as the reception can only go from 6pm-10pm.

Post reception the party continued at Vakavanua Lounge – this was great fun! They had a band playing and we continued to dance the night away!

Photography​

We used Videoticz for our photography. I had been speaking with Reenal for a while before heading to Fiji and he was great to deal with. I sent him heaps of photo locations/ideas/colours I liked and he really took what I wanted on board. The photographers arrived at 12pm and began shooting straight away. One photographer then went to the boys while they were getting ready.

After the ceremony we had some family and guest photos outside of the chapel. It was super windy and I may have slightly started to lose it in the beginning with the wind blowing my hair all over my face and almost losing my veil but Reenal and his team quickly changed the direction and settled my frustration.

I organised a mini bus to take the bridal party to a few sites Reenal had recommended. The photographers stayed until 9pm getting some photos of the reception also. I haven’t received all of my photos back yet but the ones I have seen are incredible!! I can’t wait to see them all! Photographers Website Link For Contact https://www.fijiweddingvideoticz.com/#contact

Overall

Getting married in Fiji, and at The Outrigger was the best decision we could’ve made! It was the most incredible experience and the best holiday of our lives. It’s so amazing that we have those special memories with our closest friends and family which we will treasure forever.

My advice – remember the staff at Outrigger do this every day, they have your best interests at heart and will do whatever you ask! Take in every single moment and have the best day of your life!