December 2019

 

Chiara & Jerome are Australians. They planned their own small Tahiti destination wedding earlier this year, with 15 family members and friends in attendance.

They reached out to me end of February to inquire about my availability to officiate their Tahiti wedding ceremony planned for end of August. Turned out I was already booked for their date, with no way to accommodate even just officiating the ceremony as I was handling another (pretty large) Tahiti destination wedding in Moorea that day, and working said wedding till 2:30am.

Luckily they still had some flexibility over the date, and decided to push their Moorea wedding to the next day, so that I could be their ceremony officiant.

 

Tahiti Destination Weddings:

Chiara & Jerome’s Ceremony in Moorea

 
Chiara first came across Jerome while out dancing one night in Bali, she remembers that a casual chat turned into them talking all night long, and telling each other their life stories, talking about their favourite movies, music, everything. Jerome recalls really liking Chiara from that very first encounter, and their friends ended up dragging them away from each other!

This could have been it, but they caught up in Australia and went to the movies together one night. They had a fun night, however when it was time for Jerome to drop Chiara home, his old Commodore got a flat battery and wouldn’t start, so his mum and sister had to pick them up, which was really embarrassing he says!

Chiara says that Jerome makes even the most boring situation fun and that he has the best lust for life. She’s always loved the way he talked about his family, and how loyal he is. So it’s no wonder that after welcoming their beautiful little Sunny into their lives, marrying and sharing the same last name became important to them.

Chiara actually spoiled the proposal when she found the ring that Jerome was using to find out what her ring size was… she questioned him on it until he gave in and told her about the surprise he had planned!

They both laughed about it which meant it was a “Yes!”

 

 

Chiara & Jerome booked a vacation rental home in Moorea (read more on this topic in this post), which was ideal to accommodate part of the family in one place, and offered the privacy they were seeking for their ceremony in Moorea.

Along the way Chiara also asked us to assist with setting up and decorating their dinner space, and to arrange for her bouquet so that it would match the overall color scheme.

Chiara had imagined fairy lights hanging down from the tree in the yard, only to find out when they checked in that the tree had just been trimmed… and was now looking pretty naked. Anyway, there was one branch left which we were still able to decorate with hanging lights.

 

 

I also arranged for additional lighting as there was close to none in the house’s backyard, and tea lights while looking very pretty along the table, simply would not have cut it once it got dark.

The ceremony was held in the home’s beach-side backyard, facing the lagoon and the ocean. Chiara & Jerome’s ceremony space was drawn on the ground with sea shells, and not only did they exchange personal vows before their family and friends but also before grandma Mary who made the very long journey to be with them.

It was a very lovely environment to hold a ceremony in Moorea. A very quiet and peaceful place for a small Tahiti destination wedding – under 20 people is the magic number for such a place, by the beach, with the waves crashing in the background… all you could ever dream of for your Tahiti destination wedding or intimate ceremony in Moorea.

 

 

Nelly was truly such a lifesaver when planning our wedding, it would not have been possible without her assistance. Her services as our celebrant and, together with her husband, providing the furniture and styling were unique on Mo’orea. Nelly went above to capture our vision and help the while process to go as smoothly as possible. Thank you Nelly and Philippe, we have such amazing memories!

 
I am really happy, and honored to have been able to take part in this special day, and to have contributed to your Moorea wedding day, Chiara and Jerome. Keep enjoying the simple life and the ocean like you always did, and may you have a life full of many more great adventures as a family.

If you find yourselves needing help with the planning of your micro wedding in Moorea, head here for more information!

 

• Moorea Wedding Officiant : Nelly at wedOtahiti
• Ceremony sound : Tropik Sounds
• Photographer : Turama Photography
• Dinner Table Set Up and Décor : Weddings in Moorea

 

Not Sure How To Plan A Wedding In Tahiti? Contact Me Here And Get Started With Planning Your Tahiti Wedding!

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Steven and Flor live in Arizona. They decided to elope in Tahiti and wanted a dreamy ceremony in Moorea in August.  When Steven first reached out, he actually inquired about a Bora Bora wedding. His exact words were “We would like something very simple with super great pictures.  Please help us.”

Whenever a couple does inquire about a wedding in Bora Bora, my first question is how they envision their wedding ceremony, and what environment they imagine themselves exchanging their personal vows in.

The reason I’m asking is that depending on which Bora Bora resort you stay at, photo opportunities may be somewhat limited to resort photos, plus you don’t always get the privacy you’d expect for such a personal moment by standing on the resort’s beach with other in-house guests walking past, standing there watching and even taking photos!

I’m always happy to travel to Bora Bora and meet my couples there but more often than not, having a great variety of backgrounds in photos is important to my couples so marrying at their resort in Bora Bora isn’t going to cut it. Unlike in Bora Bora, there are lots of photo opportunities around the island of Moorea which allows for a much greater variety of environments and colors during the photo shooting (beach, mountain, nature, forest, water etc.).

Having top of the charts photos of their Tahiti wedding was extremely important to Steven and Flor.

 

They Opted For A Wedding Ceremony In Moorea In The Morning When The Colors Are Most Vibrant

 

They would then do beach photos, nature photos as well as drone photos around Moorea.

Steven and Flor pondered about whether they would get married in Tahiti legally or not, but with them planning their elopement wedding in Tahiti pretty late (we were not even 2 months away) it was already too late to gather the needed paperwork and ship it to Tahiti on time to meet the deadline of 45 days before the wedding.

Steven and Flor first met over 11 years ago at Westgate to see the 4th of July fireworks, and Steven recalls that his first words to Flor were to say that it was hot and he had no A/C!

Despite the lack of air con or a working radio, Flor’s first thought was that Steven was really good looking, while he also felt like she was the most beautiful girl who ever set foot in his car… and he actually fell for her at this very moment.

11 years later, here they were about to get married in Tahiti.

 

 
Flor did her own hair & make-up, so I met them at their resort with their flowers – a cascading bouquet of white flowers for Flor, and a male Hawaiian leaf lei for Steven, before the three of us headed to their resort’s dock to board the private boat that would take us to a private islet beach located a few minutes across the lagoon.

We held their beach ceremony privately, and they then did some beach and drone photos around the islet. The month of August is Winter time in here, so it was a bit windy but the colors! The colors were just insane!

 

 

Once they were done capturing the beauty of the place, we headed back to their resort and from there, their photographers drove them around the island for more nature photos on the mountain-side, as well as drop-dead beautiful aerial images by drone. Talking about drone photos in Tahiti, know that most Bora Bora resorts are extremely restrictive (when they do not flat out forbid them) about flying a drone and taking drone wedding photos from above the resort. On the other hand, you can do drone photos in Moorea pretty much anywhere (and when I say “you” I mean someone holding permits to fly a drone in Tahiti).

 

 
Thank you Steven and Flor for trusting me to plan your wedding in Tahiti – Moorea, and I wish you a life very full of love!

 

The ceremony was very nice, we really liked your keepsake portfolio, […] it was a perfectly beautiful day.  We are very grateful for having you as our officiant for our big day, and I hope you continue to make other couples dreams come to life.

 

• Moorea Wedding Planner + Officiant in Moorea: Nelly at wedOtahiti
• Moorea Wedding Photographers: Helene Havard Photography (see more of this wedding here) and Flying World Pictures

 

Do You Want Your Ceremony In Moorea To Be Heartfelt And Personal? Contact Me Here To Get Started!

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