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
