Our Most Amazing Wedding at Andara Resort, Phuket
Posted by | Categories: Accommodation, Featured, Hotels, Luxury, Perth, Resorts, Thailand, Travel, Wedding
It is literally impossible to put down in words the sheer joy and emotion of our wedding day. I have wanted to share our big day with you, my dear readers, for months and months but every time I try to put pen to paper I come up blank. How do you describe the best day of your life?
We chose to have a very intimate wedding with only 34 guests including our close friends and family. Every single one of our guests came with such wonderful love and happiness and this injected immense energy and passion into the whole day. Here are some moments from our day. (Note all photos are copyright and by Julian Wainwright)
I booked Lisa Allen for my hair and make-up and I cannot sing high enough praises for her and her team’s professionalism, kindness and talent. Her calming influence and total focus on perfection for her work is something to be admired. Thank you Lisa!
Our photographer Julian Wainwright was truly a master at work and I was amazed at how quick he was at capturing each moment. I love his photojournalism style; I never wanted a bunch of posed stiff plastic images. I wanted photos that would take me back to the emotions and experiences of the day. Whilst I have avoided including any photos of our guests for their privacy, you can still feel how successful he was at achieving my wishes from these images.
Our ceremony was held at our Andara Resort Villa. They placed a podium out on the infinity pool allowing us to be surrounded by the most incredible views as we pledged our love to each other. It was like something out of a fairy tale. No detail was left over looked and every staff member from Andara worked around the clock to ensure our day was perfect.
The night before the wedding we were sitting out in the sala overlooking the ocean with my family and bridal party. Trying to kick back and relax as much as one can the day before one’s wedding, we could see out in the distance a number of glowing Sky Lanterns or “Kom Loy” being released. I had already gone well over budget for the wedding so I had chosen not to have these for our wedding. As my Dad watched these gorgeous beacons float off into the sky he turned to me and said “What do I have to do to organise some of these for tomorrow?” Isn’t he the best Dad in the world? So thanks to my father, after our villa wedding ceremony we journeyed down to the beach front and released our own family of flickering lanterns up into the night sky before heading back to Silk restaurant for our Reception.
We arranged to have our own personalised wedding dance choreographed to Muse’s Dark Shines by dance instructors Kate and Craig from Ceroc Perth. Ever since we got engaged I envisioned this track being our first dance however as neither of us dances I wasn’t sure whether we would be able to pull it off. In the weeks preceding our wedding day our dance practice became a roller-coaster ride of success and failure as we kept repeating it over and over in the hope we could perfect it. On some occasions we achieve this but more often than not we would keep making mistakes or forget our moves. You can imagine our nerves by the time it came to the actual dance on our wedding day! We both walked in silence out onto the dance floor and it was like there no one else was in the room. Focused, elated and totally in sync we became one united force and completed the performance from beginning to end without pause or hesitation. What an incredible, bonding experience.
The breath taking villa at Andara Resort: Our home for the week of our Phuket Wedding
Posted by | Categories: Accommodation, Beach, Featured, Hotels, Luxury, Thai, Thailand, Wedding
Part Two: Our Phuket Wedding Villa at Andara Resort
After a few short and very hectic days staying at the stunning Andara Resort in one of their Pool Residences we finished off our last-minute Phuket wedding planning just in time for our wedding guests to start to arrive. This moment signalled our “moving day” where we were to move into the villa of our dreams. This would be the place where we would say our vows, become husband and wife and spend our first days as Mr and Mrs together. Eeeeek! So exciting!
Andara’s villas are situated up high on the mountain side overlooking the Andaman Sea. Each villa has its own full-time staff including a private chef. The villas are kept in an immaculate state and no matter where I took photos from various points around our enormous lodgings; I could never completely capture its incredible emotion and beauty. After an initial scare where our original choice of villa was alleged to have water damage, we managed with some persuasion to negotiate getting a larger but just as beautiful villa replacement.
Our master bedroom opened out onto our private balcony with expansive views of the Andaman sea and angled to afford glimpses of the sun setting into the sea. Our bathroom was as big as our living room at home with a massive spa once again with those incredible sea views. Our bath was filled with rose petals both on our arrival and also for our wedding night. We each had our own separate walk in robes meaning all my wedding attire could be hidden away from prying groom’s eyes until our big day.
Master bedroom (Photo courtesy of Andara)
So cheesy but so adorable
The master bedroom spa…if only we had time to relax in it!
The villa was an enormous building set over three levels allowing each of our guests their own private areas. There are two separate indoor living areas; a living room with a ten seater dining table and a separate family room. Both are equipped with large flat screen TVs and entertainment systems.
Dining and living room
No matter where you were in the villa there was a view
Family room
Despite the opulence and spaciousness for indoor relaxing; most of us spent the week outdoors basking around the infinity pool and eating under the sala. I couldn’t understand why you would want to dine indoors when there was such a beautiful view to gaze upon outdoors.
The view never stopped being awesome.
Ok. Maybe I had a little time to relax…
Our villa’s chef Su proved to be one of the biggest assets to this breath-taking villa and we would have all loved for her to return home with us to Australia! Every time we chose to eat out in Phuket we were reminded how much better Su’s food was and we should have just stayed at the villa and let her look after us.
Prawn and mushroom soup
Papaya salad
Tom yum goong
She would approach us each morning after we finished eating our cooked breakfast in order to plan our menu for the day so she could head down to the markets and buy all the produce fresh. Nothing was too much trouble for her and she never complained about all the “blow-in” guests we repeatedly invited up to the villa to join us.
Red duck curry
Duck larb
For our first night we invited all wedding guests up to the villa for a “casual” BBQ to welcome them all to Thailand. Expecting something simple, we were in no way prepared for the half a dozen or so staff that came up hours in advance to set up for the party.
Photo courtesy of Andara
Just a casual BBQ at our villa
Pool Sala: Photo courtesy of Andara
This is where I wish I had a better camera lens!
Tables were set with white linen, flower centrepieces placed on the tables, bamboo flame torches embedded in the garden around the pool and a bar was set up complete with a bartender. This was to be the standard of attention and care we received throughout the duration of our stay making us really feel like we were kings and queens. This could be a lifestyle I could easily get used to if I had the money for it to be sustainable!
The only downside of Andara’s villas is their price tag. This level of luxury and opulence doesn’t come cheap. In the lead up to our stay I cannot deny I was cringing at the cost, but in all honesty our week staying at our villa was truly the best week of my life and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.
For all my Phuket Wedding related posts click here
Andara Resort and Villas 15 Moo 6, Kamala Beach, Kathu, Phuket 83150, ThailandOur Phuket Wedding Preparation & Accommodation at Andara Residences, Kamala, Phuket
Posted by | Categories: Accommodation, Featured, Hotels, Restaurants, Thai, Thailand, Travel, Wedding
Part One: Finalising our Phuket Wedding Preparations!
Prior to getting engaged I often toyed around in my head with the idea of eloping off to somewhere exotic. Like many people I have a divided family with my real parents and my respective step parents not exactly being the best of friends. Having to brave getting all these loved ones in the same room sounded like a daunting feat and one that could prove best to avoid. Our engagement party at The George provided me with a safe way to test the waters and despite all the anxiety and tension in the build-up to the evening along with very disappointing customer service from the George’s staff; everyone managed to get along wonderfully. In fact we all had an absolute ball. It dawned upon me that I should give my family much more credit.
As with all brides, the last few months before our big day flew past at the speed of light. No day seemed long enough and I forgot what it was like to relax. Some may say I got a bit pedantic about details however I prefer to see it as purely just ensuring everything was done properly and thoroughly. Consequently, despite previously being so paranoid that I wouldn’t be elegantly slim enough, in the last few weeks before the big day I could barely keep weight on for all the running around I did.
Photo by Julian Wainwright Photography
Our wedding invitations were designed by Jessica, one of the lovely designers at Annie P Paperie. My theme if you can call it that was “simple elegance”. I didn’t want any froo-froo, lace, feathers or glitter and opted for letter pressed stationary instead. Following with the Thai theme they designed me a simple “logo” of orchids intertwining gracefully around the edge of the page. I used this design throughout our wedding; on our invites, personalised canvas tote bags used for the welcome gifts, small gift note pads, menus and name place cards. The orchid design was sent to the Bella Figura in New York where they used antique cast iron presses to make the invitations the old-fashioned way.
Our beautiful Bella Figura invites
After visiting many different resorts in Phuket during our previous trip in November 2011, we both agreed unanimously that Andara was the place of our dreams. Andara has two accommodation options in its expansive resort; they have massive privately owned villas perched up high on the mountains and then they also offer smaller, apartment style residences lower down the scarp by the beach.
The master bedroom
We never got to try out the spa :(
There were his and hers bathroom areas
Both are managed by the hotel and ooze luxury and attention to detail. We arrived about five days prior to all our wedding guests and initially stayed in one of their residences for a few days before moving into the opulent villa with our bridal party. Although the residences do not quite have the wow factor of the villa, each is still appointed with great care and attention. We were lucky enough to get upgraded to a pool residence for these few days and on arrival received a bottle of champagne on ice.
The perfect place to unwind before our guest arrived
The view from the residences is still pretty good!
Some decent coffee to fuel our late night dancing
The full sized (and stocked) fridge
The spacious living area
Each residence has its own fully equipped kitchen, full sized fridge and all the utensils you would ever need while on holiday. Not that we did any cooking. For four days we busied ourselves organising welcome packs, choosing wedding music, practising our dance and finishing off all the important little wedding details whilst the hotel’s room service kept us well fed. The kitchen went above and beyond to diligently ensure all my allergies were strictly catered for without sacrificing on taste.
Smoked eggplant (room service)
Ginger fish (room service)
Breakfast for the residence guests is served at the hotel’s only restaurant Silk. They provide a combination of a continental style buffet coupled with a freshly cooked hot meal off their al la carte menu. Every morning the food and beverage manager would come over to our table and reassure me that my gluten free bread and muffins along with my hot meal was on its way. The gluten free muffins were sweet, coconutty and fluffy light and I had to stop myself from eating them all each morning. They were served warm and spread generously with Lescure butter they were close to heaven.
Eggs benedict
The gluten free muffins served hot
The Main Pool
Three egg omelette
The Boy’s protein packed breakfast
If I hadn’t already had my socks knocked off by the impressiveness of our wedding villa then the Andara residences would have had the same effect. However I knew we were soon to move into even bigger and better lodgings and the beauty of our suite was somewhat lost on me. Looking back now on our stay there I can appreciate what stunning accommodation it was and for a couple travelling on their own the suites are a more affordable way to stay at Andara.
In my next Wedding blog post I will take you through our breath taking Villa where overlooking the Andaman Sea the Boy and I declared our vows to the world and became husband and wife!
For all my Phuket Wedding related posts click here
Andara Resort and Villas 15 Moo 6, Kamala Beach, Kathu, Phuket 83150, Thailand
