Lady in Blue
Here we are! This is essentially what I wore to the most romantic wedding I've attended so far. Given the circumstances of having very little options (or ideas, to be honest) of what to wear to a luxurious beach wedding, and by luxurious I mean having the ceremony on top of the mountains at InterContinental Samui's Air Bar, overlooking the majestic ocean that was followed by a reception dinner and a dusk-til-dawn after party at a private beach villa, I did the most cliche thing and decided to dress according to the wedding's theme colours.
Now, while I don't particularly regret it, let's just say that at least three other girls were wearing the same shade of blue that I was that we almost looked like a second set of bridesmaids had we sat all together. Ha! Awkward much? You can say that. Fortunately, though, no one paid much attention but one lady who swore she almost also wore the same colour but decided otherwise. Good riddance.
Still, my dress looks pretty damn well. Doesn't it? I jest.
But serious talk now, there's a fine line between beautiful, and this wedding verges on the latter. Upon arrival, you can already feel that it wasn't going to be something ordinary. We were greeted by the groom himself, along with his groomsmen, and the majestic 360° view of greenery and the ocean. Refreshments followed while we waited, and after a few minutes, seating was announced for the long-awaited ceremony to begin.
Of course, there were some tears, the exchange of vows - intimate, the you-may-kiss-the-bride part, and whatnot. But after the whole enchilada, that's when you see how crazy people get at a well-to-do party.
We all headed to Villa Kalyana for dinner and the rest of the festivities. Now, a private beach villa all to yourselves for a whole night? Do expect a whole lot of madness. Penguin and I did, and so before we headed down there, we made a stop back to our hotel to leave the camera behind, pick up our swimsuits, and a set of clothes to change into... thank goodness we did. Because then, after dinner, the whole place turned into Splash Party 2.0.
But besides that, here are five things why I think this was a bona fide Thai-inspired island wedding:
1) There was an elephant present! And I sat on it. For real.
2) We flew paper lanterns; it looked magical.
3) There was traditional Thai entertainment, which included musical performance, illusion, and fire-dance.
4) There were fireworks! I mean real fireworks that showered above our heads like little meteor rocks falling.
5) The best so far - they commissioned several street vendors to stay within the villa and serve us street food all night long! More Nutella-banana roti for me. Ha!
I wish I were able to give you a visual report on all these, but like I said, we left the camera back at the hotel because it was too much of a hassle to leave an SLR lying around while we partied. But I hope you can make a mental picture based on this.
Enjoy the photos, and I'll be back with more travel photos! Cheers!
