Emma & Tanna’s dream destination wedding in Lombok

Emma and Tanna’s wedding journey began with a romantic courthouse ceremony in Melbourne, setting the stage for their ultimate celebration in Lombok.

Emma had always dreamt of a destination wedding in a tropical paradise, complete with sand between their toes, palm trees swaying in the breeze, and stunning 360-degree views. Their wedding turned out to be all that and more.

Emma and Tanna’s love story, which began at a summer camp in California, led them across the world to sunny Australia. Tanna’s sunset proposal in Joshua Tree was the perfect prelude to their tropical wedding in Lombok.

With family coming from opposite sides of the world, Emma and Tanna knew their guests would need to travel regardless of the location.“Jeeva Klui Resort in Lombok is a small hotel, so we were able to have a full buyout of the venue for two nights; the night of the welcome dinner and the night of the wedding. We had the whole place to ourselves,” Emma said. The resort’s intimate setting, beachfront views, and warm hospitality made it the perfect choice.

A particularly thoughtful touch was the wedding favours. Emma explained, “Because our guests all came from so far away, it was really important to us that they felt as appreciated and special as possible; so we wanted to make sure our wedding favours were gifts they’d be able to use and remember this amazing trip by for a long time.” Her dear friend and bridesmaid Lizi, an artist, created hand-painted luggage tags. “She came up with the concept of hand-painted luggage tags, that all assembled together would create an abstract image of the aerial view of our wedding resort, but each luggage tag had its own unique design on it,” Emma said. “We were obviously immediately sold on the idea, and our guests were all so thrilled with their gifts,” Emma added. Lizi also designed icons for the wedding itinerary, which greeted each guest upon arrival and painted thank you cards.

On the wedding day, the atmosphere was relaxed and joyful. The guests, having enjoyed a wonderful welcome dinner the previous night, mingled over breakfast. Emma and her bridesmaids got ready in one of the resort’s beautiful villas, while Tanna and his groomsmen prepared in another. “The girls surprised me with cute decorations, a great playlist, face masks, food, and mimosas,” Emma shared.

The ceremony was held on the main lawn area, where guests sat on the grass while the couple stood with their feet in the sand. “We basically walked straight out of the villa down the aisle. There is a little bit of beach at the end of the lawn area, so our guests were all sitting on the lawn but we all had our feet in the sand,” Emma described. After exchanging vows, the newlyweds and their guests enjoyed a cocktail hour with signature drinks and live music.

As the sun began to set, everyone moved to the second lawn area for the reception. The space was adorned with festoon lights. “We had a cute grand entrance and then Tanna and I gave speeches. From there, it was time to eat — the food was INCREDIBLE!” Emma recalled. The buffet, catered by the Jeeva Klui Resort, featured a wide variety of dishes catering to all dietary requirements. The evening continued with heartfelt speeches, a delicious vanilla cake with lemon curd and Italian meringue buttercream, and the couple’s first dance to Bill Withers’ “Just the Two of Us.”

The night’s entertainment featured a live band, followed by a DJ and saxophonist who kept the dancefloor lively until midnight. “After the live band finished up, our incredible DJ/Sax took over for the rest of the night until about midnight, after which we all decided to jump in the pool and order some late-night chips to cap off the best day ever!”

Reflecting on the entire experience, Emma couldn’t imagine changing a thing. “If I could do it all over again, I would just stop time and be in that location, with all our loved ones, sipping banana daiquiris by the pool until the end of time. It was an absolute dream, I wouldn’t change a single thing,” she said.

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