Lombok, with its beautiful beaches and romantic atmosphere, has always been a popular destination for honeymooners. Now the island is developing a new market for couples looking to tie the knot in a unique and memorable setting.
Every year thousands of couples from all around the world come to Bali to get married. The Island of the Gods is, for many, the perfect place to exchange vows and weddings have become big business for the many wedding planners, hotels and agencies that arrange and host weddings there. Bali Weddings International, probably Bali’s best known wedding organiser, has been operating on the island for the past fifteen years and carries out hundreds of weddings for westerners every year. Weddings are also big business for the restaurants, dress hire companies, hairdressers, make up artists, photographers, and other associated industries that help to make up the entire wedding package.
Now Lombok, just like its sister island Bali, is becoming increasingly popular for weddings and a number of local hotels are reaping the benefits of being the first to put together complete wedding packages for visiting westerners.
In particular, Puri Mas Boutique Resorts and the Senggigi Beach Hotel have become wedding venue specialists over the past two years, with both venues hosting an unprecedented number of weddings during this high season. Puri Mas has two locations, both equally suitable for special occasions, with its main resort located on the stunningly beautiful beachfront in Mangsit, and the Puri Mas Villas location in Kerandangan Valley, with fantastic tropical gardens and romantic bales surrounded by water lily ponds.
New Zealand manager, Sara Sanders, says that weddings are becoming a regular event at the resorts and they love being part of the new trend. “People come from all over the world, sometimes just couples with a few friends, looking for somewhere special to get married; at other times, we are hosting large groups of family and friends. It’s such a romantic occasion, everyone in the resort gets involved. Last week we hosted a themed garden party for the ladies in one wedding group. They chose to have a romantic old fashioned garden party, complete with period costumes and hats, rather than a traditional hen’s party. The gardens and the antiques at Puri Mas were perfect for that type of party and, of course, the Pimms flowed freely!”
The Senggigi Beach Hotel is already well experienced in wedding management, having been popular for a number of years with local people getting married. The beachfront location, with the resort’s Bamboo Bar and Basilico Restaurant right on the sands of Senggigi Bay, is ideal for hosting weddings from small groups to huge receptions of up to a thousand people. The setting is glorious at night, with tables and chairs set up on the beach and flaming torches lighting up the ocean in front.
The Pool Villa Club, an exclusive group of sixteen luxury villas within the grounds of resort, has been very popular with honeymooners for the past five years and now the trend is moving toward couples choosing the Senggigi Beach for both wedding and honeymoon.
Dani, from Australia and Jon, from England, chose the resort for their wedding last week, celebrating together with around 40 friends and family from both countries. Most of the wedding party chose to stay in the Pool Villas, which are spacious enough to accommodate group parties and get-togethers before the wedding day. “We knew when we first came to Lombok that this is where we wanted to get married, so this year our family and friends have flown here to be with us and celebrate our dream wedding,” Dani said. “Lombok is so romantic and everyone has had a great time, the staff has looked after us like royalty!”
The resort arranged numerous activities and parties for the wedding guests during their stay, which culminated in a glorious wedding ceremony on the beach at sunset, followed by a cocktail party and champagne at the Bamboo Bar. The wedding dinner and reception, which lasted well into the night, was held on the beachfront, complete with a stage and live band from one of Senggigi’s popular bars playing. The party was so successful many of the hotel guests couldn’t resist joining in!
Ian Henderson, the Australian Executive Assistant Manager of the resort, has become adept at handling special requests for weddings. “If the guests want a decorated horse-cart, special flowers, a particular wine or champagne, a buck’s night to remember, a certain type of band or entertainment, whatever, we are more than happy to source it for them. This is, after all, a once in a lifetime occasion,” he said.
Of course, many other visitors to Lombok choose to have a more low-key wedding, with barefoot weddings on the beach being popular. Lombok beaches are renowned as some of the most beautiful in Indonesia, with white sands and clear turquoise seas providing the perfect tropical island setting. Lombok’s many small restaurants and bars are also suitable for simple, low cost weddings. Restaurant Taman, one of Senggigi’s most popular restaurants, hosted a wedding for over a hundred guests earlier this year. The entire restaurant was decorated with flowers and traditional decorations and the romantic ceremony took place on the upstairs balcony. The restaurant prepared a specially chosen luncheon for the reception, which also took place upstairs. Guests then gathered downstairs in the garden for drinks and wedding cake, baked by the restaurant’s bakery.
The wedding trend in Lombok seems set to become a feature for the future. As one of the guests at the Senggigi Beach Hotel wedding said, “When Dani first told us they were getting married in Lombok we didn’t even know where it was. Now we’re going home to tell everyone about Lombok… it’s fantastic!”
