
Destination Wedding at the Brando, the world’s Best resort
After years of planning honeymoons and destinations weddings, it was time to plan my own. I had always envisioned the two of us on an island at sunset a moment for just us to share. After a bit of research my choice was clear, French Polynesia. My Fiancée had never been and I had never been to this particular island (I feel it’s key to go somewhere you both haven’t been). So we told the family and the planning process started.
Roles were a bit reversed since I am the wedding and honeymoon planner, I actually took the lead on everything and set the time and date, the location on the island, the photographer, the ceremony details, and the reception dinner. Back home my fiancée shopped for a beach appropriate wedding dress and I solidified all aspects of the wedding with the onsite wedding coordinator. Tahiti was an obvious choice as it’s one of the most beautiful places on the planet and she had always wanted to experience an overwater bungalow (we honeymooned at one after the wedding in Bora Bora). This would have been my 5th trip to Tahiti and I purposely wanted to visit and Island I had never experienced. Enter Tetiaroa, the only private island in all of Tahiti which was purchased from the government in 1966 by the actor Marlon Brandon after filming mutiny on the bounty.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but that’s the fun part of a destination wedding and I felt like a kid at Christmas. You board a private plane in Tahiti (it’s all part of the experience) for the 20 minute ride to the island. This is a great way to get a birds eye view of the island. Once you land it feel’s like Fantasy island as you are greeted by singers in traditional Tahitian dress and then whisked away to your private beach villa. It’s incredible how serene and picture perfect the setting and the beach is here. I was constantly pinching myself at every turn because it just kept getting better and better, way nicer than any picture I had seen online. That’s a testament to how amazing Tahiti in general is, it’s one of those places that look surreal and even nicer in real life than the pictures. We instantly felt at ease and immediately reconfirmed our couples massage for the next day 4 hours before the wedding.
The wedding started with an al fresco breakfast on our private deck just steps away from the most incredible blue water I have ever seen. We then spent time in our private plunge pool, and then headed to the spa for our massages to make us even mellower than we already were. After the spa we both got ready in separate villas ( I still hadn’t seen the dress that she meticulously carried with her in a garment bag from the east coast) and met with the photographer. The photographer lead me to where she was waiting on the beach and my jaw dropped at how beautiful she looked and how amazing the dress looked on her. We took a few shots on the beach and then the ceremony started. In Tahiti the groom is rowed to the beach on a canoe decorated with all sorts of Tahitian flowers and palm leaves. So I waded into the anxle deep water and jumped on board. 10 minutes later we were at the wedding site and my bride was waiting on the shoreline. I entered to Tahitian music and dancing and then we proceded to to the ceremony (all in tahitiian). After we were blessed with coconut water we were wrapped in a wedding blanket and officially married! To our amazement it had been overcast but all of the sudden the sun came out and gave us a double rainbow at the end. The Tahitians told us that was a sign of good luck and we felt extremely lucky. We capped of the wedding with cake and champagne and then completed the evening with a private dinner in the restaurant with great food and most of all my best friend in the world as my bride.
My wife after all said and done jokes with people that all she had to do was show up and I had planned everything. This is typical of most of my destination wedding clients and a reason we continue to excel in the honeymoon and destination planning realm. Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly for any destination wedding or questions regarding the Brando.