It was a gorgeous day at Musket Cove, which was not only the celebration of their love but also of two cultures. Everyone shared some of their traditions and mixed together.

The Fijians shared their traditional dancing (meke), music, fire dancing, wedding outfits (tapa and masi), woven mats (kivu), a kava station, and never-ending laughs and jokes.

Everyone embraced every minute and really got involved. The memories from that day will linger for a lifetime.

In words of Alex:

Why did you choose Musket Cove? How was your experience with the resort?

“We picked Musket Cove because of how beautiful it is, we wanted to do something different from the mainland resorts.

The wedding had to be somewhere that everyone got to have a holiday, including the family that live in Fiji.

The resort was amazing, Gloria the coordinator was great, she had everything organised and nothing was too much trouble for her, we were impressed that she managed to remember most of our guests’ names and there were about 100 of us.

All of the staff were so welcoming and happy, you could tell they enjoy their jobs and love looking after their guests. We can’t wait to go back.

Any tips to give for future brides about getting married in Fiji?

Constantly follow up with people, try to call them if you can, doing everything via email is hard, and sometimes you don’t get a response when you need it which can be stressful.

Don’t worry about the small things, most people won’t notice the things you’re worrying about.

Try to take a moment to look around and enjoy where you are, take it all in because it will go so fast and be over before you know it, all the planning and stress will be worth it in the end!

How did you enjoy the day?

The day was wonderful, we were both a bit nervous but in the end everything worked out better than we imagined. There was a little bit of rain after the ceremony, but it was welcome to cool everyone down.

We really wanted all of our guests to have a great time and we think we got that right, we had plenty of entertainment, a lot of dancing, and a kava station for people to try kava, some for the first time. We kicked on at the Island Bar until about 3:30am so we definitely made the most of the day!

Where did your flowers come from?

Ginger bouquet by Musket and Monaco Jewellers rings.

Who were the entertainers? What do you think about them?

Our first entertainers were Esala’s four nieces who performed two traditional Fijian dances for us, that was really special and we loved that they put in all the practice to do that for us.

Our band were Rako Pasefika, they played a great mix of Fijian and western music, they got everyone up dancing, I don’t think there was a time that the dance floor was empty.

We also had the staff from the resort perform some traditional songs/mekes which was wonderful for them to be a part of our celebration.

There were also fire dancers that were organised by Musket Cove, that was a definite highlight of the night, they were incredible and everyone is still talking about it!

Your dress? Your shoes? And Esala’s gown? The rings? Hair and Make-up?

My dress was from Luv Bridal in Crows Nest Sydney, shoes were from Nine West but I had to order them from America and get my cousin who lives in Boston to send them over to me as I couldn’t find them in Australia.

Esala’s traditional Masi was from his Mum’s family in Tailevu, and the village of Daku. His reception sulu was made in Fiji by The Haus of Koila (that is also where we got the Bridesmaids dresses).

The rings were from Monaco Jewellers in North Ryde, Sydney.

Hair (Lydia) and Make-up (Kajal) by Totoka.

How was your experience with the photographer 😉?

Great! We instantly felt comfortable which makes it so much easier, everything was very relaxed and easy.

The photos turned out better than we imagined, and we are so happy with them. The hardest part is picking which ones to print out and put on our walls!”

Enjoy the viewing! You can see another wedding I have photographed at Musket Cove here.