Bali Wedding Guide 2024

Celebrating the biggest day of your life in a tropical land like Bali, with its picturesque ocean view or surrounded by rice fields, is something out of a fairytale book. Sprinkle that with the strong cultural and spiritual atmosphere of the island, and then you have the wedding of your dreams. Having your wedding ceremony on the Island of Gods is the kind of memory that will last a lifetime.

🍃 Best season to plan a Wedding in Bali

In the northern hemisphere, you have four seasons to choose from to plan your wedding. The island of Bali and Indonesia, in general, only experiences two seasons: dry and wet. The dry season lasts from April to mid-November, which is the best time to make your dream wedding in Bali come true, especially from April to June and then from September to mid-November. During these months, the chance of rain is pretty low, ensuring that everything you plan will not be hindered by thunderstorms or rain.

Bali experiences peak season in July-August and at the end of the year. Planning the wedding around this time will significantly increase the cost due to the high holiday season in Bali.

📍Best places to plan a wedding in Bali

Deciding the best locations to exchange your vows should be the first consideration. Uluwatu is your perfect wedding location if you want a stunning wedding venue on the clifftop overlooking the ocean and get the most stunning sunsets. If you prefer an elopement, many private villas around the islands with tropical gardens can be a perfect backdrop for your amazing wedding experience. Seminyak and Jimbaran give the laid-back atmosphere with a white sand beach and the sprawling ocean as your picture-perfect background, impeccable locations for your beach weddings. Ubud has several perfect venues if you wish to have an intimate wedding with the lush jungles surrounding you.

🕙 The best time of the day to have a wedding in Bali

Should your wedding be a morning, afternoon, or evening ceremony? The answer depends on what kind of wedding you want in Bali instead of anywhere else.

If you’re chasing that perfect golden hour at the beach, the afternoon before the sunset is a sensible choice. If you want the blueness of the Indian Ocean to be part of your wedding theme, then having a morning ceremony only makes sense. Evening weddings are not quite popular in Bali, but if you have them in a garden with thousands of twinkling lights or fireworks, you will still have the perfect Bali wedding.

The answer to this question can be divided into two important factors: the location and the number of guests. Outside those two crucial aspects, there are still others to consider, such as pre- and post-wedding ceremony celebrations, accommodations, transportation, etc. Having a destination wedding means you must also understand the legal aspect to ensure your wedding is validated unless you are already legally married in a civil ceremony in your home country. Bali functions as the second ceremony and reception.

💶 Budget-friendly wedding in Bali

It is possible to have a budget-friendly wedding in Bali. However, this comes at the price of sourcing many of the vendors yourself, including booking the venues and ensuring every detail is what you want.

The cost for a budget-friendly wedding can be estimated at around US$ 1,500 – US$ 3,000.

💳 Mid-priced wedding in Bali

A mid-priced wedding in Bali can be described as an intimate or elopement. You invite only your closest ones, and the wedding can be done in private villas or resorts. One of the positive aspects of having an elopement is you don’t need any event permits since it will be a small wedding event. Still, it can be costly, and couples tend to use wedding agencies and choose a special wedding package.

The mid-priced wedding in Bali costs approximately US$ 3,000 – US$ 8,000.

💰 Luxury wedding in Bali

When it comes to luxury weddings in Bali, the sky is literally the limit as it offers everything that is best about having a ceremony in Bali. Whether it’s a chapel wedding or a villa wedding, it can be intimate, private, beautiful, and romantic at the same time. There are many venues and villas in Bali that can hold up to 250 guests, and the only question is, how far will you go to have the most extravagant and luxurious wedding on the Island of Gods?

The luxury wedding in Bali ranges from US$ 10,000 – US$ 40,000.

Expert Opinion

Budget is the main objective regarding budget, mid-range, or luxury weddings in Bali. The best thing to do is decide what you want since it is the most important day of your life and start planning and coordinating with the vendors or your wedding agencies.

Choosing the best wedding agency for your wedding is crucial as your big day depends on how they turn your ideas and vision into reality. You want the team wedding agency to perfectly capture what you want without a single fault. Here are some wedding agencies for your reference.

1. Amora Bali Weddings

Founded in 2017, Amora Bali Weddings is a full-service wedding agency with a dedicated team of wedding enthusiasts who will ensure that every aspect of your big day is perfect to the tiniest detail.

2. Seven Agency

Seven Agency is one of Bali’s top wedding agencies since 2008 and their experience can only be described as exceptional. They can tailor your Bali wedding package based on the number of guests, from less than 20 guests to over 50 guests; they can arrange everything for you.

3. BALI.LOVE

Based in Bali and Australia, the team behind Bali.Love has been in the industry for over 40 years collectively. If you’re looking for an agency specializing in luxurious wedding packages in Bali, look no further.

4. Bali Wedding Paradise

Established in 2008, Bali Wedding Paradise excels in the chapels, private villas, and resort weddings the founder, Sinly Anfeny, has amassed experience as the Operations Director before finding her own company. From Conrad Bali Chapel to Sky at Ayana Resort, whatever you dream of a Bali wedding venue, they can turn it into reality.

5. Global Weddings

Like its name, Global Weddings prides itself in arranging a destination wedding worldwide, but Bali is one of the most favorite spots for nuptials. Based in Melbourne and Bali, they have turned the dreams of hundreds of gorgeous couples into reality, including handling Miss Universe 2004 Jennifer Hawkins’ secret wedding.

Wedding venues in Bali are abundant; from the wedding chapels for intimate weddings to resorts that can host hundreds of guests, you will find the suitable one for your destination wedding.

1. Ulu Cliffhouse

With the Indian Ocean as the backdrop or the hues of the sunset over the horizon, the wedding venue at Ulu Cliffhouse is worthy of a five-star rating. Whether it’s a morning or afternoon ceremony, the view of the famous Uluwatu clifftop is going to make your day extremely special.

2. Ayana Resort

Boasting six outdoor and three indoor wedding venues, you can choose to have the intimate wedding at their Tresna Chapel or the spectacular SKY, which appears to be floating 35 meters above the Indian Ocean. Celebrating your big day here is the epitome of a luxurious wedding.

3. Mandapa a Ritz Carlton Reserve

Mandapa, a Ritz Carlton Reserve, is the perfect venue for you who want an intimate wedding with the the lush greenery of Ubud as the backdrop. You can choose whether to have Ayung River, rice fields, or the lawn with the Balinese temple to be the witness when you say, “I do,” and you will create memories for a lifetime.

4. Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan

There are no wedding venues like this anywhere else in Bali. Nothing speaks intimate like an intimate wedding, and this venue’s altar is an infinity wooden rooftop surrounded by a lotus pond with the trees of the Ubud valleys in the background.

5. Villa Pemutih

Dramatic is the only word to describe the view from Villa Pemutih in Pecatu. Combining the garden landscape, Bali’s southern limestone, and the Indian Ocean, exchanging your vows here is something out of a fairytale. Moreover, you can walk down the beach after the ceremony to immortalize your moments with the wedding photographers.

Bali is blessed with nature, and there are limitless possibilities of spots that you can choose to be the background of your wedding photos. We reveal some of the best spots in Bali to mesmerize your wedding guests.

1. Pinggan Village

One of the best spots for sunrise in Bali is also the most stunning spot for your wedding photos. The silhouette of the hills right when the first ray of the sun emerges will create a marvelous photo and certainly be worth the drive and getting up early.

📍 Location: Pinggan Village

2. Campuhan Ridge Walk

Surrounded by the lush greenery of Ubud, Campuhan Ridge Walk in the morning is the perfect location for your wedding photos. Moreover, there’s no fee for taking photos here, which certainly cuts your budget! The best time is around 6 to 7.30 in the morning, and you’ll be blown away by the result.

📍 Location: Campuhan Ridge Walk

3. Kelingking Beach

The only place on this list where you need to travel to Nusa Penida, but the view of that famous T-rex-shaped cliff limestone surely paid off. It’s better to stay overnight at the island if you want to take a photoshoot here in the morning, as it can get pretty crowded once the sun is high.

📍 Location: Kelingking Beach

4. Melasti Beach

Possibly the most popular location in Bali for wedding photos, the white sand beach is not the only backdrop you can use. There’s Candi Bentar, or the temple gate, which represents traditional Balinese architecture, and the towering limestone perfectly matches the color of the Indian Ocean.

📍 Location: Melasti Beach

5. Sangeh Monkey Forest

Instead of the one in Ubud, Sangeh Monkey Forest is the better location since there aren’t too many tourists, and as the home to hundreds of Balinese long-tailed macaques, they are less aggressive than the ones at Monkey Forest. The good thing is, since the area is full of shadowy trees, you can take photos here at any time of the day.

📍 Location: Sangeh Monkey Forest

Now that we have provided you with the venues, professional wedding agencies, and ideas for your wedding photoshoots, we will share some tips about planning a practically perfect wedding destination in Bali.

✅ Tip 1 – Choosing the Right Agency

It’s important to find a wedding agency with a reputation and experience. One way to check is through the Bali Wedding Association website, where anything related to the wedding industry in Bali is registered. If the vendors or the wedding agency you choose is a member of the association, you’re in safe and trustworthy hands.

✅ Tip 2 – The Legal Requirements

If you want to legalize your marriage in Bali, ensure all the legal requirements are met. This includes the validity of your passport, visa, and birth certificate to ensure your marriage is recognized when you return to your home country.

✅ Tip 3 – Plan Way Ahead

A wedding is not only the autonomy of the bride as the groom also needs to be involved in the preparation, including planning. If you want to celebrate your wedding day in Bali, planning it a year (or more!) beforehand is better. Planning ahead means you can quickly secure the venue; if something unexpected happens, you still have time to consider the alternatives.

✅ Tip 4 – Think About What You Want

It is important to know exactly what kind of wedding you want to have. That includes the venue, the number of guests, the menus, the decor, and everything else. It’s your big day, so it’s you who matters.

✅ Tip 5 – Have Everything In One Place

Having your ceremony and reception in one place is important to cut costs. Many agencies in Bali, whether you take their all-inclusive wedding package or not, often suggest having these two events in one place, as many venues have ballroom or outdoor dining areas for the reception after the ceremony. This is also to avoid getting stuck in traffic if your ceremony and reception venue are far from each other.

Expert Opinion 

Having your big day in a foreign country takes a lot of effort, but picking the right agency is the first step to easing your mind about planning services and other aspects of your wedding, including the legal requirements.