Jessica and Jacob's Intimate 'Romantic Boho' Thailand Beach Wedding by Wedding Boutique Phuket

Today I am taking you to Thailand for this rather beautiful wedding. I am especially keen on featuring Thailand weddings at the moment, as we are planning a trip to Thailand next Christmas, so I am loving featuring these weddings, all in the name of research! Today it is the turn of Jessica and Jacob who were lucky enough to get Wedding Boutique Phuket on board to help plan their big day. Ilaire and her team made everything possible and helped with every detail of the day and the results are absolutely stunning. What a totally gorgeous day!

The day was simply magical and will live in our memories forever. Every aspect of our wedding surpassed our expectations in terms of elegance and beauty.

Jessica and Jacob were married on 12th March 2024 at the MARRIOTT Nai yang Hotel, Phuket, Thailand. ‘We love to travel, and Thailand was on both our lists as a destination we were longing to visit. Our research showed that we could find an excellent wedding planner that would enable us to plan the perfect wedding from overseas. We had 8 guests, we were married exactly one year after reaching out to Wedding Boutique Phuket for our initial inquiry into planning an elopement wedding.’

How they met
We met at a local meet-up due to our shared interest in photography, and quickly discovered that we have a thousand and one interests in common beyond just that. We got serious about sharing our lives together in mid-2020. As the world locked down to weather the storm of COVID-19, we quarantined together and found that we quite enjoyed it. Where many couples struggled with being suddenly forced to spend every moment cooped up together, we found it the perfect way to get to know one another in a compressed time frame. We have been together for four years, but we joke that it’s more like 12 in “COVID years”.

The proposal
Jake proposed in a grove of giant redwood trees in Northern California, a place that was special to us. Our first trip together was to the redwoods. And the first time that Jake sang to Jessica was in this same grove of trees. When he proposed, he once again sang Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love before kneeling and presenting a ring of morganite and rose gold.

How did you allocate your budget?
We decided early on that we value experiences and memories more than possessions so capturing the details and special moments of our wedding was important to us. Ilaire and her team did a wonderful job at helping us to balance these priorities.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on photography, videography, and a beautiful resort. We saved by inviting a very select group of friends and family and by getting married in a place far from home that limited the enthusiasm of other would-be guests. Also, since we aren’t really drinkers we served juice at the wedding and passed on the open bar, and shared a champagne toast with our guests.

How did you choose your photographer?
Ilaire and her team made all the arrangements for our photographer and videographer. We trusted her based on all the beautiful photos we’d seen from her other weddings, and we were not disappointed!

The dress
We were barefoot. The dress was by Julia Leigh, from a private collection of dresses only found at Charlotte’s Weddings in Beaverton, Oregon, USA. This collection is known for sleek, form-fitting, sparkling lace-lined wedding gowns. The substantial alteration designs were by Jessica and performed by Nadiia Krementsov at Royal Thread in NE Portland, Oregon, USA.

The suit
Jake was wearing a Calvin Klein suit and Cole Haan shoes (for photos before hitting the beach barefoot for the ceremony)

Theme or colour scheme
Boho style with colours: sage green, dusty pink, blush and ivory.

Flowers
White orchids, ivory and dusty rose roses, blush ohara roses, white bleached ruscus, natural pampas grass and dusty greenery.

Decoration
Boho style with vintage decors. Dried palmetto leaves, rattan tables, gold boho lanterns, and a romantic bamboo canopy with lights and blush fabric draping for the reception dinner.

Food
We had a Thai Dinner served family style:
Appetizers – Grilled chicken statay / Papaya salad / Spicy prawn salad / Spicy Seafood Soup
Main Course – Deep fried tiger prawn with choo chee sauce / Pork and pineapple curry / Stir fried beef with oyster sauce / Fried rice with egg / Stir fried kale and mushroom with soy sauce / Steamed rice / Mango Sticky Rice

Wedding cake
A small tropical taste (mango passion) wedding cake designed by Wedding Boutique Phuket and baked by Joob Joob bakery, decorated with fresh flowers.

Entertainment
Alma Latina, bossa nova duo guitar + singer. We chose the Alma Latina duo based on the videos that Ilaire provided. We loved their Latin sound and Roma’s guitar playing is simply beautiful. Unbeknownst to Jessica, Jake reached out to Roma well in advance to arrange a special number as a surprise. As the sun set, Jake sang a special arrangement of Ed Sheeran’s Perfect and Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love. Roma’s guitar accompaniment was spot-on perfect! Both Jessica and Jake may have cried…

Who supplied the stationery?
Wedding Boutique Phuket, our wedding planner agency.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We counted our entire trip to Phuket Thailand as the kick-off to an incredible honeymoon. We stayed in boutique historic hotels, the Marriott Resort, a handful of smaller properties near Patong Beach, and finished up on Coconut Island. Then we spent a week in Vietnam, first in Ho Chi Minh City, and then in Da Nang. We did a long layover in South Korea to finish off a wonderful three-week wedding/honeymoon in Southeast Asia.

Personal touches
We brought scraps of fabric from Jessica’s dress alterations to include in the wedding décor. We brought a special ring box and a personalized guest book. We wrote our own vows using the stationary prepared and provided by Ilaire. And we wrote our entire ceremony. These personal touches made the experience even more memorable.

We arranged for a special photo shoot in Old Town Phuket. We were staying at the Hotel at On On, a beautiful boutique historic property in the French Colonial style. Hair (Peera) and makeup (Angie Ritter) specialists arrived early to help Jessica get ready. The photography and videography team, accompanied by Ilaire’s staff, arrived shortly after and helped us to have an amazing shoot in the old city.

Outside of the wedding day, we also visited many locations that we had researched in advance from the Chalong Bay Rum Plantation, to boutique cafes and coffee shops. We hiked up monkey hill above Old Town Phuket, toured the Big Buddah, and watched the Simon Cabaret. We enjoyed several Thai massages in various towns around the island. We took a Thai cooking class. And we hung out on the beach on Coconut Island doing absolutely nothing for two additional days… Paradise.

Special moments

Beautiful weather
Low tide that provided a gorgeous expanse of sand as a backdrop to the wedding
Gorgeous wedding decorations
Beautiful music
Jake singing with the band
Our first dance just after sunset
Jake’s first look at Jessica in that gorgeous dress!!!
The wedding dinner was the best food we ate in Thailand! Seriously.
The special bottle of champagne that Jake had delivered to our hotel room was especially delicious and bubbly…

Advice for other couples?
Enjoy the journey and don’t sweat the details… One thing Ilaire told us when we were stressing out over poor communication with the resort during the planning process is that the Thai culture is not as structured when it comes to planning out every detail… but that when the wedding day comes they will move heaven and earth to make sure things go perfectly. We relaxed, trusted the process, and it turned out beautifully.

Biggest surprise
Our biggest surprise and delight of the day was how utterly beautiful the wedding turned out to be… we had seen Pinterest boards of all the individual elements and concepts… But to experience it all put together on a beautiful beach, surrounded by palm trees swaying in a gentle, if slightly humid, breeze was breathtaking. The reality surpassed our expectations.