Here are some links for good (and our chosen) vendors if you want to celebrate your wedding in Bali:

Photographer and Videographer:
- 3Datu >> We're using them. Cool and creative people, fun to brainstorm and work with.
- Ricky and Co.
- Axioo

Make up artist:
- Wawan >> My chosen MUA. Got his details from my friend. His price is not as expensive as others. Unfortunatelly he got no website to look at. You got to go see him in person. Contact me for more details.
- Lona
- Sherlya

Decoration:
- Dekorindo, Felix Rusli  >> Our chosen vendor. Contact me for more details.

Catering and Wedding Cake:
- Sarana Dewata Group >> Our chosen catering, specialized in Indonesian food. Very reasonable prices. They can also do all around wedding decoration and organizer. But I suppose more to Balinese/Indonesian style.
- Ruth's Dessert >> Our chosen wedding cake provider. Their cakes are to die for!
- Bali Catering Company
- Bali Deli

Transportation:
- Bali Seasons Travel: Gus Ade. I have been using his service for years. Contact me for more details.

Venues:
- Villa Pandan >> Our chosen venue. Spacious, serene, and got reasonable price! We're the first one to ever held an event in this villa :)
- Villa Atas Ombak

Wedding Dress and Suit:

- Indonesian Kebaya: Anna Avantie
- Indonesian tailor-made suits: Wong Hang

Design for invitation:
- ask me! ;)

Wedding Organizers:
- ask me! ;) read more

Ladies, are you one of the people who will change their last name to their husband's last name?
Or are you the ones who prefer a hypen in between two last names?

These kind of tradition is more of a western culture.

At some point, it is simplified and made easy for people to do.

I mean, this link from The Knot even provide a Name-Change Kit!

But no such thing happen in Indonesia.

It can be done, I suppose, in one way or another. But it will take a lot of time, and most probably cost a lot of money. In such case, married woman in Indonesia will always have their own last name given by their parents.

It crushes my darling T, a little bit. I know that he's looking forward for me to change my name and use his family name.

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Who doesn't know Pinterest!?

Lots and lots of women are using Pinterest, mostly to plan their dream wedding. What can I say, Pinterest really made it easy for people to tag and save pictures and articles of.. just about anything! It has also helped me a lot during my own wedding planning >> My wedding Pinterest board.

Inspirations flows from engagement announcements, dresses, hair-dos, decors, groom details, invitation cards, shoes, rings, make-ups, themes... you name it, you search it, they have it! :)

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This post is based on the information I got from my church in Jakarta. But I suppose basically it's gonna be the same requirements for any other Catholic parish in Indonesia.

1. Kursus Persiapan Perkawinan (KPP) - Premarital Counseling
Kedua calon datang ke Sekretariat Paroki untuk melakukan pendaftaran pernikahan di gereja.
Berikut hal-hal yang harus dilakukan:
- Minta surat pengantar dari Ketua Lingkungan (sesuai domisili masing-masing).
- Apabila berasal dari luar Paroki yang dituju, harus membawa surat pengantar dari Lingkungan masing-masing dan surat pengantar dari Pastor Paroki.
- Mengisi Formulir KPP.
- Membawa fotocopy Surat Baptis (bagi yang Katolik).
- Membawa pas foto masing-masing ukuran 3x4 sebanyak 3 lembar.
- Membayar biaya administrasi KPP: IDR 230,000 (untuk tahun 2012).
*apparently the fee differs among parishes. The parish where I have my premarital counseling asked for IDR 500,000 for stipendium ("gift" for the priest) and IDR 100,000 for administration.

Kursus Persiapan Perkawinan (KPP) berlangsung kira-kira 3 kali pertemuan, dan dapat dilakukan setidaknya 6 bulan sebelum hari perkawinan.

2. Penyelidikan Kanonik
Kedua calon datang ke Sekretariat Paroki untuk melakukan pendaftaran penyelidikan kanonik.

Berikut dokumen-dokumen yang harus disiapkan saat mengisi formulir:

- Surat pengantar dari lingkungan masing-masing (asli).

- Surat Baptis asli yang telah diperbaharui (dalam jangka waktu 6 bulan). Beberapa sumber menyatakan 3 bulan.

- Fotocopy sertifikat  KPP, sertifikat asli harus ditunjukkan.

- Fotocopy Kartu Keluarga Gereja Katolik dari masing-masing lingkungan atau Paroki.

- Fotocopy Akte Kelahiran masing-masing.

- Fotocopy KTP, Paspor (ID) calon mempelai.

- Pas foto berdampingan ukuran 4x6 sebanyak 3 lembar.

- Untuk saksi altar/gereja: Fotocopy KTP, Surat Baptis, Surat Nikah Gereja.

Bagi calon yang belum Katolik/bukan Katolik, diharapkan menghadirkan 2 orang saksi pada saat penyelidikan kanonik untuk menjelaskan status pihak yang bukan Katolik. Saksi adalah orang yang benar-benar mengenal calon mempelai yang bukan Katolik dan bukan anggota keluarga kandungnya, dan melampirkan fotocopy kedua saksi.

Penyelidikan Kanonik harus dilakukan paling lambat 4 minggu sebelum tanggal pernikahan, karena pengumuman pernikahan di gereja dihitung 3x hari minggu.

3. Pemberkatan Pernikahan

Apabila kedua calon mempelai dari luar paroki yang dituju, harus membawa Surat Delegasi/pelimpahan pemberkatan pernikahan dari Pastor setempat (tempat penyelidikan kanonik). 

Dokumen-dokumen lainnya yang behubungan dengan Catatan Sipil dapat dilihat di post "Mixed Marriage in Indonesia - 01".

I hope this post will shed some light to people who will be having a Catholic wedding out there :)

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Another twitch about the venue rise up.

As it is stated in here, here, here, and here..
Apparently it is no longer possible to held a Catholic wedding ceremony in those gorgeous venues and villas of Bali (or anywhere else). You can only have a non-religious celebrant to wed you in your chosen location. Since January 2011, Catholic wedding ceremony can only be held in the Catholic church located in Kuta, Denpasar or Nusa Dua.

Why? I have no idea.

What I do know is that my dream of having an intimate wedding ceremony directly followed with wedding reception all together in one villa is ruined. Boo-Hoo.

Here are the list of Catholic churches in Bali:

Gereja Katolik St. Fransiskus Xaverius
Jl. Kartika Plaza 107, Kuta
Phone: (0361) 751144; 750043
Click here to go to their website.
This is the church that is usually used by international Catholic couple to wed.

Gereja Katolik Maria Bunda Segala Bangsa                                          
Jl. Bukit Kampial, Nusa Dua
Phone: (0361) 774811

Gereja Katolik Roh Kudus 
Babakan, Canggu
Phone: (0361) 7441206

Gereja Katolik St. Paulus
Jl. Danau Batur, Tibubeneng, Kuta Utara
Phone: (0361) 437082

Gereja Katolik St. Yoseph 
Jl. Kepundung No.2, Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 222729

Gereja Katolik Roh Kudus Kathedral
Jl.  Tukad Musi No. 1  Renon, Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 241303

Gereja Katholik Emmanuel
Jl. Sudirman (belakang RSAD Denpasar), Denpasar

Gereja Katolik St. Petrus
Jl. Gunung Batok I/1 Monang Maning
Phone: (0361) 482568

Gereja Katolik St. Maria Ratu Rosari
Jl. Mulawarman No. 92 A, Gianyar
Phone: (0361) 943457

Gereja Katolik Stasi St. Sisilia Klungkung
Jl. Dewi Sartika – Graha St. Sisilia, Klungkung
Phone: (0366) 21596
   
Gereja Katolik St. Fransiskus Asissi 
Jl. Untung Surapati No. 8  Paya, Amlapura
Phone: (0363) 21255

Gereja Katolik St. Theresia
Tangeb - Abianbase - Mengwi - Badung
Phone: (0361) 428134

Gereja Katolik Tritunggal Mahakudus
Tuka – Dalung
Phone: (0361) 439820; 410268

Gereja Katolik St.Maria Ratu 
Gumbrih Perkutatan, Jembrana
Phone: (0365) 43323

Gereja Katolik St. Petrus
Jl. Gatot Subroto No. 1, Negara, Jembrana
Phone: (0365) 41296

Gereja Katolik Hati Kudus Yesus
Jl. Gereja No. 2 Palasari, Ekasari
Phone: (0365) 42201

Gereja Katolik St. Paulus
Jl. Gunung Agung No. 27, Singaraja
Phone: (0362) 22993

Gereja Katolik St. Maria Immaculata
Jl. Singosari No.5A, Tabanan
Phone: (0361) 813165

Which one will you choose to held your wedding ceremony?

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As i put it in my previous post: The Four Basic Yet Important Things, the first thing that I think about is the location.

After some long and confusing and stressful consideration, we decided to choose.. *drumroll* BALI! :)

Yes, quite obvious. The place itself got a lot of options to offer. But from the very beginning, I have already pictured a small gathering in a villa venue.

The villas in Bali are varied from the one to twelve or more bedrooms, by the beach, by the cliff, by the river, and so many more.. There are a lot of pretty villas intended for wedding; also a lot of websites to browse for them. As long as you have the budget, you can get the most impressive paradise-like villa there is.

The tricky part is to find something that is still on our budget!!
There are some websites like this one (and many more) that offers villa for weddings and such events, but the prices are just not in our budget.

Do remember that there are some payments if you consider to have your wedding in a villa:
1. Minimum stay. 
This can be from 2 days to 10 days, depends on the seasons you've chosen to stay. Of course, in low season, the price will be lower.
2. The Function Fee. 
The fee are usually count as a 1 night stay, but bigger villa can charge you up to USD 4,000 just to held an event.
3. The Banjar Fee. 
It's like a community fee for the people living in the village surrounding the villa. This fee range from IDR 1,500,000 to IDR 4,500,000, also depends on the location of the villa.
4. Dont forget.. the tax! 
Everything will have taxes on top of them.. in total, you can probably added 15,5% tax for renting the villa as well as the the function fee.

After a looong search on cute smaller villas, numerous emails and replies and questions.. I get the fact that not every villa in Bali are made to held an event. A little gathering for 20 people can still be arranged at some point, but if the crowd will more than 35 people, you will need to ask this initial question to the villa owner/booker: "Can I held an event of (number) people in this villa?" If the answer is "No." then you should move along to the next venue on your list.

To help you cut the chase, here's a link to find your event villa in Bali and Lombok. You can also look at Vara Wedding.

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Loves flies from one lovely branches to another. Sometimes, you will find yourselves finding the love of your life, from another country.. or further.. another continent.

I'm Indonesian. He's Dutch.
Mixed marriage, people say.

Unfortunately, the realm is still not friendly with gathering two people coming from a different country.

I mean, even in Indonesia, it is still not common to see couple with different religions being together. 

Since we're planning to do the legal and the religious wedding ceremony in Indonesia, there are some stuff we need to think about:

1. Pre Nuptial Agreement (in Bahasa: Perjanjian Pra-Nikah). 

Whether we like it or not, we need to have pre-nup. Not only that it will protect us as individuals (bring on the worst-case scenario of being divorced), but it will also protect the assets of the Indonesian spouse from being taken by the government. Attention for you who got property or land ownership in Indonesia.

2. Religion.

“A marriage is legitimate if it has been performed according to the laws of the respective religious beliefs of the parties concerned. All couples who marry in Indonesia must declare a religion. Agnosticism and Atheism are not recognized. The Civil Registry Office (Kantor Catatan Sipil) can record marriages of persons of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian-Protestant and Christian-Catholic faiths. Marriage partners must have the same religion, otherwise one partner must make a written declaration of change of religion.” - Law No. 1 of 1974 concerning marriages in Indonesia Article 2 (1)

There are five big religions that are acknowledged in Indonesia: Islam, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, and Buddha. The couple will need to be married under the same religion. I have learned that all of my friends who got a partner from abroad has asked their partners to convert to their religion; with the hope that he/she is willing to go through all the hassle of converting into a religion.

To be a Moslem, I suppose doesn't really take that long.. maybe around 2-4 weeks of intense lessons. I got this info from a friend. However, to become a Catholic (which is my religion) will take up to 6 months.. or more, if the partner do not have any Christian/Catholic background. Just address your intention to marry as soon as possible to your parish. To learn to be Catholic in Jakarta, you can go to St. Peter Canisius International Catholic Parish (St. Theresia Church) located nearby Sarinah, or call Ibu Yohana: (021) 391 7806. 

3. Translation for Documents.

There will be translation needed for documents such as the Birth Certificate (Akte Kelahiran) and many more. See below.

Non-Moslem couples must hold the religious ceremony first, then record the marriage with the Civil Registry. The Civil Registry will in turn issue a Marriage Certificate which is evidence that you are legally married. Nowadays, recording by Civil Registry officials can be arranged directly after the religious ceremony for an additional fee.

Documentation needed for non-Moslem mixed marriage:

- Valid ID. Prepare your ID (For Indonesian: KTP), Passports, and make copies.
- Birth Certificate (Akte Kelahiran). Also translated, legalized by the consul/embassy. Make copies.
- Declaration of Status (Surat Keterangan Belum Menikah). If you're single, then you need to have a statement issued by local authority.
- Copy of proof of legal termination of any and all previous marriage i.e. Absolute Divorce Decree (if applicable) or Death Certificate. For Catholic marriage, if you were married before, then there should be a statement that your previous spouse have deceased (Death Certificate).
- Copy of passports of two witnesses. For Catholic wedding, both witnesses need to be a couple married under Catholic blessing.
- Photos. Six identical 4x6 cm photographs of you together with your spouse (with the groom on the right side); red background. This photograph will be used in your Marriage Book (Buku Nikah).
- Letter of No Impediment. Stating that you are legally free to marry from Embassy in Jakarta;
Indonesian Police Certificate stating that your intend to get married in Indonesia and no-crime committed before.
- For non-Moslem, it is required to file with the Civil Registry Office in the Regency where they are staying first a Notice of Intention to Marry as well as a Letter of “No Impediment to Marriage” (Surat Keterangan tentang tidak adanya halangan terhadap perkawinan) obtained from their consular representatives.

Whoah.. a lot to be prepared!

Source here.

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Organizing an event is one thing, organizing a wedding is another.
Apparently, that's something that I failed to realize immediately :))

In regards of organizing events, I can be super detailed and super precise about a lot of things.
And now, I'm organizing my own wedding. One of the big reason is to cut down the budget or hiring Wedding Organizer (WO) or Event Organizer (EO) that at least will cost IDR 15,000,000 (USD 1500). Maybe its a cheap price for some other people, but not for me.

The four fundamental things that you may want to consider as soon as you pop the question or say "I do":

1. Location.
From free location such as your home or a villa that you may have, the hall of your church/mosque, the beach (I mean.... hell yes!), the garden, the hilltop, the lavish hotel.. The list can go on and on..

2. The Theme.
Your imagination is your limit. Here are some ideas: colour coded, romantic, rustic, simple and clean, vintage, movie-theme like gangster movie or superhero movies, glamour, or maybe.. go green? To get ideas of all these themes you can easily go to Pinterest and start making your own wedding pins. You can also look at some websites like Kiss the Groom, Junebug Wedding, Brooklyn Bride, etc., to find some inspiration ;)

3. The Guest List.
It can be a pain in the a*s. You want this person, but your partner doesn't like him/her. Your parents wants all of their networks to come, yes all the people that you don't even know! Your relatives wants to invite this and that person too.. Well, if your parents are willing to "donate" some money for your catering (at least!) than maybe it's OK to have more people. But it all depends on you, lovebirds! No matter what happens, big or small, make sure that you are surrounded by people who are willing to be there, witness your happiness, and bring positive attitudes to the party.

4. BUDGET!
It all comes down to this. Some people got only something under IDR 50,000,000 (USD 5000) while some others are willing to spend IDR 500,000,000 (USD 50,000). One zero (0) in a currency does make a big difference hahaha.. Blessed are you who will be having your wedding (slightly or entirely) supported financially by your parents, or for you who got enough dough to spend. Then you won't have any problem deciding the vendors etc. But for those who are on a tight budget, remember these mantras: research! compare! plan! and D.I.Y! Surely you will need to stretch and stress a bit more, but I'm sure it'll all worth it :)

If you're not really an organized person, the site Weddingku (in Bahasa Indonesia) can help you with checklists, guest list, and calculator to calculate your wedding budget and how to spread it well. I just learned that the checklist of planning a wedding can go up to 12 months before the D-day!

So.. what are you waiting for?

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