Such a declaration could also apply to the Los Angeles-based couple’s decision to combine wedding planning with a giant international vacation with 143 of their closest friends and family, but they’re glad they did that, too. Ahead, they explain how they carefully plotted a blowout celebration in Bali in May 2025, complete with multiple food stalls, chandeliers, water drums, holograms of guests, and more.
Choose a location that excites everyone
While Ting and Ian also considered marrying somewhere in Europe, they knew early on that Bali was the right place for them. Each had traveled to the Indonesian island a few times before they met, and it’s where they went on one of their first trips as a couple. “We were both like, yeah, this is totally somewhere we could see ourselves getting married,” Ting remembers. “I tinkered with some ideas, but I didn’t really go that deep into it. We were pretty set on Bali.”
The prospect was super well-received by their guests. “There was just a lot of excitement to go to Bali. I think a lot of people have it on their bucket list,” Ian says. And although both were born on the east coast of the U.S. (Ian near Washington, DC, and Ting in New York), they had spent most of their lives in California, and the majority of their loved ones would be coming from the west coast—shaving off a few hours of flight time to Asia.
Join a dedicated Facebook group
Aside from sifting through images on Instagram and Pinterest, and reading through Google reviews of potential venues and vendors, Ting and Ian jumped into the several Facebook groups out there for couples getting married in Bali, or newlyweds happy to share advice from their experiences in the region. Real humans helped cut through the internet noise. “Bali has a thriving wedding industry, so there was just a lot of information,” Ting explains.
Their first step was finding a reputable wedding planner, and they chose Vara Weddings, for a few reasons: They catered to international couples, seemed adept at balancing multiple cultures, and their portfolio showed many huge Indian weddings. “We know how labor-intensive Indian weddings can be, so we felt, if they can handle Indian weddings, they can definitely handle our wedding,” Ting reasons. Plus, they found that most Bali event firms, including Vara, offered full service planning up through the wedding day, meaning there might be a team of a dozen or more planning staff on site the day of. “That really made things run so seamlessly,” the bride says.