Compass Point Beach Resort Wedding (Bahamas)

Location: Bahamas
Event Date:  May 21, 2018
Cinema and Video: D’Silva Films
Cinema and Video: D’Silva Films
Other Location: Compass Point Beach Resort
Photographer: PTaufiq Photography

Q1: Tell us about your wedding! What was the inspiration behind your day? Did you have a specific theme, style or color palette? Did you incorporate any cultural or religious traditions in any part of your day?
A1: We drew our inspiration for our wedding day from quite a few things, one of which was our love for vacationing on cruises. A year before we decided on the date and location of the wedding we took a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas and thought how amazing of a venue it would be for a wedding because of how beautiful the ship was and how many opportunities for photographs there were. At the time we had been looking at yachts as our wedding venue and we had never considered having our wedding on a cruise, but it became a reality when we looked further into it. We also drew our inspiration from Daniel’s 7-year career in the Navy where he spent several months at sea on the Iwo Jima. It was honestly his enlistment in the Navy that pushed us to make a commitment to marriage so early in our lives. Daniel proposed to me when we were both only 19 years old. Our theme was a “Nautical Bollywood Fairytale.” The theme “Nautical” obviously comes from the cruise ship as our venue. The “Bollywood” aspect was incorporated in the attire of the bridesmaids and my reception attire. Also, having to do a bit with both of our East Indian cultural backgrounds. The color palette played on both Nautical and Bollywood palettes. The Nautical palette used navy blue, ivory, and gold, while the Bollywood palette used bright fuchsia, coral, orange, and yellow. Both were combined in different aspects of our wedding. Due to our different religious backgrounds (and what came with our wedding package), our wedding was officiated by a non-denominational officiant, although I did request one of my family members to give an opening prayer.

Q2: Let’s talk about wedding decor. How did you decorate your space for the ceremony and the reception? Was any part of the decor DIY?
A2: If you’ve ever seen any of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships, you’ll understand why decorating was certainly kept at a minimum, which really helped with overall cost savings. The Allure of the Sea’s was the ship we chose to have our wedding on. More specifically, our wedding ceremony took place at Compass Point Bahamas and our reception took place in the Dazzles lounge. Our wedding reception had very little decoration because the view itself at compass point was quite breath-taking. The ceremony took place under a straw topped gazebo overlooking turquoise Caribbean waters. The only decor provided at the ceremony was a photo frame requesting the guest to sign our wedding book and another encouraging guest to take water. We had personalized water bottles  with our names and hashtag on it “SailingWithTheSinghs.” We also had bell wands, which were all handmade by myself. They included a wedding bell with 7 different ribbons each of differing textures and colors (matching the bridesmaids’ dresses.) These were tucked into the chairs at the reception to provide a touch of color from a distance.  We also had a petal reception program that doubled as a fan for guest to keep themselves cool.

Q3: What were the florals like at your wedding? Did you use flowers in any of your design elements like the bridal bouquets, centerpieces or ceremony backdrop? Did they play an important part in the overall style of your wedding?
A3: Included in our wedding package was a bouquet of flowers for the bride, and a matching boutonnière for the Groom. We choose to go with Ivory roses. However, for the bridesmaids, I actually purchased white parasols which were spray painted metallic gold. These parasols were used in lieu of flowers because I wanted the bridesmaids to have shade while walking to and from the long dock. I would say flowers were not a focal point of our wedding ceremony. Personally, I’m not a die-hard flower fan, primarily because of their short-lived nature. In this case, our options were to purchase flowers locally, through the cruise wedding company, or to use fake flowers. None of these options were appealing, as I prefer to see things before buying, which is why I opted for parasols rather than fake ones.

Q4: Did you personalize the day in any way (food trucks, guest entertainment, etc.)? What were some of your favorite parts of your wedding?
A4: The bridesmaids Lengha’s were handmade in India but designed by myself. The colors were chosen and arranged specifically by myself. I wanted it to be bright but elegant, so the Choli was a dark navy blue, with handmade embellishments on back and the skirt introduced the vibrant colors reminiscent of traditional Indian Bollywood movies starting with the same dark navy blue from the Choli, moving into a beautiful fuschia, coral, orange, then bright yellow. I requested pocket squares be made for the groomsmen to match the stripes on the Lengha, and these complimented their tuxedos perfectly! Entertainment was certainly personalized. My brother who is a professional DJ was given permission to DJ the wedding, so our music which was selected over several weeks was exactly what we wanted. Prior to our sail date, we had a friend make a video tribute of our marriage, and we had the ability to share this with our friends and family at our reception prior to us walking in with our wedding party. This was an unexpected treat, as we did not know the Dazzles lounge on the ship was equipped with a projector and screen. For our guest book, we created a photo book that included photos from the very beginning of our relationship from over 10 years ago. I designed and printed our save-the-dates, which I was quite proud of. The front was a black and white photo of Daniel and me when were about 4-5 years old. When you open the two flaps, you find the most recent photo of Daniel and me on the inside, with a timeline of photos from the days when we dated, Daniel proposed, and the day we eloped. Another DIY aspect of our wedding was our website “www.singhpurcellwedding.com”, which was on our save-the-dates. Another item that was personalized was this faux newspaper I created and put on the dinner table settings of everyone that sailed with us. It contained all the information they needed to know about the wedding activities taken place during the cruise.

Q5: Let’s talk about fashion. How did you both choose your wedding day look? Describe the looks in detail.
A5: Deciding Daniel’s wedding look was quite simple. The cruise ship offered Tuxedo packages, so he simply chooses a package with a couple of different options for different looks. His package included a Perry Ellis 2 button notch satin lapel tuxedo jacket in Super 100 fabric, Perry Ellis single pleat adjustable waist matching trousers, Perry Ellis Lay-down collar ½ inch pleat formal shirt, Perry Ellis mini-dot tone-on-tone vest with coordinating 4-in-hand long tie and pocket square, black satin cummerbund and bow tie, black onyx and nickel cufflinks and stud set. My wedding looks, on the other hand, were quite an interesting story. I actually dedicated 1 weekend to finding my wedding ceremony dress. I mapped out over 10 boutiques in the Orlando area and scheduled fitting appointments for all of them. After trying on exactly 50 wedding dresses I decided to go with the one I found in the window that was in a blush color. I loved the design and details so much, I was certain I didn’t need to try it in on in Ivory before purchasing it.  For my reception dress, I wanted to wear a non-traditional Ivory colored East Indian lengha. I flew all the way to NYC to search for one but had no luck in finding exactly what I wanted so I was forced to design my own. It came out beautifully and fit me perfectly! Interestingly enough, I didn’t have a chance to try it on prior to the evening of the wedding reception. I just crossed my fingers that it would fit perfectly, and it did!

Q6: How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal.
A6: I met Daniel my senior year of high-school on November 22nd of 2007. We dated for months following, and it wasn’t until my Senior Prom in 2008, where we knew we were meant to be together.  When I found out he signed up to be in the military just months before we met, I didn’t give it too much thought, nor did I really know what I was getting myself into. Around the same time, I got my acceptance letter to Syracuse University in Upstate New York. Despite the odds, we decided to go for a “long-distance” relationship. My graduation day from Olympia High-School was coincidentally the same day Daniel left for boot camp. The summer was a long one and mainly consisted of me writing very long colorful letters (I tried to sneak candy into), picking out hallmark musical cards with cheesy songs, and waiting on phone-calls or letters which many times felt like torture. The summer came and went and before you knew it I was packing my things to move into my dorm in Syracuse and Daniel was beginning his military career in the Navy. The next four years was whirlwind of emotions: excitement, sadness, loneliness, unknowing-ness. But the most important detail (or milestone) I guess you can say from that chapter of my life was our decision to make a commitment to each other. On December 22nd, 2007, Daniel proposed to me at my families Christmas party, it was an unforgettable moment. He, of course, asked my father for my hand in marriage prior to popping the question, which was very important to me. My father gathered everyone to our formal room and announced Daniel had something important to say. He got down on one knee, and the rest was history. BUT…not for as long as we (or anyone) was expecting.  Only a couple weeks later (and after much thought and consideration), we decided it would be in our best interest to ELOPE…and so that is what we did. Which brings us to January 17, 2008.

Q7: What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day?
A7: For me, the most anticipated moment of our wedding was having my father walk me down the pier toward Daniel, and placing my hand in his. It was a moment I had always imagined and it signified the beginning of our amazing cruise destination wedding. There was nearly 9 months of planning that went into our wedding and a lot of ups and downs twists and turns, so to be taking those first steps was validation that we made it. But most importantly, it was validation that we crossed a milestone in our marriage that we were very proud of.

Q8: Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you’d like to share with other couples planning their day?
A8: Wedding Planning Advice: It’s hard to give wedding planning advice because it really depends on your personality, however one thing that I found really helpful was using google drive to keep all of my wedding planning information in. I had an excel spreadsheet with several tabs. The tabs included everything from the name and addresses of guests to a list of gifts received and the most important tab of it all was an itemized list of my wedding expenditures. It was helpful for it to be on google because I had access to it from anywhere. Marriage advice: Tomorrow (1.7.2018), we will have been married for exactly 11 years. The first piece of advice that I would give to a couple for a long and healthy marriage is first to understand that no marriage is perfect. The sooner couples understand that the better off you both will be, and the faster you can work through the bumps that WILL come. In marriage, you’ll never fully agree on everything, and there will be difficult times, no doubt. What matters the most is how you both deal with those times. Another thing to understand with marriage is that you both have to be willing to make sacrifices. A marriage should never be one-sided where one person is pouring everything into it while the other is not. It’s all about balance. Finally, keep the romance alive! Recognize that if you do not actively do things to keep the spark, your flame will eventually burn out. Do things to keep your relationship interesting. Be spontaneous and take random trips together. Remind your spouse how much you love and appreciate them regularly. Surprise each-other will gifts- big or small (even something as simple as a hidden note).