A Balinese Wedding
On the island the Balinese call the Island of the Gods, a wedding is never only the joining of two people. It is a ceremony that welcomes ancestors, honors the spirits of the land and asks the blessing of the whole village. Incense curls through the air, gamelan bronze shimmers like falling water, and the emerald terraces of Ubud glow beneath a sky that seems to lean closer to listen.
This page follows Putu and Made, whose pre-wedding day carried them from a thatched family house through rice fields so green they look lit from within, a quiet portrait of how beautifully Balinese tradition translates into a wedding theme anywhere in the world.
The Ceremony: Pawiwahan
A traditional Balinese wedding, the pawiwahan, is guided by a priest who chooses an auspicious day from the Balinese calendar. Before the vows, families exchange visits and offerings, and the couple is purified with holy water and flowers. During the ceremony the bride and groom may walk around a small shrine, step over symbolic objects that represent leaving their old lives behind, and pierce a woven mat with a kris dagger, a playful and meaningful symbol of union.
Balinese Theme Essentials
- Colors: rice-field green, temple gold, white and frangipani yellow
- Bride: a lace kebaya blouse over a wrapped batik or songket sarong, golden headpiece
- Groom: a crisp jacket, patterned sarong and the knotted udeng headband
- Décor: fringed ceremonial umbrellas (tedung), tall bamboo penjor poles, white prayer flags
- Offerings: canang sari baskets of petals, rice and incense on every table
- Music: the shimmering bronze sound of a gamelan ensemble
Bringing Bali to Your Wedding
You don’t need to fly to Ubud to capture the spirit of Bali. Line your aisle with white fabric flags on bamboo poles, shade the bride with a fringed parasol, and float frangipani in bowls of water. Tuck small woven offering baskets at each place setting, burn a little sandalwood incense, and let gamelan recordings drift through cocktail hour. In Hawaii, where plumeria blooms just as freely, a Balinese theme feels perfectly at home.
