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Sharon and I had heard about Zeavola before we heard about Phi Phi Island, through a friend who’d stayed there, due to the exquisite food and natural harmonious style of the resort.
Once we researched the area, it became the focus of our first Thailand Island’s holiday.
It was an amazing holiday and one night on the beach at Zeavola, watching the moon rise over the sea, we both agreed, if we ever get married, we should get married right here. At this time, with the moon just where it is.
Three years later, with forty plus friends and family, we were back to get married.
Sharon and I had been there and done it before, in more ways than one. It was to be for both of us, our second marriage. Arranging all this from Australia wasn’t going to be easy but thanks to the best hair extensions Melbourne, Deerake ( the Assistant Manager ) and the internet made it seem almost too easy.
We decided to have a Traditional Thai Wedding as much for the theatre and fun for us and our guest, as for any religious meaning. This is the wedding where it seemed everyone in the Zeavola Resort gets involved, 3 monks bless you and the whole experience is a tremendous honour to be part of, let alone the focus of.
For food and reception, Zeavola and staff set up a banquet on the beach, with satin white dressed tables with a temple border of flags to create a surreal effect like something out of a “Greenaway” movie. It was magic finish to a superb day.
There was nothing left unorganised by Zeavola. Food, Flowers, Reception, Accommodation, Service, Ceremony, Activities, Transport were all as delightful an experience as the people and staff at Zeavola.
I can’t thank the Management and Staff at Zeavola enough for all they did for us and our guest.
I hope you enjoy the photographs and can somehow experience a bit of the magic yourself.
Phil and Sharon Brien.
We first visited Zeavola back in 2007 when my partner and I were backpacking around Thailand. We did a boat trip around Koh Phi Phi and fell in love with Zeavola and the beach. We decided then that one day we would return!
Several years later we got engaged!! There was no question, Zeavola was definitely going to be where we got married!
I am from Scotland and my husband Aaron is from Australia so Zeavola was a great location for a wedding between two countries!!
From the moment we first emailed Deerake to enquire about getting married at Zeavola, we knew our day would be perfect.
We got very detailed emails back promptly from Deerake and before too long our dream wedding was being arranged! No request was too hard, and even via email we felt very involved with all the planning. Deerake gave wonderful suggestions and photos of ideas and this made Aaron and I feel very secure and happy about our wedding day!
We met with a representative in Bangkok to fill out all the legal paper work and this was done very professionally and was very smooth sailing!!
We had 30 guests at our wedding and from the moment we all arrived via speed boats to Zeavola we were made to feel very special and at home!
Even though several of our guests were staying at neighboring hotels they were always made to feel welcome in, and we all enjoyed a snorkeling boat trip the day before the wedding!
Finalizing the details the day before was so relaxed and made our stay before the wedding very enjoyable.
On our wedding day (9th April 2012), myself and my mum enjoyed a wonderful massage and manicure! Bliss!!
I had the hairdresser do my hair which was just perfectly done and so professional.
I was so overcome with emotion when all the Zeavola staff came to collect me from our room, the long drum parade was so memorable and we still talk about it today!!
Our beach ceremony was amazing. Exactly as we had dreamed it would be and more. The staff were just wonderful and made sure everyone was happy and had a drink in their hands!! The planting of the love tree and the releasing of the fish were a great touch. The flower arrangements were spectacular and beyond what we expected.
The food was the best food we have ever tasted in Thailand and there was so much to choose from. We then went on to have our own disco on the beach until the small hours of the morning!
We also got upgraded to the pool villa for the wedding night which was wonderful with the most fantastic views ever!
We did not want to leave Zeavola after our wedding! Our guests from Scotland and Australia still talk about Zeavola, saying it was the best wedding they have ever been too!! We hope to return soon with our new baby boy, Archie and show him how magical Zeavola is!
Thank you so much for making our wedding day and the whole honeymoon so special for us!
We had to concern about really nothing because Deerake, our wedding planner, did it for us!
The only time consuming thing is to get the right papers from the German Embassy in Bangkok. Going to the Thai Foreign Ministry to chop the documents was a little bit difficult but doable.
After arriving in Phuket we got a very warm welcome as we arrived at the MarinaBay. First we took a coffee and a cake at the restaurant while waiting for the departure of the speedboat to PhiPhiIsland.
After that amazing boat trip where you can see a lot of small islands and the turquoise AndamanSea, we had a lot of fun when we saw a tractor driving backwards to our boat.
So all guests could reach the beach on dry ground.
The hotel staff is like a big family and the whole concept of guest treatment is just perfect!
We stayed 10 days at Zeavola where our wedding was planned in the middle of our stay on March 23rd. At noontime on our wedding day we moved from a Garden Villa to a Pool Villa, which is really big and located remote in the mountains. The first thing we had to try was of course the private pool where we took some nice pictures in front of this awesome view.
After a break in the sun we were starting to prepare ourselves for the wedding. Dounat finished the final make-up and haircut of the bride and he brought also the flowers. We took the first pictures with Deerake in front of our Villa and then we already saw the whole hotel staff waiting for us at the entrance. This was the start of the “Long Drum Procession” where some staff guys played traditional Thai music during our walk to the beach. Of course now already all the other hotel guests can hear what is going on.
Actually we both had been a little bit nervous but the smiling faces all around us changes our mood immediately to a very relaxed one!
Our ceremony was scheduled for 3:30pm because during our stay there was always some rain in the early evening. Lucky us, it was a bit cloudy, but still hot und humid which will make you sweat especially in a wedding dress.
The beach was decorated with hundreds of flowers in red, white and green and Florian, the hotel manager, already waited for us.
He first greeted us with the Bavarian-Austrian word “Sakrisch”, which means awesome and we all have to laugh because he told us that he didn’t say this word for a very long time. He told us in German that we should hold time for a moment to realize that we are standing on the beach of a tropical island with many exotic plants and animals under god’s heaven. We should be conscious about our decision getting husband and wife on this very unique place,
just two of us! We are remembering each word because this gave us the greeps. The official part of the ceremony was still hold in English language which was no problem for us.
After changing the rings we went inside the resort to plant our love tree, which was a small coconut palm. It is a Thai symbol for being able to feed the family.
Then we went back to the beach again to release 2 fishes into the sea which means that all
The bad luck will swim away from the newly married couple.
Then we cut the first piece of our wedding cake following the German tradition the persons who leads the knives on top will be the strong part in the relationship. We had been very happy that the Champaign was already waiting for us so that we can cheers with the staff and the Registrar from Krabi, which had been arrived right on time. He was checking with us the documents for signing to make the wedding also “official” by law!
We had booked a professional photo shooting at the beach which was quite funny. Afterwards we went back to our Villa, where the cake and the Champaign were already waiting for us. We had now some time to relax and refresh before our wedding dinner starts. At first we had been a little bit sad because it starts to rain like promised and so wed had not been able to have our dinner directly on the beach. However, at the end we enjoyed a really private dinner at the terrace of our Pool Villa surrounded by all the flowers from the ceremony.
The Chef offered us a 3 course meal with soup, amazing seafood and a delicious dessert which was one of the best food we have had!
For us a dream became true because on that day only us and our love had been important, nothing more! All our concerns about getting married in a foreign country without friends and family had been vanished by this special hotel team!
We would like to say thank you again to make our wedding simply unique to Florian, Deerake and the whole team and we are proud to be part of the Zeavola family now!
We would like to come back as soon as possible to have a look if we can have already a fresh coconut juice from our love tree!
Many greetings from Bavaria!
Simone und Markus
