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When it comes to planning a wedding, one of the most important considerations is the venue, which sets the tone for everything else. Which is why most brides report that being able to travel to and see the venue before deciding on it makes all the difference.
But what do you do when it’s a destination wedding? Planning a site inspection becomes more expensive and time-consuming in such cases.
My fiancé and I had just this issue – we live in Brisbane, Australia and knew we wanted to have a weekend destination wedding with our friends and family. Covid made it impossible to organize an overseas wedding so we decided to find location in Australia that would be local but still have an element of the exotic.
Fraser Island by Antoine Beauvillain
Shipwreck on Fraser by Lucas Gruwez
After searching around, the most attractive location that fit our bill looked to be Fraser Island – a World Heritage Listed Site and the world’s largest sand island, fittingly called K’gari (Paradise) by the Butchulla people who lived there for thousands of years.
Kingfisher Beach Resort turned out to have the best wedding packages for the type of wedding we had in mind. And best of all – they offer a free wedding site inspection, including accommodation, ferry transfers, and breakfast.
Pleasantly surprised, we jumped at the chance to not only visit a potential wedding venue, but also to get a mini holiday out of it. But we didn’t expect the effort and thought that Kingfisher Beach Resort put into these site visits.
Here’s how it works:
- Initial Contact with Kingfisher Bay Resort
I contacted Kingfisher Bay Resort via email requesting information about their wedding packages. They were helpful and sent over detailed information and images about their site and offerings. They recognized that making a decision over the internet simply by looking at photos of the location wasn’t easy – and suggested that we visit the island and stay with them free of charge.
- Visiting K’gari
It takes around 4 hours to get to River Heads from Brisbane. We parked our car in the secure parking offered by Kingfisher’s mainland reception office – for just $25 per night. We were then taken by free shuttle bus to the ferry terminal, where we boarded our ferry and headed off to paradise – a little more than 30 minutes away.
- Meeting with a wedding coordinator
On Fraser Island, we were met by one of the resort’s wedding coordinators, who was waiting for us with a sign with our names on it. Nikki was friendly and made us feel at ease.
We then spent the next two hours visiting various ceremony and reception locations to get an idea of what the resort offered, as well as the holiday houses available for large group bookings.
There were options for various wedding styles, but we were particularly interested in Sunset Beach as a great ceremony location – pictures we had seen online showed that it was truly stunning when transformed with basic wedding décor.
This is what we saw:
This is what it becomes:
The reception options were quite extensive as well – you could choose from rustic to elegant and everything in between.
Best of all, the holiday houses we saw could accommodate up to 16 people – ideal for the large group of friends and family we were planning for. We could just imagine all staying in the Beach House, walking down to the ceremony location, and then going off to one of the reception locations to party the night away!
- Checking in for the night
After visiting all the sites, we had a quick chat with the coordinator to discuss our options and what we wanted for our big day. She then checked us into our accommodation, and we said goodbye – feeling quite excited that this could potentially be where we were going to get married.
The accommodation itself was clean and neat – and there was another surprise waiting for us there. A handwritten note, chocolates, and a bottle of Fraser Island wine. Talk about going the extra mile!
Handwritten note, chocolates and wine
The rest of the trip was a holiday for us – cocktails by the beach, dinner at the Sand and Wood, walks under the stars, and a delicious breakfast.
Cocktails by the pool
The stunning blue of the sea and sky
We enjoyed the trip so much and felt that we could have stayed a lot longer. There’s so much to see and do on Fraser Island that a day is simply not enough. We felt that we would have to go again, but this time stay for at least a week.
Our Verdict
Fraser Island is truly magical, and the service provided by Kingfisher Bay Resort was excellent. They truly went above and beyond what is expected of a wedding site visit.
What’s more, their attention to detail and consideration gave us the confidence that if we do decide to go ahead with them and plan our wedding at their venue, we would be in good hands.
The many wedding and ceremony options ensures that there’s something for any style of wedding. We also liked the Australian menu on offer, which would be a fun cultural experience for our families coming from overseas.
The many activities you can do on Fraser Island, including off-road driving, hiking along the beach and rainforest tracks, fishing, swimming in the sea and in the many freshwater lakes and many more, make it a great option for a weekend getaway with family and friends. The wedding is the cherry on top.
