This Couple Casually Eloped on the Beach at Bluesiam Villas in Phuket, Thailand

Although the COVID-19 pandemic meant that Chase and Allen were forced to postpone their destination wedding, the duo decided to go ahead and celebrate their marriage with an intimate beach elopement at Bluesiam Villas in Phuket, Thailand. After an oceanview vow exchange, the couple celebrated with lots of champagne and a sunset boat ride. Since Chase and Allen work in the wedding industry as videographers, they've seen their fair share of weddings. As such, they knew they wanted something that felt unique and out-of-the-box for their own big day. "We have been to a ton of weddings, so many, that we knew that we wanted to do something different," says Chase. "Neither of us had been to Thailand, so, how did we pick the location? We pulled out Google Maps and thought 'Why not?' The culture was beautiful, so we reached out to a wedding planner there and made it happen. We wanted to go with something that would be us and relevant as far as colors and vibe, colors and theme. Our color palette was warm and coastal (since we were getting married by the beach)."

When looking back on their beach elopement in Phuket, Thailand, Allen and Chase each recall different aspects of the day that stood out to them as their favorites. Allen explains that "we asked our friends and family to record a short video for us to watch on our wedding day just giving us advice, saying anything they wanted to say, etc. I was most excited to see what our family and friends had to say. Being thousands of miles away and not having anyone present on our wedding day, that was definitely an emotional part of the day and a lot of tears happened watching those videos. That was my favorite part of the day!" Meanwhile, Chase recalls that his "favorite part of the day was literally just the whole day. If you had asked me this question a year ago, I may have had a specific answer but since we had to postpone and wait to the point we weren’t sure if it was going to happen or not, I couldn’t have been more excited for just the day. I was excited about the ceremony, the dinner, meeting our planner, the other vendors, seeing the location, saying our vows, etc." 

Despite changes caused by the pandemic, Chase and Allen's perseverance to not settle and give themselves a dream wedding day was paramount; that perspective to not settle is also something they hope all to-be-weds will focus on. Chase says that "the wedding advice that I would give couples on their big day, would be not to settle. We completely understand how important it is to stay in a budget, but you only get married once. Splurge on the things that are going to make your day memorable and cater to your relationship. It’s okay not to stick to tradition, we are in the twenty-first century, not all weddings have to run on the 'normal' timeline. It’s okay to want something different, it’s your relationship and you shouldn’t feel the need to settle, just to appease your families."