A Floating Stage, Paragliders Overhead and 100 Guests Who Flew Across the World: Karen & Joey's Wedding at Pandawa Cliff Estate
- Author: Natali Grace Levine
- Wedding date: 09/01/2026
- City: Bali
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Love Story
Ten days. That was how long Karen and Joey had been talking when he rewrote his holiday plans entirely. At the end of 2024, mutual friends had introduced a woman in Lebanon to a man based in Kuala Lumpur, two people separated by several time zones and a lot of ocean. The messages quickly became the best part of both their days, and Joey decided that texting was no longer enough. Karen still tells it with a touch of disbelief: “After only ten days of talking, Joey changed his New Year’s plans and flew to Lebanon to meet me for the first time.” Whatever doubts a long-distance beginning might have raised disappeared the moment they met in person. From there, everything felt natural.
The distance never went away, but it stopped mattering. Their relationship grew quickly and steadily, built on shared values, travels, close ties with both families, and a clear picture of the future they wanted. Karen, meanwhile, was building something of her own: À la belle étoile Maison, a loungewear brand with a special focus on bridal pieces. In less than two years, the couple went from a first meeting to a wedding day, and Karen sees their story as proof that sometimes you meet the right person at the right time.
Joey’s proposal was a lesson in logistics and discretion. Without Karen suspecting a thing, he arranged for her best friend, her family, his family, and his own best friend to be at Lake Como at the same time. On the day itself, the couple was out on a boat in the middle of the lake when a second boat drew near, carrying everyone they loved most. That was when Joey asked the question. Karen admits she genuinely didn’t see it coming, and says that having their closest people there to witness it turned a beautiful moment into an unforgettable one. In hindsight, it was also a preview of the wedding to come: a celebration defined by the people who traveled to be there.
About Your Wedding
Choosing Bali was the hardest decision the couple made, and Karen is honest about why. As a Lebanese bride with most of her family and friends at home, she had always assumed a wedding so far away would be nearly impossible. Guests would come from Lebanon, Europe, the U.S., and Canada, and their journeys would take anywhere from 15 to almost 30 hours. As a result, the couple was fully prepared for a smaller wedding, as long as their closest people could be there. What happened next surprised them completely. Once the invitations went out, people they never expected to make the trip started booking flights almost immediately, and in the end around 100 family members and friends crossed the world to celebrate in Bali. “Our dream was to create an unforgettable destination wedding,” Karen says, “but having all of them there is what truly made it unforgettable.”
For guests who had traveled that far, a single day would never have been enough. Karen designed three days of celebrations, each with its own mood. The welcome evening took place on the Pala Rooftop at The Apurva Kempinski Bali, a relaxed, warm gathering with Indonesian and Indian food, drinks and views over the hotel’s grounds, where guests from different corners of the world could reunite and meet one another. The second night moved to Savaya, one of Bali’s most iconic party destinations, and was dedicated entirely to dancing and enjoying the island. The wedding itself came on September 1, 2026, at Pandawa Cliff Estate, after a full year of planning.
One firm rule guided every decision: nothing could feel familiar. Karen’s own words sum up the approach well: “I wanted every detail to feel classy, elegant, and special, while avoiding anything that felt déjà vu.” The couple wanted their personality in every element and a celebration that felt timeless yet unmistakably theirs. In the end, it was the guest experience that mattered most, from the music and entertainment to the food and the flow of each event, and Karen says the result turned out even more magical than she had imagined.
Morning Details
Some wedding traditions travel well, and one of the most meaningful ones came with the couple from Lebanon. In their culture, the groom’s parents gift the bride diamond jewelry, and Joey’s parents chose a piece from Jacob & Co. For Karen, it was a perfect match: elegant and simple, yet incredibly special, and true to who she is. Knowing it came from her new family gave it a significance that went well beyond its sparkle, and wearing it on her wedding day made that significance even stronger.
The invitations, meanwhile, were created by the couple’s event planner, D’organizer, the same team that would later bring the whole three-day vision to life. With a guest list spread across four continents, those invitations were the first sign this would be more than an ordinary wedding abroad.
Bride Getting Ready
Karen’s wedding morning unfolded in her room at Pandawa Cliff Estate, and what she wore told a story of its own. As the founder of a bridal-focused loungewear brand, À la belle étoile Maison, she designed her own getting-ready look: a flowing white robe with long, dramatic lace sleeves and a custom embroidery made especially for the occasion. Photographed on the terrace with the infinity pool and the ocean behind her, it looked every bit as striking as a gown, and wearing something she had created herself made those hours feel even more meaningful. She loved the piece so much that it later joined the brand’s collection, a full-circle moment that means other brides can now wear it on their own wedding mornings. Her girls joined her in soft pastel blue robes, and the morning moved from champagne toasts against the ocean to laughter on the bed beneath a carved Balinese wooden panel. Face by Cyn did the makeup, while Treasure the Bride captured content throughout the day.
For the ceremony, Karen chose Zuhair Murad, a gown that matched exactly what she had envisioned: elegant, timeless and sophisticated. “I wanted a dress that would feel just as beautiful and relevant years from now as it did on our wedding day,” she explains. One of the day’s most striking portraits shows her before a pair of ornate Balinese doors, turquoise panels framed by red-and-gold carvings, with her lace-edged veil spilling around her. For the evening, she switched to a true princess moment: a gown by The Atelier by Professor Jimmy Choo, with details that complemented the reception’s colors and fairytale theme. Stepping into it, she recalls, felt like stepping into a dream.
Groom Getting Ready
Joey chose white from the very start of the day. The morning photos show him fastening the cuffs of a crisp white shirt beside sheer curtains, then relaxing on a carved wooden chaise longue in an all-white look, before slipping into a white double-breasted jacket with a dark pocket square. His groomsmen wore sand-coloured suits that set him apart without clashing, and before heading out, they gathered around the groom for a toast, glasses raised and smiles all round. Later, framed by tropical leaves and white blossoms, and then beneath a traditional Balinese split gate carved from stone against a clear blue sky, Joey looked entirely at ease. The couple also made sure he had a moment of his own during the ceremony, with a dedicated groom’s entrance before Karen’s arrival, set to its own music and energy. Karen describes his evening look as almost princely, the perfect match for her fairytale-inspired second gown.
First Look
The couple saw each other for the first time that day inside the villa at Pandawa Cliff Estate. For two people whose relationship began with messages sent across continents and grew through long-haul flights and time-zone calculations, the moment carried extra weight. After everything it had taken to get there, from the first trip to Lebanon to the proposal on Lake Como to a year of planning a wedding on the other side of the world, they were finally together in the same room, dressed for the biggest day of their lives. Karen had spent the morning surrounded by her girls and Joey by his groomsmen, so this was the first moment the day belonged to just the two of them. It was a quiet pause before the entrances, the music, and the 100 guests waiting outside, and a last chance to take it all in together before the celebration began.
Ceremony
The ceremony took place on a stage floating above the villa’s infinity pool, surrounded by white flowers. An all-white palette gave the setting a timeless, ethereal feel, but nature itself provided the real spectacle. Karen describes it vividly: “With the ocean and cliffs around us and paragliders passing above, the entire setting felt almost surreal.” Fittingly for a couple who got engaged in the middle of a lake, they exchanged their vows surrounded by water once again, with the Indian Ocean stretching out to the horizon behind them. The ceremony opened with the two separate entrances the couple had designed, first Joey’s and then Karen’s, each with its own music and energy. Giving each entrance its own identity made the beginning of the celebration feel even more powerful and emotional. Family and friends who had traveled up to 30 hours to be there watched it all, and for Karen, it was one of those rare moments when everything came together exactly as she had imagined.
Photoshoot After The Ceremony
The newlyweds’ first portraits as a married couple were as dramatic as the ceremony itself. Giant white flower installations, sculptural and almost weightless against the blue sky, framed the couple as Joey pressed a kiss to Karen’s forehead and her lace veil drifted around them in the breeze. The images feel closer to a fashion editorial than a traditional wedding shoot, with the white blooms echoing the ceremony's ethereal palette. As the light softened, the couple moved to the edge of the cliffs, where they sat side by side on stone steps, looking out over the Indian Ocean toward the horizon. The final frames show them walking hand in hand across the lawn at dusk, past a white grand piano, just before the evening’s transformation began. Between the clifftop views and the delicate flowers, the photographers from Axioo captured the calm between the ceremony and the celebration still to come.
Wedding Venue & Decor
Karen knew the estate was the one the moment she saw it. “I fell in love with its extraordinary setting on the cliffs, its infinity pool and the paragliders floating through the sky above it,” she says. A venue this dramatic suited a couple whose entire love story had unfolded across continents and oceans, and it gave their wedding the sense of adventure its guests had already traveled so far to experience.
The décor, created by Favors Decor, told two different stories throughout the day. The ceremony was dressed entirely in white for an elegant, ethereal feel. For dinner, the atmosphere changed completely. Karen wanted guests to feel they had entered an enchanted garden or a fairytale, which she playfully describes as a Disneyland-meets-Eve’s Garden feeling. White and pink flowers filled the space, alongside green, touches of silver, and soft pink, all tying in with the bride’s second gown. With Joey dressed in white and the setting transformed around them, the evening became the romantic, magical world Karen had dreamed of creating.
Couple's Advice
“Choose the right event planner - someone who truly understands your vision and can bring it to life. Beyond the beautiful setting and décor, create special moments and surprises throughout the celebration. Make it more than just a wedding; make it an experience your guests will remember for years to come.”
Reception
The couple’s first dance was set to “A New Day Has Come” by Celine Dion, and from there, the night became a full-scale production. Entertainment was central to the couple’s vision, and the evening delivered it in every form: a live band from The Beney, DJ Nazir Music, a pianist from Soundtasty Bali, screen visuals by Ralph Karkafi, a daytime firework display by Azimuth Bali, and sound by Doré Production. Bali Miracle handled the catering, Bali Coconut Art added a local touch, and Sugarbox Bali created the wedding cake. Throughout the night, the couple kept the surprises coming, determined that guests would feel as if they had stepped into another world. What Karen remembers most isn't a single detail, but the joy around her: family and friends dancing, laughing, and enjoying every moment together.
Much of that success, she says, came down to one decision. The couple needed a planner flexible enough to understand the energy and spirit of a Lebanese wedding and translate it into a celebration in Bali. D’organizer did exactly that, blending the couple’s culture and traditions with a unique destination. Karen is clear about the impact: “Having the right team who understood our vision and brought it to life exactly as we imagined made all the difference.” Axioo photographed the celebration, and The Cinema Bali captured it on film. Asked what she would change, Karen’s answer is simple: nothing. And after hearing so many guests say it was the best wedding they had ever been to, she considers that the greatest compliment the couple could have received.
Wedding Team
- Photographer AXIOO Bali
- Wedding Planner @d.organizer__
- Venue @pandawa_cliff_estate_bali
- Videographer @thecinemabali
- Content Creation @treasurethebride
- MUA @facebycyn
- Screen Visual @ralphkarkafi
- Day Firework @azimuthbali
- Pianist @soundtasty_bali
- Sound System @doreproduction
- Catering @balimiracle
- Coconut @balicoconutart
- Decorator @favors_decor
- Wedding Cake @sugarboxbali
- Band @thebeney
- Royal Bridal Loungewear @alabelleetoilemaison
- Jewelry @jacobijoux
- 1st Dress @zuhairmuradmariage
- 2nd Dress @theatelierstudioofficial
- DJ @nazirmusic
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