Tara & Anton — A Layan Beach & Villa Wedding

Thirteen revisions of a wedding spreadsheet, three continents on email, and a day that ran from a villa ceremony at Salafa to a fire show on Layan Beach. Tara and Anton Sensky married on 7 April 2016 — one of the most detailed, most collaborative and most joyful weddings on our books.

Planning across the UK, Kenya and Thailand

Tara and Anton's wedding was planned across three continents. Tara wrote from the UK, Anton from Kenya, and Toom (Supparin) held the whole choreography together from Phuket. Tara brought her own events background to the correspondence — she runs The Giggle Company — and the two of them settled quickly into a working rhythm that was equal parts precise and warm.

The master spreadsheet for the day went through thirteen full revisions. Everything sat inside it: the font on the signage, the exact layers of the cake, the colour of the ribbons, the running order, the guest-by-guest dietary map. It is one of the most detailed planning trails in our archive, and every line was there because Tara and Toom agreed it mattered.

A hands-on creative brief

Tara led the design direction and Toom translated it onto the ground in Phuket. There was an "Our Love Story" board for guests to read on arrival, a "Bucket List" the couple were writing together, and a set of playful photobooth instructions — all built to the colour palette Tara had drawn from the bridesmaid dresses.

The cake was Anton's — a Black Forest with fresh cream layers, inspired by his birthday and briefed by Tara to be "moist, light and very yummy". It arrived exactly that.

The logistics — tuk-tuks, a Porthong and a baby elephant

Moving a wedding party between a villa ceremony at Salafa and a beach dinner at Layan meant real transport planning: a fleet of tuk-tuks for the short hops and a Porthong (a Thai lorry taxi) for the longer legs, all timed to the running order. The guest list came with its own map of meal preferences and allergies — lactose, nuts, vegetarian, everything cross-checked against the seating plan.

The entertainment stack was ambitious in the best sense: a live band, a DJ, a fire show, fireworks at the right moment in the evening, and — as a set piece for the photographs — a baby elephant. Every one of those pieces was booked, briefed and rehearsed in the weeks leading up to 7 April.

Toom's month — planning from a temple retreat

In the middle of all this, Toom took a personal spiritual retreat at a temple. She did not step away from the wedding while she was there. Vendor meetings continued from the retreat, and she wrote to Tara with "lots of merit" between sessions. It is a small detail, and it says a great deal about how our planners hold on to the couples they are looking after.

7 April 2016 — ceremony at Salafa, dinner at Layan

The wedding day unfolded exactly the way the thirteenth revision of the spreadsheet said it would. The ceremony was at Salafa, with welcome drinks and cold towels waiting for guests, and a unity sand ritual at its heart. Once the vows were done, the whole party moved down to Layan Beach for dinner, speeches and the evening.

The evening ran through the photobooth first, then into the fire show, and finally into a "fancy dress" dance segment — wigs, guitars and armfuls of props laid out for anyone brave enough to grab them. By the end of the night the dance floor and the beach were one long, laughing blur.

The Unique Phuket wedding film

The film above is Tara and Anton's day as it actually ran — the villa, the beach, the fire show, the fancy dress, and the quieter frames between them. It is the piece the couple return to most often, and it is the reason this page exists.