Moody, Intimate Outdoor Wedding in Dalat, Vietnam

Moody, Intimate Outdoor Wedding in Dalat, Vietnam

March 4, 2026
Words by Lauren Ertl
Photos courtesy of HÍ'S WORLD

Although high school sweethearts Vi and Thịnh reside in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, their chosen wedding destination of Đà Lạt (Dalat) has long been a special place for the couple. The highland city, known for its French colonial architecture, pine forests, cool temperatures, and perpetual mist, felt like the natural setting for their day.

What followed was an intimate gathering at the iconic Dalat Palace Heritage Hotel, featuring a bold red-black-and-white aesthetic, a signature square motif that ran through every detail.

A collage shows a woman in a red dress indoors, wedding-themed items on red fabric, and a bride in white with a man in a suit outdoors near a white building.

Choosing Dalat Palace Heritage Hotel

Finding the right venue for a destination wedding, especially from afar, requires both trust and great tools. Vi and Thịnh worked with Ho Chi Minh City-based wedding planners The Story Packer, who created a detailed venue comparison sheet covering every option in Đà Lạt, complete with pros, cons, and pricing.

Dalat Palace Heritage Hotel checked every box:

Central location, easy for all guests to reach
Professional hotel service with no requirement for guests to stay on-site
No venue rental fee when booking the banquet
Classic, vintage aesthetic with a spacious, flat outdoor area ideal for open-air events
A price point that fit their budget

The couple also made a pre-wedding site visit with their planning team to tour all shortlisted venues in person before committing, a step they highly recommend for any couple planning a destination event.

Flat lay of assorted stationery items including cards, envelopes, paper samples, a wax seal, and a small box arranged on a beige fabric surface.

A Private First Look and Heartfelt Vows

Rather than a traditional ceremony, Vi and Thịnh opted for something more personal and quiet. They chose an intimate first look, just the two of them, followed by a private vow exchange that felt unhurried and heartfelt.

“We chose to keep things intimate with a private first look, followed by exchanging our vows in a quiet and heartfelt way,” the bride says. “We also spent that moment looking back at our memories together through photos.”

A bride and groom stand outdoors exchanging vows. The bride wears a white dress and gloves, holding dark flowers; the groom is in a dark suit. The ceremony takes place on a lawn.

This approach, stripping away formality in favor of genuine connection, set the tone for everything that followed. No grand procession, no rigid tradition. Just two people, their promises, and a quiet moment to feel the weight of how far they’d come and to dream about where they’d go.

Outdoor dining area with white tablecloths, beige chairs, red candles, floral centerpieces, and a white backdrop with greenery and text, set on a grassy lawn.

The Design: A Signature Square Identity

Every great wedding has a visual throughline. For Vi and Thịnh, it was the square. The motif began with the invitations (designed personally by Vi, who founded Deus Wedding Invitations) and carried through to the entire reception layout.

“The key visual motif of our wedding was the square shape,” Vi says. “It started with our square invitation suite and continued into the reception with a square-inspired table layout.”

A bride and groom walk beside X-shaped outdoor wedding tables decorated with white tablecloths, flowers, and candles on a grassy lawn.

The original concept called for one large square table with guests seated on all four sides. But as the guest list grew, that layout became impractical. Rather than abandoning the concept, Vi and Thịnh worked with their planners and décor team to evolve it, arriving at an X-shaped table layout with a square at the center. The spirit of the idea remained intact; the execution simply scaled with them.

“It kept the concept, but made the flow and connection between guests much better,” the couple tells us.

A large red panel with a white decorative emblem stands on grass near a long outdoor dining table set with white linens and chairs. Trees and a white backdrop are in the background.

One of the most talked-about design elements was a trio of large entrance panels in the wedding’s signature color palette: red, black, and white. Originally suggested by The Story Packer, each panel served a distinct purpose:

The red panel: the welcome sign greeting guests as they arrived.
The black panel: the seating chart, adorned with little birds flying in flocks, a symbolic nod to guests traveling from near and far to be present.
The white panel: displayed the wedding favors of black pepper from Bình Phước, a regional specialty from where both Vi and Thịnh grew up.

A bride and groom walk together outdoors beside a long, decorated table set for a wedding reception, with greenery and cloudy sky in the background.

Simple but profoundly moving, the stage backdrop was a white fabric printed with a single red line: “Darling, you look perfect tonight.”

The words were borrowed from Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud,” their first dance song. Surrounded by the people they love most, the sentiment extended beyond the couple themselves.

“On that night, not only did we feel ‘perfect,’ but so did our guests,” the bride reflects.

A bride in a white gown stands beside a groom seated on a chair outdoors, with a white backdrop and dried grass decorations behind them.

Late in the planning process, the couple added a cozy sofa corner to the space, a warm and photo-worthy nook that gave guests a relaxed spot to gather. It became an instant favorite as a check-in corner throughout the evening.

While guests awaited the program, they were treated to a thoughtfully curated charcuterie board of cold cuts, brie, olives and crackers, paired with cocktails. The idea came from The Story Packer and landed beautifully with guests.

“It was a creative idea suggested by our planner, and our guests loved it,” Vi says.

Warmth, Games, and the Squid Game Dalgona Challenge

To kick off the evening with energy and laughter, Vi and Thịnh organized a dalgona candy challenge, straight out of “Squid Game,” played to the soundtrack of “Round and Round.” The groom is a self-proclaimed fan of the series, and the challenge made for the perfect icebreaker before dinner.

A person uses a tool to cut a shape from a round piece of dalgona candy while sitting on grass. Several people sit around a table, assembling or examining a puzzle made from an image of a person in bright orange clothing against a blue sky background.

Planning From Afar: The Key to Making It Work

For couples considering a destination wedding, Vi and Thịnh’s most emphatic piece of advice is this: invest in the right planner.

“Choosing a reliable wedding planner was the best decision we made while planning from afar.”

A bride in a white dress feeds a groom breadsticks, while another man in a suit holds a box labeled "homemade bread" outdoors.

The couple chose The Story Packer because Vi had previously worked with planners Khanh and Phụng, and trusted them completely, even though the brand was still relatively new. That pre-existing relationship meant communication was easy, stress was minimal, and the couple could focus on excitement rather than logistics.

Three wedding scenes: a bride and groom toast with sparklers, a candlelit dinner table, and a decorative outdoor display with illuminated signs at night. Dozens of white bird silhouettes arranged on a dark wall with two spotlights above and cursive writing on the upper right side.

“With them guiding us, we barely had to worry or feel stressed. We had our ideas and our budget, and they helped us find vendors, plan every detail, and bring everything to life in the most perfect way possible.”

A bride and groom stand in front of a red wall with white floral designs, holding champagne glasses and facing each other.

In addition to trusting their planning team, Vi and Thịnh also made an in-person site visit to Đà Lạt before the wedding, touring all shortlisted venues alongside the planner team to ensure the final choice felt right in person, not just on paper.

A well-dressed couple sits on a white-covered outdoor sofa at night, with the woman resting her head on the man's shoulder.