Hope and Jaime had already traveled to nearly 40 countries together by the time they decided where to get married. Instead of searching for somewhere new, they returned to the tiny Thai island that had already become part of their story.
The couple met in 2020 during the pandemic, when the yacht Jaime worked on docked in Hope’s hometown of Newport, Rhode Island. Two weeks after their first date they were officially together, and just two months later, Hope left her apartment and joined Jaime at sea.
Over the next five years, travel became a defining part of their life together. Between yacht seasons, they spent extended holidays in Koh Tao, Thailand, and the island gradually became much more than another destination on their list. When it came time to bring their families together for their wedding, returning there to View Point Resort felt natural.
Their wedding brought two families together for the first time
With Hope from the United States and Jaime from Australia, the wedding marked something particularly meaningful: the first time their families would all be together.
Guests made their way to Koh Tao on their own schedules. Some arrived as early as a week before the wedding, while others reached the island only the day before.
Rather than viewing the staggered arrivals as something that needed to be organized into a rigid itinerary, Hope and Jaime embraced them as part of the experience.
They intentionally skipped the packed destination wedding itinerary
For a couple accustomed to traveling, Hope and Jaime took a decidedly relaxed approach to hosting everyone in Thailand.
There was no tightly scheduled lineup of events filling every day of the trip. Instead, they deliberately left space for organic time together, allowing guests to experience Koh Tao and spend time with one another without constantly watching the clock.
That flexibility was especially fitting for an island that had become meaningful to the couple during their own extended stays between yacht seasons.
The result felt less like a conventional destination wedding weekend and more like inviting the people they loved into a place that had already become part of their life together.
Local orchids and palm leaves defined the island-chic design
The wedding aesthetic, photographed by Kim Raaf, followed the same relaxed philosophy.
Rather than trying to transform the destination, Hope and Jaime leaned into the natural environment with an island-chic approach that complemented the landscape around them.
Florals were sourced locally and incorporated tropical elements including orchids and palm leaves. The organic materials added texture and a sense of place while allowing the island itself to remain the focus.
Nothing needed to compete with Koh Tao. The beauty was in letting the surroundings lead.
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An island wedding that felt like them
After five years of traveling together, Hope and Jaime knew that a memorable destination was only part of what makes an experience meaningful.
Their Koh Tao wedding wasn’t about filling every hour with another event or creating an elaborate setting that could have existed anywhere. It was about returning to an island they genuinely loved and finally sharing it with the families who had spent years on opposite sides of the world.
Nearly 40 countries may have been part of Hope and Jaime’s story, but for their wedding, they chose the place that felt worth coming back to. With local orchids, palm leaves, an intentionally loose itinerary, and their American and Australian families together for the first time, Koh Tao didn’t simply provide the backdrop. It gave everyone the time and space to experience the island the way Hope and Jaime already knew and loved it.
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