Sofitel caters from the most simple of ceremonies through to elaborate romantic celebrations that can be held at a choice of two destinations – the Sofitel Moorea Ia Ora Beach Resort and the Sofitel Bora Bora Marara Beach Resort & Private Island.

Sofitel’s lead in Civil Ceremony Wedding Package is available at either resort and is priced from XPF18,000 (around $US200) per couple inclusive of tax. The package includes a floral bouquet and boutonnière, a private round trip by car with a chauffeur between the hotel and town hall to meet with the Mayor or Deputy for the civil wedding ceremony.

Many optional extras can be included to enhance the experience, including a bottle of French Champagne with canapés and a private butler service organised for bride and groom to celebrate, priced from around $US300 per couple. In addition Sofitel can arrange a professional wedding coordinator, additional flowers, ukulele trio and dancers and photographer/videographer and make-up and hairdresser (available on request and at an additional price).

More elaborate wedding and party packages are also available, including the indulgent HEREHIA ceremony available at both Sofitel resorts located on Moorea and Bora Bora. The HEREHIA package on Bora Bora is particularly stunning taking place on top of Sofitel’s very own private island or “motu”. The wedding ceremony is conducted in the beautiful Tahitian language. Sofitel’s island features a hill look out offering  amazing panoramic views across the bluest of lagoons, with majestic Mount Otemanu in the background. The most idyllic location to be at sunset. Local performers are also arranged to sing, dance and make for a truly romantic Pacific celebration.

The HEREHIA package is priced from  XPF96,000 and can also be organised at Sofitel’s beach resort on Moorea.

The package includes a Wedding Coordinator, an authentic ceremony by a Tahitian Priest on the beach of Sofitel Moorea, three Tahitian singers and ukulele players, plus two pareos and flower leis for bride and groom to wear in addition to a bridal bouquet and boutonnière. A romantic dinner under the stars is the perfect way to conclude the ceremony and wedding in style, only to return to your bungalow with a decorated flower bed and champagne chilling on ice. Sofitel also arranges a wedding certificate and exotic cocktail celebration as part of the HEREHIA experience.

All offers are valid for stays and weddings from the 1st of January until the 31st of December 2012 and are subject to availability and change.

Visit www.sofitel.com

This year’s event will include a special guest appearance by the President of the Cheese Makers of France guild, Mr Philippe Olivier.

The festival is an opportunity for locals and holidaymakers to discover all their favourite – and some new – cheese flavours from France accompanied by a selection of wines by the event’s sommelier Mr David Perron. An extensive buffet of more than 100 cheeses and 110 wines will be served up each evening during the festival, which has been organised in partnership with Air France and Brasserie du Pacifique.

Philippe Oliver, Master Cheese Maker…

It is not by chance that Philippe Oliver has become one of the most famous and renowned Master Cheese Refiners of France. From a cheese-refiner-retailer family, he kept cultivating and improving techniques and secrets of this art practiced since 1907 by his grand-father, then his father. He became Vice Supervisor and the youngest Cheese Maker of the Cheese Maker’s Guild. In 1996 with the Rabelais Award, he was elected the Best Cheese Maker of France as well as in 2005 with the Pudio Award. Since 1976, he has been exporting his selection of cheeses. Hence, today, it is possible to find on our tables, cheeses selected by Philippe Oliver in more than twenty European countries.

The Taste of Real Things

Guests are also invited to enjoy an extraordinary culinary voyage as part of the festival’s Cheese and Wine evening events. On the menu are a selection of ripened cheeses, refined delicatessen meats and local products with a focus on tastes from different French regions. To end on a sweet note, ‘verrines’ and pastries will be offered to finish and are guaranteed to ravish tastebuds.

Priced at a fixed rate: 8 700 xpf/person (beverages not included)

- Sofitel Tahiti Maeva Beach Resort : From Tuesday 6th to Saturday 17th of September 2011

Dinner: starting from 7pm in the Paevai banquet room, upon reservation.

Dinner + room package: 27.700F ttc for 2 people (1 night in a Superior Lagoon View Room, dinner for 2 at the “Cheese and Wine” Festival, beverages not included, and 2 American breakfasts).

reservation.tahiti@accor.com

- Sofitel Moorea Ia Ora Beach Resort : Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th of September 2011

Dinner : Starting from 7pm at the “K” restaurant, upon reservation. For information and reservation : 55 12 25

- Sofitel Bora Bora Marara Beach and Private Island : Thursday 29th , Friday 30th of September & Saturday 1st of October 2011

Dinner : Starting from 7pm at the “Manu Tuki” restaurant (on the private island), upon reservation. For information and reservation : 60 55 00

Sofitel, World Class Hotels & French Elegance

Sofitel is the only french luxury hotel brand with a presence on five continents with 120 addresses, in almost 40 countries (more than 30 000 rooms). Sofitel offers contemporary hotels and resorts adapted to today’s more demanding and more versatile consumers who expect and appreciate beauty, quality and excellence. Whether situated in the heart of a major city like Paris, London, New York, Shanghai or Beijing, or nestled away in a country landscape in Morocco, Egypt, French Polynesia or Thailand, each Sofitel property offers a genuine experience of the French “art de vivre”.

Discover Sofitel on www.sofitel.com

Discover A|Club at Sofitel, the worldwide Accor loyalty program on www.a-club.com

Having your own private island is perhaps the ultimate indulgence. However for corporate incentive and conference groups – or those simply planning a huge group escape – it’s not beyond reach.

To help create a once in a lifetime ‘extreme indulgence’, Sofitel Luxury Hotels is offering the ultimate tropical island incentive for a chance to take over an entire motu in French Polynesia for three glorious nights.

Sofitel Bora Bora Marara Beach & Private Island is one of the South Pacific’s most spectacular retreats, and best of all features its own private island or ‘motu’, just 150 metres long and 70 metres wide. Boasting rare 360 degree panoramic views, the private island is situated just five minutes by boat from the main island and looks back over Sofitel’s larger beach resort and the famous outline of Bora Bora’s Mount Otemanu.

While generally the domain of happy honeymooners and couples on holiday, Sofitel offers exclusive use of its smaller motu for private functions and events making it the most indulgent incentive destination in the Pacific.

Bespoke or pre-packaged hire options for corporate guests are available, depending on your budget and requirements.

Prices start from just 154 Euro per person per night which includes breakfast and local taxes with a minimum three-night stay required. Additional activities and inclusions are available on request.

Alternatively, Sofitel offers a convenient pre-packaged experience, based on a group of 40 people (twin share) staying in French Polynesia for five-nights.

The Maeva package offer features two- nights at the Sofitel Tahiti Maeva Beach Resort and three-nights on the Sofitel Bora Bora Marara Beach & Private Island. The package is priced from 830 Euro per person, including taxes.

Other inclusions include breakfast daily, VIP welcome gifts, a welcome cocktail reception, two themed dinner events on Bora Bora, and a beverage package with entertainment.

Both offers are valid for bookings until the 31st of May 2013, and prices do not include transfers or airfares. Sofitel allows the motu to be privatised from the 1st of November to the 31st of May each year.

‘Privatisation’ of the island is available for small groups requiring a minimum of just 20 bungalows up to a maximum of 30 motu bungalows. An additional 64 bungalows are also available at Sofitel’s main island resort to accommodate larger groups who don’t mind stretching across both the beach resort and motu.

Luxurious and expansive, the motu and beach resort together feature a total of 95 bungalows in a variety of styles, including overwater and hillside. The beach resort also offers an exquisite restaurant, bar, cigar cave, wine cellar, day spa, infinity swimming pool and endless recreational facilities – most associated with sailing across, swimming in or stretching out beside the amazing azure blue lagoon.

To help bring to life the unique experience of privatising an island for a company’s incentive event, Sofitel offers exclusive use of its motu along with a variety of luxurious activities ranging from spa treatments, to lagoon excursions such as shark and ray feeding, 4×4 drive safaris, scuba diving, water sports and incredible themed dinner events.

Sofitel’s International Sales Manager for French Polynesia Lisa Coakley says, “The idea is to create unforgettable moments, and what better place than Bora Bora – one of the most beautiful and inspirational places on earth.”

Bora Bora is often called the most beautiful island in the world, encircled by a protective necklace of coral. Breathtaking lush mountains provide a dramatic backdrop for the luminous turquoise, lapis and aquamarine of the sheltered lagoon

Lisa says several themed events have been created to take advantage of the resort’s exclusive beach location and lagoon as a backdrop. “The opportunities to impress are limitless. It can be as simple as watching the sunset with chilled champagne served from the lookout point or a cinema night beneath the stars. As decadent as a Polynesian dinner illuminated with tiki torches and coloured candles in the frangipani trees, complete with costumes, dancing, Tahitian warriors and beautiful vahines.

“The motu’s 180° panoramic restaurant Manu Tiki is also ideal for gala dinners indoors, showcasing Sofitel’s gourmet French touch with fine wines, champagnes, and cheeses incorporating local flavours such as vanilla and coconut milk.”

For more on booking exclusive use of Sofitel’s private island in Bora Bora, email lisa.coakley@sofitel.com\ Visit www.sofitel-frenchpolynesia.com

www.sofitel.com

Bloody Mary’s, Povai Bay, Bora Bora, Tahiti
Tel: + 689 67 72 86
Closed Dec
www.boraboraisland.com/bloodymarys/

“I can’t decide whether to get the grouper or the tuna,’’ I tell my host.
“Get the tuna,’’ he says.

“Really, because I was thinking that maybe’’ – “Get the tuna,’’ he interrupts.
We are standing in front of the most incredible display of fresh seafood imaginable at Bloody Mary’s on the island of Bora Bora in Tahiti. I wipe my chin occasionally lest I salivate like the weasel in Foghorn Leghorn or Wily Coyote.

My shoes are off; the restaurant has a fine white sandy floor. Under a thatched roof a fan circles lazily above us. The fish is on ice, and my host, a Hawaiian for whom the epithet cool could have been invented takes my order straight to the chef.

The floor is sandy and after deciding on dinner we walk over to the bar for one of the restaurant’s trademark drinks, you guessed it, a bloody mary.
The secret ingredient, the barman explains, is ground celery root.

“So why the tuna?’’ I ask.
Apparently they take a 1kg fillet of big eye tuna that was swimming in the bluest of blue waters off the island a few hours ago, give it a herb rub and then throw it on a white hot grill, turn it over a fraction of a second later, and put it on the plate before it hits the grill a second time.

The fish is served with a selection of sauces including wasabi and soy sauce and a cool crisp green salad. I take flakes from it off the central slab in huge pieces.

Somewhere deep in my heart I know I have made a huge mistake – I have been spoiled for all time and will compare all other fish to this perfect dish for all time and throughout the ages and will find all other seafood disastrously wanting.

There are other options, like wahu in teriyaki and they will even do you a burger on the char-broiler. There are even vegetables if you are that way inclined.

Bloody Mary’s has a dock and if you are parking your tender there and your supermodel girlfriends are fussy eaters, and let’s face it, which supermodels aren’t? They will customize their meal for them: the night I was there as I recall my companion wanted a dry Saltine served in a large red bucket.

After a hard day’s jet skiing around the island’s central crater lagoon, there are few better ways on Earth to spend an evening getting your strength back.

Let the perfect meal make itself at home in your being as you motor back to your yacht with your companions, take the shuttle back to your over-water bungalow or even – if you are really down on your luck – walk back to your Bora Boran campsite with a brace of backpackers.