The appeal is logistics. Belek and Lara resorts have hundreds of rooms, ballrooms, lawns, beaches and kitchens that can cook for an Indian wedding, all inside one gate. Guests check in on day one and leave on day four. The bridal team does the same, which is why we ask for rooms on site: on a three-day wedding there may be two separate makeup sessions every day.
The coast falls into three areas. Lara and Kundu, just east of the city, are closest to the airport and home to Mardan Palace. Belek, about half an hour from the airport, is a strip of large golf and beach resorts including Regnum Carya, Maxx Royal, Rixos Premium, Cornelia, Gloria and Kempinski. Kemer and Beldibi lie south-west under the Taurus mountains, where Rixos Sungate sits between peaks and sea.
What Antalya asks of makeup is stamina. Days are long, there is a lot of time outdoors and the Mediterranean is humid. A base that looks perfect at 10am needs to look the same at 5pm, after a haldi by the pool and a lunch on the lawn.