Planning your big day can be as simple or as complicated as you choose to make it. Having basically planned my wedding myself, I discovered very quickly that one of the most useful and helpful things, is getting recommendations from friends and other couples on where to go for various things.
Wedding planning is both exciting and stressful at the same time. Without going into huge details, I will give a basic run down of everyone I used, in the hope others might find the information useful.
The Church - We got married at Christ Church, Jebel Ali in Dubai. The entire staff are extremely helpful and gave us untold contacts and assistance and generally made life very easy. It really is worth paying the extra, to get them to have your marriage certificate attested and legalised. The Chaplain, Steven Wright was brilliant and really personalised the ceremony to us.
http://christchurchjebelali.com/
My dress. Trying bridal dresses on, has to be one of the most exciting and hilarious experiences for any bride (just a shame we couldn't have Champers at the same time!). I had an idea of the sort of dress I wanted, but ideas and the reality can be very different. What you think might suit you, might not and vice versa. It's definitely better to go with an open mind. I think you know when you have the right dress, when you virtually burst into tears and it's so beautiful. When you're standing there on the podium, in dress, heels, veil and it all just looks perfect.
I'd thought about ordering a dress online, or having one made from scratch, but I really didn't want to take the risk, so when I found my perfect dress, I ordered the correct size then had it altered. I tried dresses and bought mine from The Wedding Shop in Dubai. The staff were more than attentive and the alterations were made free of charge.
My husband also hired his tuxedo from the Wedding Shop, which was very cost effective. 250 Dhs and you pick it up the day before and drop it back the day after.
http://www.theweddingshop.ae/
I'm a big fan of personalised engagement and wedding rings and that's something that jewelers do very well in Dubai. My go to jewellery experts are in Duba's Gold & Diamond Park - Cara's. Their staff are always very professional and really spend the time, to help people get exactly what they want. The bonus is, if you want something made, they do it very well and very quickly. A friend who bought an engagement ring there, actually went to the workshop to see it being made.
www.carajewellers.com
Flowers can really be a headache and extremely pricey to boot! Many flourists/hotels will want to charge 500/600 Dhs upwards just for the bridal bouquet! Luckily for me, this is where a fantastic friend recommendation came in. I knew what colours I had in mind and I couldn't originally decide whether to go for fresh or artificial flowers, but in the end I decided on fresh.
I was recommended a little flourist in Dubai, Garden Gate Flowers, which I went and visited and they were so helpful, they had exactly the colours and flowers I was looking for - even if they didn't, they could probably get them ones you wanted. In the end my bouquet, a bridesmaids bouquet and 4 button holes came to just shy of 500 Dhs. The flowers were beautiful and exactly what I was looking for.
www.ggflora.com
There's definitely something to be said for shopping around and even looking online! My mother pointed me in the direction of a fantastic online store - Light in the Box - from which I ended up buying my wedding invitations, veil, shoes and garter from. It's worth noting that because these items mostly come from China, with things like shoe sizing, it's worth ordering a size up, otherwise they can be a bit of the small size - luckily I did this and they fitted perfectly. I loved my wedding shoes so much, I bought the same ones in various other colours - a girl has to shop (sometimes).
www.lightinthebox.com
When it comes to your wedding photography, you really want someone who is experienced and knows exactly what they're doing. I spoke to and researched many photographers in Dubai, but I didn't really feel comfortable, until I came across Helen Shippey. I'd researched her work, she came highly recommended and was just a lovely person, who understood what I wanted and put me completely at ease. She also went out of her way to get permission for us to take photographs at the Madinat as well - we photo-bombed the Dubai International Film Festival red carpet :-) Everyone has commented on how wonderful our wedding photos are and I can't wait to have some of them made into canvases.
http://shippeyphotography.com/
https://www.facebook.com/shippeyphotography
Deciding where to have your wedding reception is such a personal thing, but I think we really did come across one of the most lovely venues in Dubai - The Empire Room at the H Hotel. It's a good sized space, not too big, not too small with very elegant and classy decor. The staff at the H organised our reception for us aswell. I couldn't fault Nina, who listened to exactly what we wanted and she and her staff came through in spectacular style. We had a personalised buffet dinner, British vs German courses, wonderful wines, personalised welcome drinks and the biggest red velvet cake as a wedding cake that I've ever seen! Not to leave out the gorgeous flower arrangements. They truly made our evening special. What's more, included in their wedding package was a suite for the night for us - which was outstanding! It was so wonderful after a manic, exciting and special day to head to your room and find the giant bath filled with hot bubbly water and scattered rose petals, truly a personal touch. Definitely a venue worth considering.
www.h-hotel.com
I have a go-to company for Limo hire in Dubai. Dubai Exotic Limo. I've used them on many occasions now and they've never let me down. They're good on price, have a great range of vehicles and their drivers are simply fantastic.
www.dubaiexoticlimo.com
For the entertainment factor of the night, I made the guests do some work with karaoke - always goes down well after people have had a bevvy or six. I roped in work mate Nick Robinson (Radio 1 UAE), to do the honours in hosting the karaoke and to do some DJing, which he did brilliantly as always. There were a few extra bits of equipment that I needed to hire, so I turned to Media Kraft for those.
www.mekraft.com
Annnnnd I think that's just about it! I thoroughly enjoyed planning our big day, but of course there are many good wedding planners out there who can assist and do pretty much everything for you. But whatever you decide to do, enjoy it, as it all goes by so fast on the actual day :-)
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