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Thought this was a bit of fun for a Wednesday afternoon…
I had them at my wedding at it was awesome! I left 2 jars of spoons next to the band, and as the night progressed, my guests picked them up and used them as microphones. It’s so much fun, and you can guarantee giggles from everyone! I only managed to find 2 pictures of them, which I stole from my friend Clare. Hi Clare!
Back tomorrow with a gorgeous real wedding… x
Last week my new friends Dee & Dal kindly gave me a pack of Broadway Nails by Kiss USA. False nails have never been something that excites me, but after wearing my bright pink kiss nails for a week, I’m now converted. They would be the perfect extra for a long honeymoon or holiday, because really… your wedding manicure isn’t going to last more than 2 weeks.
The packet said it would only take ‘minutes’ to apply the nails, so I thought i’d time myself. I started the clock from the very start, even before I read the instructions, placed all the nails in a row and applied them to my real nails.
The application took about 3 minutes, it really was so easy. I like having shorter nails, so for me they were perfect. Pink is also my favorite nail colour, which is odd as I’m not a ‘pink’ girlie girl. Anyway… I’m impressed with my imPress nails… he he he.
All images by Joelle @ My Lovely Wedding. ♥
Oh, and if you fancy getting yourself some check out Dee & Dals latest competition. You can WIN AED 1500 worth of Kiss goodies! Amazing!!! http://www.makeupbydeendal.com/competitions.html
My lovely friend Ritu at Creative Box has sent me over some more of her recent work. All 3 invitations are very different, and of course well designed. Here she creates a custom designed eternal lace wedding invitation, which was designed for a bride who wanted something stylish in black and white.
The 2nd invitation was a design that was created for an American and British bride and groom. The bride wanted vintage inspired invitation using the American and British flag colours.
The 3rd invitation is a monogram in Arabic, and they worked around the monogram to create something really classic, and Arabic. The cover of the card has a monogram which is embossed and foiled in gold.
Design details…
Bassil Al Kaati and Yassmin Al-Khatib got married on the 16th November 2012. They married at the stunning Ritz Carlton, Grand Canal in Abu Dhabi. The beautiful bride found her dress on a girls only trip to Boston, US. When she saw her dress, it was love at first sight and like most brides… this was the her favorite part of planning her wedding.
I asked Yassmin about her wedding photographer Gregory, and this is what she said…
Gregory – The Dubai based wedding photographer…
I’ve seen Blue Eye’s work from a friend’s wedding the pictures were beautiful and I knew I wanted to have them do my wedding. Gregory and Dorota were both present the day of the wedding, they made me feel so comfortable during the photoshoot.
I’ve seen Gregory at many weddings and one word describes him “artist”, he really has an art and a special way of taking photos. You would have to see him in action to know what I am talking about.
Blue Eye Picture is on the more expensive side when compared to the rest of photographers here in Abu Dhabi/Dubai but are well worth it. Gregory captures one of the most special moments in your life and in my opinion you can’t put a price on that, you need the best.
The Vision for the day…
We are both very simple people and that was what we wanted to keep the wedding like. The color palettes we chose were nudes and we wanted a warm romantic theme on the day, our wedding planners Carnivalesque events chose to call the theme “Chic Romance” which describes our wedding day perfectly.
Planning her dream wedding…
The planning process was the best part, it took about 5 months of real work, looking at different florists, design ideas, scheduling and booking. We went through many different set ups and designs which is why I am so thankful for our planners. They were so patient and gave us space to see and try whatever it is we wanted to see that day. They didn’t pressure us to make decisions; it was too easy working with them. Carnivalesque events couldn’t have made it easier on us; they did everything all we had to do was agree.
Her lovely Dress…
My dress was probably the most exciting part of the wedding .I knew I wanted to look outside of the UAE so I decided to try the States. I had one of my best friends Dalia come with me to Boston. We booked appointments with a few well known boutiques and already had an idea of the shape of dress I wanted. I ended up finding the perfect dress from a bridal boutique on Newbury Street. The dress I bought was the last dress I tried on and it was the only dress I didn’t want to take off. I knew it was the one when I looked in the mirror and thought “I feel like a bride”….
Groom’s threads…
Bassil looked like a movie star on our wedding day, remembering how he looked puts a smile on my face until today! He had a tuxedo custom made to his taste. It fit him perfectly, he looked so handsome!
The Music…
We had a mix of English and Arabic by Dj Tim Magic, our first dance was by Michael Buble – for once in my life. Bassil and I love this song.
Her Lovely Flowers…
Pastel pink and peach roses, White hydrangea and phalaenopsis.
The Cake… Our cake was made by The Ritz Carlton, it was amazing!
The Details + Décor…
Customized box of macrons as favors for each guest, Table names were Butterfly names in a chic gold rustic frames, Also napkin cards put on each plate with a lovely message on it and the couples names and wedding date. Guest book was a handmade puzzle picture of the puzzle for guests to write on them their wishes on each piece.
The Honeymoon…. We went to the Maldives for our honey moon, breathtaking!
The Best Moments… The whole day was beautiful, the vibe was just perfect. And my mom – just her being at my wedding was memorable.
Advice for other couples… enjoy every minute of being a bride, it’s only once in a life time. Don’t let the small things get to you the wedding somehow all comes together on the big day so don’t stress!
Credit for suppliers & friends…
Carnivalesque Events (Mohammad Rajab and Noora Al Ghussain) contact details: www.facebook.com/carnivalesque 050 745 3244 – the day couldn’t have been perfect without you!
Makeup – Lina Hussein – this girl is amazing!
Friends – they know who they are, I love them so much!
Photography – Gregory @ Blue Eye Picture
Last Thursday I received an email from Pia, a bride who recently got married in the Philippines. Her heartfelt email made me smile, and after watching her wedding video I was left with a tear running down my face.
I can’t wait to feature Pia’s wedding soon… but for now, you need to watch this…
Eugz and Pia {awesomely married | wedding in bellarocca} from Notion in Motion on Vimeo.
Good morning my lovelies
How are we all today?I hope everyone had a great weekend? Just a quick DIY blog for you this morning. I thought I’d show you how I made my office labels. They are super easy and could also make great name tags for your wedding, or bridal shower.
What you need…
I don’t think I really need to explain as the pictures say it all…
All photos by Joelle @ My Lovely Wedding.
Just in case you want to know… I got everything from Satwa. I don’t remember the name of the shop, but it’s opposite the hospital by the traffic lights, just past the post office. The shop has some amazing crafts like lace, buttons, gems, ribbon etc. It’s a great little place, and if you smile sweetly you can often get a small discount 
I’m a regular now!
I’m off for a meeting today with an amazing desert resort hotel… so, I will be online later this afternoon.
Have a lovely Sunday! x
Hello my lovelies,
I hope you’re all having a good weekend? I’m off to The Montgomerie for Saturday roast dinner brunch to celebrate my Aunt Sue’s birthday. It’s going to be a family affair. I think I’ve mentioned before that I have family living in Dubai? My Aunt Sue and Uncle peter, and 13 year old Cousin Abbie have been here for about 6 years. My cousin Dylan, is also here, he’s personal trainer/ model. He’s what the girls would call ‘dishy’. One day Dylan and I plan to do something on fitness for bride-to-be, but since we are both so busy it hasn’t happened yet… but it will, eventually Oh, and while I’m on the subject of family, my Dad, Step Mum, and 9 year of brother Kiran used live in Dubai too. They now live down under in sunny Perth, Australia. So yeah, that’s a bit of family info for you. Oh and just to let you know, as lots of people ask after I explain I have family in Dubai. My Mum and Sister are in the UK, in Somerset.
OK enough with my ramblings and onto this… ‘Pressing Flowers’.
I had some flowers left over from a bouquet about 2 weeks ago, they were gorgeous, and I thought instead of throwing them away, why not press them. I could be doing this completely wrong, but here is what I did…
All images by Joelle @ My Lovely Wedding.
Back tomorrow!
Love Joelle x
Good morning! How are we all today? It’s Friday, so I’m guessing that answer would be ‘good’? I’m having a girlie day today as my lovely husband is working. Believe it or not I’m going to watch the new wedding movie… ‘The big wedding’. I feel it would be wrong if I didn’t. Luckily my friend Amy is happy to keep me company, Nathan refused to go with me. lol.. typical dude! I will report back with my personal review tomorrow! ♥
If you missed anything this week here’s the usual weekly roundup…
♥ 4 venues, 900 guests and a very big budget *click here*
♥ The dream of being busy… *click here*
♥ Beautiful Bridesmaids *click here*
♥ Wow your guests with a candy bar *click here*
♥ My Lovely Wedding’s 1st Birthday *click here*
♥ The must-have treatment for any bride-to-be *click here*
♥ Make-up by Dee & Dal in Dubai *click here*
Oh and this is a sneak peek at what’s coming tomorrow…
Have a super weekend my lovelies… ♥
Back tomorrow…
Love Joelle x
Let me introduce to Menka, she’s one of the two lovely ladies at Event Factory. She got married in 2008, on the 4th January in Dubai. Back then she wasn’t a wedding planner, and to be honest that’s probably a good thing. She married her best friend Nitin, and celebrated with over 900 guests. I imagine if you’re a wedding planner, this would be a very big job, especially if your the bride too. Actually the thought frightens me a little. 900 people is a lot of people to keep happy.
It was only after her own wedding that she fell in love with weddings, and all things wedding related. Menka has a background in events, so it was no surprise when she decided to launch her own company ‘Event Factory’ with her best friend Kameliya.
What you planned for the day…
The Indian weddings last for 4-5 days. The wedding started with a New Year’s Eve do at my parents on the 31st of Dec. Most of the international guests had flown in by then, and this was a welcome party of to kick start the celebrations. On the 2nd of Jan the official celebrations began with the Henna party at the Sheraton, followed by the sangeet and a cocktails night at the Emirates Towers on the 3rd evening. The religious wedding ceremony is where we took our vows on the 4th at the Park Hyatt, which followed with the wedding reception, more cocktails and dancing on the 5th at the Bustan Rotana.
The actual wedding ceremony was a colourful religious affair, with traditional games and good-natured teasing between the bride’s party and groom’s family. The groom arrived with his entourage with loud drum beats and lots of dancing to announce their arrival. I then came down (was in the hotel room) to receive and welcome them and proceed with the ceremonies.
The Proposal…
We’d been seeing each other for a while and had discussed marriage, what we want from our respective lives, our hopes and expectations etc so we did know that we would get married, there wasn’t a “will you marry me?” that popped out of the blue. However, he was still sweet and completed the formalities by proposing at the Capanna Nuova restaurant, by the beach over candle-light at the Dubai Marine Resort and Spa.
The Planning process…
I’d had previous experience planning events but when its your own wedding it’s a whole new ball game. There was immense support from my family and my husband and his family too. Me and my husband were the main decision makers and we mainly picked the hotels, menus and entertainment options along with opinions from the rest of course.
Budget…
The one thing we weren’t involved in!
No. of Guests Started with 120 at the henna party and ended at 900 at the reception
Finding My Wedding Dress…
I mainly shopped for my clothes in India, I made two trips to different cities in India and finally picked my dress in the capital, Delhi. It was red, gold and green, considered auspicious colours for a bride!
My Lovely Accessories…
Included everything from traditional bangles and henna painted hands to ethnic bindis (worn on the forehead), hair pieces and brooches and traditional gold or diamond jewellery.
Groom’s Threads…
We found a designer in Delhi, and after going to his store we fell in love with his work and with the man’s great personality and passion for his work, we ordered all his outfits for all 5 days on the spot…we walked into the store at 1pm and left at close to 6pm…and we had three days to spare and lounge in the city! (Deisgner: Lalit Laungani, store: Laungani’s, South Ex, Delhi)
My Lovely bridesmaids…
We don’t usually have a bridesmaids custom traditionally, however I did have 6 of my friends escort me down to receive the groom with lit diya’s (traditional Indian tea lights of sorts) and flowers in their hands. It felt good to be surrounded by my girls.
The Flowers…
All different shapes, sizes and colours over the 4 days. However, I didn’t pay much attention to the flowers at that point of time, I wish I knew then what I know about weddings now!
The Cake…
We had one at the Sangeet, a 3 tier and we cut the official one at the reception which was a 7 tier cake, both cakes were ordered at the respective hotels.
My Details + Décor…
The décor was different on all days and I tried to incorporate different colours and themes, the henna party was an Arabian look and feel while the actual wedding ceremony was ethnic and traditional.
Our Honeymoon…
We flew to Australia and New Zealand for a few weeks. It felt far far away from the city life of Dubai. It was a much needed vacation.
Favorite moments over the wedding week…
Far too many to capture. At the wedding, the bride and groom are so overwhelmed, most of the moments don’t register and they only come back while watching the videos. I’d say it has to be most of the dancing that goes with Indian weddings, my friends that did a little performance for us, my sister-in-law’s speech, the 7 Sanskrit vows explained to us in English on the wedding day (I didn’t know what they meant before) and the general sense of happiness and euphoria all around.
Advice for other couples…
Plan, plan plan until the week before the wedding and then rest up. Leave it be and enjoy your wedding, don’t sweat the small stuff.
Let me just say that I’m exhausted just reading this… a full week of wedding events, gatherings and dancing! Amazing! And… one thing I absolutely love about Indian weddings is the colours used in the decor and dresses. The bright reds, greens and details to every dress is just unbelievable. This is one tradition that I hope never fades…
Big thanks to Menka for sharing!
Back tomorrow…
Love Joelle x
It’s the 15th may, and my mind is boggled at where the time has gone. I know I say this a lot, but time is seriously flying. So far this year has a been a whirlwind of excitement, hard work, and lots of love. (my wedding being the ‘lots of love’ bit) I feel so lucky to be doing what I’m doing, that sometimes I forget that I work 12 hours days and rarely switch off. I’m tired but happy.
If I didn’t love what I’m doing so much, I wouldn’t be doing it. I work very hard, and at times feel like I’m hitting brick walls.. until I get an email from a bride, or meet someone who reads My Lovely Wedding, and then… it makes it all worth while. I’m quite impatient when it comes to my blog, because I want it to do well, I want it to be the best it can be… but that takes time. It needs to grow, develop and only over time will it be what I want it to be. I need to learn to be more patient.
A year ago last March I was having dinner with my friend Louise, I remember telling her about my idea for the blog, how I dreamed of being a full time wedding blogger, and eventually making a living from doing just that.
One year later my dreams have come true. I’m a full time wedding blogger… and stylist. The styling part of my job is slowly developing, and it’s something I feel I’m good at. It feels very natural to me to think about décor, flowers, and themes day in and day out. It’s a little sad but shops like The One, and Crate & Barrel actually excite me. My creative mind gets overloaded with ideas and the excitement kicks in. It’s almost like a good sugar rush if you know what I mean?
As I mentioned at the start of this rambling session, I am busy… super busy, therefore I thought it was about time I got organized. I bought some storage boxes from Home Centre in the sale, and made labels for each of them. My office is now clean and tidy, and very organized. (Nathan was highly impressed when he got home last night) But ask me what it’s like in 2 weeks time and I might tell you differently, but for now… it’s heaven.
So, if you’re wondering what my office looks like… here it is it. This is where the magic happens.
Isn’t she cute? I couldn’t get through my day without her.
By the way, all the crates etc are from my own wedding and I’m happy to rent them out to any other brides who’s in need of decor.
Got to dash.. work to do. ♥
All images by Joelle @ My Lovely Wedding.
