A garden wedding at Desert Palm Resort & Spa – Planned by Masha @ Fabulous Day

Samer & Megan got married on the 15th November 2014 at Desert Palm Resort & Spa. Joined by 120 guests their outdoor wedding was planned by the lovely Masha at Fabulous Day and photographed by Blue Eye Picture. They also used a whole bunch of lovely vendors to make their dream wedding come to life. Helen Schrader was the celebrant and as most brides do, they used MyList.ae for their gift registry.
Today’s wedding has so many details, and it’s pretty long so I suggest you sit down, make yourself a nice refreshing beverage and scroll down for all the lovely details…
My wedding dress…
My Dress is from The Bridal Showroom, A collection piece by designer Justin Alexander. My veil and garter was also from The Bridal Showroom. My shoes Jimmy Choo. My wedding Jewelry set was a gift from my husband. Our wedding rings were custom designed in Beirut.

Finding my wedding dress…
I started fairly early, well really really early. 🙂 It was the first thing I started looking for as I felt it played a big role, I mean what’s a wedding without the perfect dress. I knew what style and cut I wanted, sweetheart princess style, I wanted sparkles but not too much. After collecting enough images online I started visiting different bridal showrooms within Dubai, I also approached a few designers.
But the second I tried on the THE dress at The Bridal showroom I knew it was the one. I never quite understood what they meant by “ you will know it’s the ONE” when you try it on until I tried my dress. It was perfect, the second I saw it on me I was in tears. I tried the same dress again and it had the same effect and I just knew. The service from The Bridal showroom was amazing, from A-Z, they listened, suggested, fitting after fitting, we made the necessary adjustments as I slightly custom tailored my dress from the original design, got all the correct accessories and was exactly on time. I love The Bridal Showroom and would recommend them to every bride. My shoes were as easy to pick especially after I saw the pair I bought, they didn’t have them in Dubai so I ordered them from Jimmy Choo UK, which took only 2 days via DHL.
My veil and garter was also from The Bridal Showroom, I had a long double veil with Strass flowing down around the centre to the edges.

My lovely bridesmaids…
I had 2 bridesmaids, Monica and Freya & 1 maid of honour, Nadine – All three very close friends and dear to my heart. I’ve know Monica and Nadine for over 6 years now and Freya just over 4 years. I ordered the Bridesmaids dresses online. All 3 the same style, in blush pink, long sweetheart. The girls got their own shoes, all the same in Silver.
I gifted each with a pair of beautiful teardrop Swarovski earrings. I also got heal stoppers for myself and all the girls from Heel Stoppers.

The grooms threads…
The groom took care of this completely on his own, well except for the color; I had part in that as we had to make sure it matched but with our common tastes that was easy. We both agreed that light grey was the best for the season and for the theme and most importantly what he was comfortable in. We were not looking at having a serious black tie wedding, something everyone could enjoy. My husband matched his personality and suite with a pair of white Converse. So did the groomsmen. I loved the idea and look, it was just perfect – and he was as handsome as ever!

The planning process..
When we decided we wanted to get married in Dubai we initially agreed on 60 people as we wanted something not too big and with close friends and family only. This soon escalated and we ended up with double the figure. At first when we discussed the smaller amount of guests we thought that it will be easy and we can take care of everything ourselves – wrong, very wrong. Unless you are doing something very low key at a villa or restaurant maybe, but not with what we had in mind, or rather what I had in mind. (Laughing).
We almost immediately fell in love with Desert Palm Hotel & Resort. It just felt like we were in a different country, the nature and landscaping this place holds is fantastic and the tranquility it contains is so peaceful, everything at this venue was perfect – we booked it immediately. We wanted to be outside and with the weather it was the perfect time of year to do so.
Our ceremony was at the bottom of the olive garden surrounded by green lush landscaping. We didn’t need any backdrop as the existing wall was beautifully covered in flowers and greenery. Our guests could enjoy the picturesque stroll down the arch tunnel covered in pink flowers so we didn’t have to add much décor; it all speaks for itself once you see it.
Our cocktail hour and reception was on the top in the Olive Garden, we were surrounded by ancient Olive trees, the beautiful night sky and perfect lighting to bring out the charm of the venue. We did change the locations on the venue a few times due to the increase in numbers later on but the hotel was very helpful during the process.
Things at work started getting much busier and I almost had no time at all to start thinking about what comes first and where to start, this was when we decided it would be best to get someone to help us plan ‘Our Perfect Moment’. This is when I found the beautiful Masha Cain from Fabulous Day. I researched the internet for Wedding Planners in Dubai and shortlisted a few.
From the second I spoke to Masha over the phone, I had a special feeling that she was the one, I immediately felt relieved after our conversation and just knew we were in the best hands. After we met everything started to fall in place.
What we loved about Masha was the fact that she advices, recommends, suggests yet leaves it up to us, and that is exactly what we wanted. We wanted the wedding to be according to our tastes and reflect who we are individually as well as a couple – and Masha got it just right. From the second she was a part of our Wedding-to-be, everything started flowing and fell into place. From the details, favors, cakes, décor, lighting, entertainment, flowers… you name it.
We were very pleased and extremely grateful for having her be a part of our wedding. Even through the times that I was super stressed out, she always managed to calm me and re-assured me that everything will be perfect.
My now husband was not involved in everything, mostly the venue, the food and the entertainment so for him the wedding was also going to be a bit of a surprise if we can say that. I mean he was aware of the color scheme as well as flowers and table set up but not fully aware of the finer details so it made everything just so much more exciting. Even I couldn’t 100% picture the end result but Masha could and she kept reassuring me that everything was going to be perfect. Even during the times that we faced some hurdles, we managed to get over it, Masha always had a solution for everything and I’m sure that she and her team put tons and tons of effort into making our day feel and look like the best wedding ever – and might I add that she never looked tired or run down, always appeared fresh faced and bright eyed.

 The Ceremony – Readings and music…
From the beginning of the ceremony till the end of the reception our music was taken care of by the well known Lebanese DJ; DJ. Tony Helou. He knew exactly what music we wanted and got it perfectly right all night through. No one wanted to stop dancing and that’s always a great sign.
The lovely Helen Schrader did our vows during the ceremony. From the minute we met with Helen we were comfortable and knew she was the right person to share our beautiful day with. She put together the best ceremony and kept everything very meaningful but short. We didn’t want a ceremony that lasted too long but at the same time we wanted something that will represent our love and unity.
The rest of the readings and announcements were done by my beautiful maid of honor and best friend Nadine. She has quite the sense of humor and I knew I could count on her to make sure everyone knew what was going on and when.

My Lovely flowers…
With the flowers we knew exactly what colors we wanted to use. I met with Olga from Wild Flower in the early stages of planning – she understood exactly what we wanted and the style we were looking for. We met several times with Masha involved and the two of them just put the most beautiful selection together. From the pedestal at the ceremony to the petal designs down the aisle, my bouquet, the groom, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, seating chart to the centre pieces – it was all perfect and exactly how we wanted it.
The Photography & Video…
It took me some time to find the perfect photographers to capture our special day.
I was looking for something different and special in everyone’s work and found it with Blue Eye Picture.
The images they captured was not just images, they were magical moments being reflected for a lasting lifetime.
We did our pre-wedding photo-shoot with the beautiful couple Gregory and Dorotha – together they just make the perfect partners… each looking at different details in the work they capture.
They made us feel extremely comfortable to the point where my husband asked whether we can do another shoot in the future ( believe me that’s a miracle because he does not like pictures, imagine a photo shoot –hahahha. For the wedding we had 2 photographers and 2 Videographers with both Gregory and Dorotha involved.
We were extremely pleased with the results from the wedding, the trailer was magical and people till now cannot stop commenting – I believe they said it looked like a fairytale. I will definitely recommend them to any couple wanting that extra touch.

The Decor & Details…
I must say that without Masha from Fabulous Day none of it would have been possible. She is a visionary and in my personal opinion the wedding angel every bride needs. She suggests and listens. She doesn’t make decisions based on what she believes in but mostly about what the bride and groom sees and makes it better than the picture we painted.
Our wedding invitations were custom designed from South Africa, Cape Town by Secret Diaries. I was a bit worried as the company was not based in Dubai and we were only communication through mail and phone calls.
The second I started seeing their work and received the samples, I was very impressed and would definitely recommend them to any bride looking for amazing designs and detailed work without having to pay “Dubai” prices.
The start to our fairytale…. Our guests were greeted with refreshments at the entrance of the arch next to the Olive Garden…
The groom made a grand entrance on a red Harley Davidson with “Just the Way You Are” By Bruno Mars in the background and the Groomsmen waiting in line.
My Bridesmaids arrived in a white Audi Q7, each striding beautiful down the isle to “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perry. The bride made a grand entrance in a white Phantom Rolls Royce along with my brother who walked me down the isle to the Bridal March by Jonathan Cain. After the ceremony and vows, we had a beautiful unity with a sand ceremony with From this Moment by Shania Twain in the background.
Our exit was welcomed with butterfly foil confetti and bubbles glistening in the afternoon sun.
After we did a group photo, our guests were escorted to the cocktail area, drinks and canapés were passed around as the saxophonist entertained our guests.
The bride and groom made a grand entrance for the dinner with pyrotechnics in the background, and live traditional Lebanese dancers. The live Arabic band played a great part in the ambience throughout the night. Our first dance were welcomed with dancing pyrotechnics around the dance floor and fog to “My endless love” by Lionel Richie and Shania Twain. During our cake cutting beautiful shining butterfly confetti was released into the night sky.
Décor was used form Masha, from the venue, beautiful chandeliers used as a backdrop from Wild Flower, the tables were dressed up by Table Tops Events, we had Our very delicious guest favors were Turkish delight by Selamlique and got the beautiful boxes customized with our logo.
We also used Mylist.ae Online Wedding Gift registry which I personally think is the best thing ever… they always have events on to help with the wedding and advise along with some of the best vendors. And it takes some of the worries off your shoulders when you have to think of guests traveling from abroad…all our guests were happy with the online service and how easy and safe it was to use. Julie is amazing as well as the rest of the team and extremely helpful.

The Honeymoon…
Our Honeymoon was just perfect; we were so indecisive in the beginning and then finally decided on Mauritius. Both my husband and I are adventurous people (not the hiking kind, hahahah ) but not the kind that spends the time on the beach. We enjoy exploring; renting a little scooter, finding our own way through the island and Mauritius was perfect. Weather was amazing and the people are all so friendly.

Our wedding cake…
I searched several images online and visited quite a few shops in Dubai, we finally found the perfect cake design and of course with the help of the venue’s vendor list came across Nami’s Cakes. We decided on 5 x 6” tier cake with 2 flavors, red velvet ( Bride’s choice ) & Banana with cinnamon Honey ( Groom’s choice ). Our cake had a lot of detailed flower work – sugar roses, petals, piping and silver crystals with pink ribbon on each tier. The cake topper I ordered online, made from porcelain.

Our favorite moments…
There are so so many memorable moments; I mean everything is a memory really. From the start of planning, to meeting everyone, from interviewing to fittings to setting up trials. From being stressed to being to most happiest couple – we will truly never forget the day we got married, we will never forget the people we got to work with, that helped share in our “ Happily Ever After “.

 Advise for other couples…
Simply just enjoy the experience, and don’t start too late.
Even though I started fairly early I was comfortable in knowing everything is being taken care of in the right way – no rush. But as I said enjoy the moments, share the moments as a couple. Be organized and don’t be shy to delegate to the bridal party. Lastly enjoy!!!!

Lovely Vendors…
Wedding Planner: Masha Cain from Fabulous Day
Venue: Desert Palm Resort & Spa Dubai
Wedding Dress & Accessories: The Bridal Showroom Dubai
Photographers & Video: Blue Eye Picture
Flowers: Wild Flower
Furniture: Flower Boutique DIFC Dubai
Wedding Invitations: Secret Diary South Africa
Favors: Selamlique
Cake: Nami’s Cakes
Celebrant: Helen Schrader
Gift Registry: Mylist.ae