A private wedding on The Palm Jumeirah

Paolo & Ailbhe got married on the 21st March 2014. They rented out a private villa on The Palm Jumeirah, and the grooms Dad preformed the wedding ceremony. It was small, intimate and very personal… oh and planned by wedding planner; Clare Ebbs from The Perfect Moment. 
Number of guests…
72 people travelled in from Ireland, England & Australia to celebrate our special day with us. Some of our friends who probably would never have made it to Dubai had it not have been for our wedding were amazed at how beautiful and friendly Dubai was, and got to spend time getting to know the life myself and Paolo share in this place we call home.
My wedding dress…. 
Like most girls the dress is one of the most important things you think about. I had a quick trip home to Dublin booked a good year before my wedding so I booked in as many wedding dress shops as I could just to get an idea of what was out there. After trying on many dresses with my mum and bridesmaids I still had not found anything. I stumbled upon a little boutique in powers court town centre which my best friend also bridesmaid had suggested we go in and have a look. It was Dawn Fitzgerald creations and her small collection of wedding dresses were exactly what I pictured my dress to be, I tried on one of her dresses and I fell in love. I told Dawn my visions for my wedding dress and she drew a sketch of “The Dress” and the rest was history. She did an outstanding job of my dress and I was privileged to wear a young Irish designer and take a little piece of Ireland over to Dubai with me.

Beautiful bridesmaids…
My sister Ciara, Cousin Hanna and my best friend since childhood were there to help me along the way. Ciara threw me the most fun & unique hen party in the south of France with 10 of my closest friends which I will never forget. Elaine picked all the bridesmaids dresses, shoes etc which was such a massive help as I was not living in Dublin. They were just brilliant in every way possible and I hope to return the favour for each of them one day.

Groom’s attire…
We had the grooms & groomsmen suits made In Deepas in Satwa, Paolo designed his suit himself and the guys from Deepas were so talented and helpful. Some of the groomsmen only arrived into Dubai on Wednesday night and headed straight down to be fitted on the Thursday, given that the wedding was the following day they had all 4 suits delivered to us by midnight on the Thursday, Thanks to Rajeev and the team at Deepas.

The Planning process…
My amazing wedding planner Clare Ebbs from The Perfect Moment helped me with everything and my now husband Paolo is great at event planner as he has worked in the industry previously for years, so I really was blessed with the help around me.

The music and the ceremony…
Our wedding was done a little different to your standard traditional ceremony. We had Paolo’s Father perform the blessing and to marry us in front of our family and friends. It was such a beautiful ceremony as he has known us as couple for 12 years, so he really captured the love we have for each other with some humour for our guests.  It was safe to say there wasn’t a dry eye in sight. My best friend and bridesmaid Elaine sang a beautiful song, ‘Make me feel my Love’ by Adele, with her mum on the guitar it was such a nice touch to the whole ceremony and was really personal.

My Lovely Flowers…
With it being a beach wedding we opted for more candles than flowers but we did have some amazing flower arrangements around the villa which had the house smelling beautiful thanks to the amazing WUD Flowers boutique. I chose a slightly different flower for my wedding bouquet; The White Cala Lily. I loved the arrangement that WUD flowers had done, it was so simple and elegant and suited mine and the bridesmaid dresses perfectly.

The Details  & Décor…
I have to admit, my other half Paolo planned a lot of the wedding as he has a lot of experience in event planning, but I can say the details and décor was something I was very passionate about. I used WUD flowers for a lot of the furniture and table centers. They made a beautiful wooden arch for our ceremony and filled the house with flowers, candles and fairy lights. It was magical. The dinner tables were from Mint and even though they were quite pricey I had to have them. They didn’t need a table cloth as they were so perfect on their own and the Antique Chivari chairs just set off the beach theme beautifully. I ordered a few things from etsy.com like starfish and chair hangers, we picked up fans, flip-flops, pashminas and umbrellas for the guests. My favorite details were the signs we had made from an American couple Mr & Mrs Smith custom creations who donated all the proceeds to their animal organization Sharjah dogs and cats shelter. We had ring security for our twin ring bearers, a Cigar Bar & Candy Bar & Mr Right & Mrs Always right.

Our Honeymoon…
We jetted off on a short three day mini moon a week later once all our family and friends had departed. We stayed in the St Regis Hotel Abu Dhabi. We could not recommend the hotel enough,  it was just out of this world and the staff were so friendly. We have booked a honeymoon in October for a two week trip to Kenya for a Safari in the Masi Mara and then to the Maldives to stay in a water villa. It’s a trip we have always wanted to do and we can finally check it off our bucket list.

Memorable moments…
God it’s so hard to chose as the whole week was filled with laughter and amazing memories, but if I had to it would be the exchange of rings as Paolo had surprised me with a second wedding band cause I couldn’t chose between the rose gold or platinum so he got me both, I was shocked but very happy as he is so sweet and thoughtful to have got me both. Another great memory was during the speeches my sister had video clips of all my friends and family that could not make it which secretly included a famous actor Heath Braxton from my all time favorite TV show, Australian soap Home & Away, he wished myself & Paolo all the happiness for our future, that was pretty amazing and then to top off the speeches my husband had made a video over the weeks leading up to the wedding with all of my family and friend recreating the Pharelle Williams “Happy” music video, it was so amazing to watch, and the effort he went to, to get all the clips of people dancing in landmarks around the world, and with himself of course being videoed dancing around Dubai on metros and shopping malls was very entertaining, the videographers at Record box productions, who also captured our amazing day put it together for him.

Advice for other couples…
It’s so important to talk to each other about what kind of wedding you both want. If you both have a different opinion on something, listen to each other and remember there are two people getting married so sometimes you have to compromise. Enjoy every moment because it goes by so quick. Paolo says, listen to your wife 😉

Credit for vendors…
Wedding planner: Clare Ebb @ www.theperfectmoment.com
Catering: Sally & Henry @ www.dish.ae
Décor & Flowers: WUD Flowers
Table & Chairs: minteventrentals.com
Videography & Photography: RecordBoxProduction.com
DJ, Sound & Lighting: FlairsFX.com
Hair & Makeup: Angeliqe Turner @ www.angeliqueturner.com
Wedding Dress: Dawn Fitzgerald, Irish Designer
Wedding Singer: www.chad-sycamore.com