A stunning beach wedding at Al Qasr, Madinat Jumeirah – Dubai, UAE

Plamena and Nick flew all the way from South Africa to get married in sunny Dubai. With the help of Liesel at Aghareed, they had the wedding of their dreams at Al Qasr, Madinat Jumeirah. Joined by 105 guests this gorgeous couple had a beach side ceremony followed by a beautiful dinner reception at Magnolia. Before you scroll down to the beautiful photos, I suggest you watch the video first. Denee Motion… you did good! Warning: you will smile a lot. {I really do love a happy bride and groom!}

The planning process…
The planning was amazing. I had such fun doing it with Liesel and Julie, we all shared our ideas and it turned out to be more than perfect!  In just 3 months we managed to defiantly create my fairytale wedding, it was more than a dream come true! Since Nick and I live in South Africa I had to fly over a couple of times just to see the mock up designs and approve the décor. I also really wanted to see everything before hand and its different seeing it on photos and videos to get the perfect idea of what it would look like! I loved every step of the way!
The wedding dress…
I knew from day one that I wanted to buy my dress from Pronovias, so it was the first place I looked and as I imagined I found what I was looking for. I did make some alterations to my dress. If you’re going to have your dress altered I would suggest hiring a good tailor. I also wore beautiful shoes from Christian Louboutin.

Groom’s threads…
His suit was from Dolce and Gabbana, which he wore with a bow tie from Tom Ford and shoes from Louis Vuitton. He looked amazing on our wedding day.

 The ceremony music…
We had the wonderful Toni Bloodworth Baker as our celebrant and she helped us choose the readings. For the blessing and cocktail reception, Evelyn played the harp while guests arrived, which made the ceremony so magical. After the guests were seated I walked down the aisle to “A thousand years” by Christina Perri.
Traditions…
In keeping with Bulgarian traditions and rituals we included:  the bride and the groom walk through 3 ribbons white, red and blue, which all symbolize something in their marriage to come: red the passion they will share: white peaceful life together, and blue which indicates cloudless skies ahead. After this, the mother of the bride feeds the bride and groom a bread (called pitka) with honey wishing them a sweet life together, it is also a way of welcoming the groom into the family. Then the couple each grab an end of the bread over their heads and tug at it to each pull a piece off – whoever gets the larger piece is the “boss”.
The bride then kicks a silver pot that has white and red petals inside it. The first petal that comes out of the pot indicates the gender of the first child (white being boy and red girl). The bride and groom then drink a glass of champagne, not leaving a single drop inside the glass, as every drop left indicates ‘tears” they will have in the relationship. The couple then throw the glasses behind their backs making sure the glass breaks which indicates happiness, the more broken pieces the better.

Beautiful bridesmaids…
My sister Elena was the maid of honour, she wore a gorgeous long light pink dress which matched the wedding décor. We didn’t have any other bridesmaids.

The flowers…
Our theme was elegant Arabic with a touch of gold and pink. We used shepherd hooks on the walkway at the blessing ceremony, which were filled with hydrangeas. On our archway we had a mix of the hydrangeas and white roses, with a touch of pink as our centerpieces.
Our venue was decorated with many different sized lanterns scattered around and lots of candles. We also had a terrace shisha lounge with beautiful mashrabiya couches and tables and white draping around the area to add to the Arabic theme. I really wanted something different and didn’t want round tables. So Liesel came up with the idea of doing a large u-shaped table for our 100 guests. This was an amazing idea as the decoration on the tables complimented this design and gave it such a royal effect.

The wedding cake…
The cake was a simple while 3 tier cake, with beautiful white and pink flowing down one side. It was really delicious too!

The honeymoon…
We stayed at the Shangri-la, Maldives, which was the most incredible island, every view seem like I was living in a postcard.

 Memorable moments…
Everything was amazing. It was the most special day of my life. I have to say that the day passes so quickly and I am so glad that we had the amazing video created by Deneemotion. I still can’t believe that it’s me in the video and that was my wedding. The most amazing moment was walking down the aisle and seeing all my friends and family and of course seeing Nick at the end of the aisle looking very emotional 🙂

Advice for other couples…
The build up to a wedding can have many hiccups along the way, and at times you will disagree, maybe argue and have stressful moments but it’s all worth it. After walking down the aisle and seeing your future husbands reaction you would want to do a million times over again! The start of marriage is a beautiful time in anyones life and now I truly know the real meaning of it! Enjoy planning your wedding, because it will be over before you know it.

Big thanks to…

Huge credit goes to Liesel Papke, she wasn’t only my wedding planner but she also became a friend, loved spending time with her, even though I planned my wedding from South Africa, it really didn’t feel like it, Liesel made it so easy from early morn Skype sessions to late night emails, she was always ready to help me:) She is so hard working and is brilliant at what she does.
A big thank you to Julie from Julie and Romeo our designer for her excellent work! Her calming effect helped every situation, she made sure she understood what I wanted and delivered more then I could have ever expected! Liesel and Julie are a great team! Every girl needs them in their life when it comes to planning a wedding.
Another big thank you to Al Qasr for doing an incredible job with food and beverage and making it all happen. And lastly my incredible Husband for giving me my dream wedding! I still can’t believe that’s us in the trailer video:) dreams do come true!

Lovely vendors…
Venue: Lucile – Al Qasr, Madinat Jumeirah
Wedding Planner: Liesel Papke – Aghareed
Design & Décor: Julie – Julie and Romeo
Photo: Paul Toeman – Paul Toeman photography
Video: Denis & Max – Denee Motion Films & Stills
Celebrant: Toni – Memorable Moment
Harpist: Evelyn (Contact info coming soon)
Seating Plan & Name Tags:  E Walls
Sound & lighting: Access All Areas
Furniture: Catertainment