Another gorgeous bride-to-be… Gemma. ♥

Meet Gemma & Barney, another gorgeous couple who live in Dubai and are getting married in just a few weeks. I actually met Gemma on my first appointment with Anne at The Bridal Room. I opened the door and there was Gemma in her wedding dress. It was my first dress fitting after I bought my dress from London, so I was in a real wedding mood this day and very excited to try my dress on for the 2nd time!
While Gemma was standing in the middle of the room having her dress fitted we ended up talking the whole way through and I discovered that Gemma was one of 3 ex house mates all getting married around the same time. Do you remember Katherine, my bride-to-be from 2 weeks ago?*Click here to see her story* well she is one of the ex house mates, so watch this space for very special story coming later this year.(3 brides, 3 friends… it’s going to be amazing!)
On the 1st September Gemma and Barney will get married at a private golf estate near Marbella, Spain. (Can you imagine how excited she must be right now with only a few weeks to go?)
OK… so the details we love ♥

The Proposal… On the A380 home to the UK. In the Business class bar for 8 hours…
Here they are after the proposal. So cute!!
The Vision for the day… Zesty Spanish Lemons by the pool in the Ronda Hills, overlooking Puerto Banus and Gibralter.
Finding the dress… My sister helped in the UK, we chose loads on line then booked appointments when I went home for Christmas. Tried loads on in between Christmas shopping and then narrowed it down. Then went back in Feb/April for a family wedding and tried on others and chose one to get it ordered in time. Delivered to the UK, DHL to a friend’s mum who brought it out as hand luggage. Tailored here in Dubai (with Anne from The Bridal Room) then will be with me as hand luggage again on the way to UK for hen and Spain for wedding… lots of airmiles that dress has done!
Groom’s threads… Grey suits with dark blue ties and groom in yellow tie
My Lovely bridesmaids… Dove grey chiffon (Sounds gorgeous…)
The Flowers… Cream flowers with yellow accents
The Cake… 5 tiers, lemon, chocolate to be served as desert with Eton mess, then fruit layer to be served with supper
The Details + Décor…. Lemons, structured floral arrangements, hanging lanterns, yellow balloons floating in the pool. Spanish guitarist, lemon themed cocktails at the bar.

The Honeymoon…. Mini-moon! We are having our stag and hen the weekend before and so in total taking 2 weeks off work so a few days after the wedding is all the time we can take. Honeymoon will be next year.

Advice for other couples… Get your banns read at the embassy in plenty of time. Speak to other couples who have already done this, it’s not as stressful as you think. Check your passport is in a good state, those 2 things have been stressful for us as barney didn’t have enough pages in his passport for the next wedding we have in SA. We have 3 destination weddings in 6 weeks including ours. Also bridesmaids’ dresses and groomsmen suits when your bridal party is all scattered all over the world is a total pain. Seeing the colours is impossible and that can change the tone of the colour theme. Plan in advance for this part or buy them from a shop where everyone can try them on in their own country.
Credit where credit’s due…
Have a wedding planner in the country you’re getting married in, they aren’t too expensive and save you a fortune in stress and money. Remember that if you’re wedding is in Spain or somewhere where you’ll be flying by budget airline, every KG of luggage is extra so the planner can receive all of your online bits and bobs, or amazon shopping in advance, in the right country. Go with their suppliers it’s easier and although might not be the cheapest option they know what they’re doing, work well together and know the set up at the venue.
Be prepared to go with a few things, you can’t control everything from the distance so relax about it, go a few days early and tweak things when you’re there. Remember that you’re the bride and don’t try to please everyone, its your day and use the bridezilla card if you have to (not too much though!)
When you’re not in the country the wedding will be in and money in Dubai is a bit of a bubble, your spending in another currency, often a few different countries and currencies, it can all seem a bit like monopoly, so do add up your budget near to the day, we didn’t add our up until a month before, but now we have, it was a bit of a shock and we have to really stay in and save for the next few weeks!
Rely on friends and family if you can. (buy them a nice gift to say thanks afterwards) Choose a head bridesmaid in the UK or wherever most of the planning will be done, and rely on her a lot. My sister has been an absolute star, posting bridesmaids dresses, shopping for bits, organizing measurements and my future mother-in-law has a house full of amazon packages.
Big thanks to Gemma for sharing her wedding plans. Can’t wait to see the pictures in a few weeks. 🙂 Best wishes & love. Joelle x