My lovely Dubai bride-to-be ♥ Claire ♥

Last week I received an email from Claire, another gorgeous bride-to-be living in Dubai. This lovely couple Claire and Donavon are getting married in Dubai on 13^th April 2013. Despite not having a venue confirmed yet they both seem pretty relaxed about planning their wedding so far. Claire is from an events background so for her it should be smooth sailing, or in her own words ‘a piece of cake (wedding cake) hehe 🙂 -Love that Claire! ♥
So over to Claire for the details so far… ♥
So a bit about us, Donavon and I met whilst working together in Dubai. He was technically my boss, how clichéd! (And a bit romantic? I can imagine her job got a little bit more interesting after she met the love of her life at work?! 🙂 ) Anyway back to Claire…

The Proposal… Earlier in February this year, I was running a half-marathon in Ras Al-Khaimah and we thought we’d make a weekend of it, so Don booked us into the Banyan Tree Beach Resort. I hadn’t been training as much as I should have for the run, due to work being hectic with preparations for the Jazz Festival and the 2012 Landcruiser Launch, so I was slightly concerned  I wasn’t ready for it. Perhaps had I not had so much on my mind, I would have noticed little clues that Don may have been about to propose! Anyways after successfully running the race on the Friday morning, we returned back to the hotel for showers, breakfast and a little nap. The rest of the day was spent sunning ourselves by our private pool and sipping wine in our little cabana on the stretch of beach. It was a blissful, perfect day. Looking back at the photos we took, I can now see Don had something on his mind that day! We went over to the Al Wadi Resort for a fabulous dinner, and returned to our villa later that evening. As I walked inside, I saw candles and rose petals everywhere! It was then my gorgeous man got down on one knee and proposed with a stunning diamond ring. Of course I said yes! We had a champagne toast and called our parents. The next day we checked out of the hotel and returned to Dubai, engaged!

The Vision… Simple and elegant
The Planning Process… With our wedding taking place in April next year, we have a bit of time to play with, so we’ve still to undertake the majority of the planning. We’ve been to see a number of venues and have narrowed it down to our favourites. We have been busy assembling our save-the-dates and now have them ready to send out. Luckily we both seem to have a firm idea of what we want, and will hopefully have a couple special surprises for our guests! We want to have fun planning it. As we plan on getting married here in Dubai, we hope as many of our family and friends (Donavon’s in South Africa, mine in the UK) will be able to make it! Once we get closer to the time, I’m looking forward to planning the menus, tasting the cake, and choosing the band.  Don and I both have lots of ideas, so it should just be a case of pulling them all together for the event.

The Dress… My parents are over in Qatar, so one weekend when my mum was over we visited some wedding dress stores. I’ve still to select my dress – unfortunately I wasn’t one of those girls who tried on her first dress and knew ‘it was the one’! I have contemplated getting one made, however am still a bit unsure! Once I’ve found the dress I’m sure the accessories will slip nicely into place – luckily shopping in Dubai is pretty fantastic!
The Groom’s Threads… Still to be confirmed! My man likes to think he’s pretty stylish, and he seems to get it right most of the time, so I can’t wait to see what he chooses! As long as he’s waiting for me at the end of the aisle, he could turn up in his shorts for all I care! (Donavon – don’t you dare!)
The Budget… We’ve an estimated budget to ad here to, unfortunately for me, this means some of my crazy ideas may not be possible! Luckily my job involves leasing with multiple suppliers, so I have some good contacts to call upon. This also helps in negotiating prices, as I know some vendors here have a reputation for ripping off their customers.

Awhhh I love this bride… such a sweetie. I’ll be keeping you posted with Claire’s wedding plans until next April. Exciting times people! 🙂 xxx