Wedding Suppliers: Dubai Expat Guide

Looking for the best suppliers for your wedding day? Well let’s consider your budget a success!

I have been living in UAE for the last 5 years and I have seen couples struggling to achieve that kind of budget that will make their big day a glorious and happy one. Let me tell you how I managed to make my party a big one without a wedding planner. Yes, you read it right, I don’t have a wedding a planner, because I am the wedding planner.

Hiring a wedding planner in Dubai is not as cheap as you thought it could be. For brides who are working, I understand the need of one and it is very hard to divide the attention from being the bride, a soon to be wife and a career woman BUT it is not impossible. Let me tell you my story.

I started working on our wedding few months before the actual date. Like anyone else, I wanted it to be perfect. Of course, who doesn’t want it to be like that right? I grabbed my laptop, researched and I stumbled on so many things.

The first thing I did was visualizing how do I want my wedding to be. I wanted to be wed via church and there are only two options to choose from, Saint Mary’s in Oud Metha or Saint Francis of Assissi in Jebel Ali. I chose the one in Oud Metha because we are living 15 minutes away only from the church. So we went to the church, asked for the specific things they want, requirements and all and started gathering it.

After the church, the next big thing is the venue. This made me go crazy because every single thing I inquired and called for is giving me prices that I don’t want to spend my money for. Most of them have this venue hire which is very expensive for what I am willing to spend. So what I did was to find a venue that has the quality and standard of close to my perfection. And luckily, I found one. It has the breathtaking view and the perfect location I am looking for.

The Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club has been the start of the entire journey. I requested for a meeting and chose from all of the options that they can offer. To be honest, I never thought that a golf course will give a venue that I never imagine I could ever have. The one thing that made me yes apart from the beautiful scenery is that they don’t have a venue hire. This meant that we will just be paying for the food and drinks which start at 195AED per person. My coordinator’s name (inside the Golf Club) is Arlene, she went with us the entire journey, meetings, food tasting and so on. We got options, I gave her a plan of how I wanted the venue to look like and etc.

After the venue, I started to create my own wedding invitation. I am not skilled in anything related to graphics design and the like but I really tried. With the help of Fiverr, I was able to nail the destination-kind of wedding invitation that I want. I hired someone and paid around 20-40 USD to give me the look and design that I wanted. And since I wanted it personalized, I made the envelopes on my own and kept everything simple. The only thing I did is to design my information page in addition to the boarding pass kind of invitation I got from Fiverr. After getting everything done, I went to DESCO in Dubai Healthcare City to print every single thing. That printshop was the best! The people working in this branch helped me so much in so many ways. From signages to stickers, in short, everything for printing.

The next spot goes with the florist. To be honest, this is one of the hardest to find. I made an appointment with so many companies. I visited so many shops, roam around malls and so on just to find one. But everything ended up hiring one company called Wafi Natural Flowers. We had a meeting with the owner named Sviatlana, she gave me options, designs and then I got to meet her company florist Jeff and we tried to stretch everything within my budget. As we all know, flowers in UAE are very expensive, and this is just how it is. They gave me what I want, although I agreed that the centrepieces will be a mix of real and fake flowers but it really made no difference. Everything looked gorgeous and stunning that night. Every request was something they considered to meet and they did.

Backdrop is something that is hard to find if you have a certain budget as well. To be honest, having a backdrop is optional for so many people but a certain background will really make your venue alive and it will take your event to the next level. So what I found that I can really recommend is The Blooming Paper. This will really take your wedding to the level of your expectations and will even exceed it. The outcome of the backdrop is really worth it. If you imagine the place to be designed properly, well this is the one to hire. Apart from the backdrop, they also print and they accept orders for bridal showers, stag party or whatever. In their Personal Factory 101 you will see all of the things that they can provide and the services they can offer.

Then, the giveaways. Well IKEA is the one place that took everything budget wise speaking. It depends what you want to spend and how you want to do it. This is the one place on earth that is the carrier of everything I guess. Apart from that you can visit DAISO to find something that you want to give. Of course this one is up to you. So the only advice I can give is roam around, try to research, from Pinterest to whatever it is, it will make your mind more creative and so on.

Photo booth is something that will make your party fun. I am recommending JeffRey Photographia for this job. The owners are really easy to talk with, they are professional and very kind. I got to know them as well while on the process of preparing everything and their services are really good. Template wise, they will make it based on what you want and then you choose or have it revised according to what you want. So if you are looking for a party entertainer like a photo booth, this is definitely a good choice. Budget wise, this is considered a thumbs up.

Hair and make-up is something that brides are obsessed about. They want to make their day beautiful, nice and glowing. I encountered Sam Dela Cruz and Darwin Perez  for this job. I had my trials and both of them has their own strengths as professional hair and make-up artist. They have been doing this job for a long time and I can really say that it will be up to you how you want to do it. From one bride to another, you will have your own preference, and you will have your own scheme on how you want it to look like. Both of them are highly recommended, equally talented in their own respective ways. Money wise, you will get what you want. From traditional to airbrush kind, name it and they will give you what you want. Check them out!

Photographs play a major part in most weddings. This is the memorabilia that you will uphold until forever. I am recommending Donny Juniller and Brian Carl Photos for this job. They are both great in what they do, it depends on how you see their work. I am recommending them because they are perfectly fit for this thing. They have been taking photographs for quite some time and they are really talented. In one click, they will encapsulate the memories that will last forever. So if you want your day captured, they are both great in taking it to the next level. Just be prepared with you most precious smile and your most gorgeous outfit and everything will be as amazing as what you thought it could be.

If you want a group of people to sing and will guide the rest of your wedding, I encourage you to visit the church and ask for a recommendation. The parish church will give you a set of numbers that you can contact depending on what you need. For my personal recommendation, the Filipino Community Choir led by Rodelyn is one of the best.

Wanna have a host for your bridal party? Well we asked someone we personally know. And you know what? We asked a public figure to do it for us, from the land of Julius Meinl-Vienna, Austria I am very honoured to introduce to you Mr. Roman Kreid. He is the CEO and Founder of WORD VIENNA and is an outstanding persona for his advertisements and his TV appearances. He is a native German speaker and at the same time he speaks English as well. If you happen to look for someone that will take that microphone and make your party alive, this is the guy that you would always want to have. Roman is a very good friend of my husband for a long time. His presence means something once he steps on that stage and the light starts to focus.

Roman is the other half of the Romantic Islands. Romantic Islands is a two-member team that is famous in the genre of beatbox. They won the Austrian Beatbox Competition in year 2009, 2010 and 2011. So I am telling you, this guy is not just something, he is a multi-talented one. So if you are looking for someone that will take your party and will entertain your guests to the next level, I am recommending Roman as the right person for this job. For more info about him, please check the links provided.

After all that has been set up and done, I can really say and assure you that the suppliers and contractors I mentioned on my blog will take your wedding party to the next level. If you are asking me why I chose to do it myself, the answer is simple, I want it my way. I believe in wedding planners and these people are doing their job properly without any doubt. But for me, since I am in the place where everything is not the same and not that cheap compared to where I come from, I personally think handling it on my own means something as well. And proving to myself that I can do it means a lot me in every single way.

After the wedding, I acquired so many skills. From editing videos for my wedding teaser, making invitations, using adobe illustrator, and more, I feel very equipped. I must say that this wedding taught me more and I discovered a lot about myself. The capability to organize an event is something I never saw coming like that. And if you happen to ask for many more ideas about weddings and stuff, KEEP CALM, I will be very happy to help you. Just leave your comments down below and we will make that big day happen. 🙂