Our Real Bride, Kenz’, is back from tropical Zanzibar to the sunny familiarities of Dubai, dealing with the weird but still (somehow) wonderful world of wedding planning during a global pandemic. Each month Kenz takes you on her journey in the hopes that you can revel in its romance and pick-up a tip or two on bridal best practice and getting the job done (we hope). This month, Kenz departs some bridal basic instinct and something we’ve certainly never seen before with her bridal party proposals.

So, it’s been a month since my fiancé, Taz, and I have gotten engaged. Aside from the gorgeous rock on my finger, not much has changed. With COVID still a very present obstacle, we’re yet to set a date or even a location for the wedding. It took us the past month to narrow our target down to late January or early February (venue dependent). Ideally, we’re aiming for a wedding in Dubai, Zanzibar, India, Bali… and Oman (‘narrow’ being a liberal term I use these days). But this is just today, who knows what or how it’ll be tomorrow. With Taz desperately wanting a destination wedding and me dreading not having full control over the event, we’ve reached a point of wedding-bliss standstill, one that I’m not sure we can blame entirely on COVID.

With all the big things still in the air, I’ve shifted my focus onto what I do know and what will make me happy; my bridal party and my wedding dress!

I’ve known who my bridal party is going to be for years. I’m just glad I have a fiancé who understands my ‘non-traditional’ ways. So far the only conventional part of my bridal party is my best friend Alex, who will be my maid of honour. My other best friend, Lauren, will be officiating the wedding and I’ve thrown in a few groomsmen for good measure: Talal, Pratik, and Dan. That’s right, the majority of my wedding party are men. Unlike Taz, my mother didn’t approve, but I’m so glad to have a way to incorporate all my best friends into one of the most important days of my life. I’ve also promised it won’t be tacky, so we’re good.

Seen as so much of the planning hangs in the throws of a pandemic, I’ve had the chance to do the little things – the ‘memory makers’; I decided to do a “bridesmaid proposal” for the group to make it special. I didn’t want something too cheesy or overdone; I wanted it to be as unique as the group itself. I hunted around a little and found the perfect idea created by Jenna, the owner of Crumb Coat Cakes. She has these amazing chocolate heart shells that you smash open with hammers to find delicious strawberries and cake filling. So, me being me, I thought of the idea to use her cute hearts but instead of strawberries and cake, I’d fill them with… memes! Jenna loved the idea and customized my order getting everything exactly as I envisioned. It ended up being so much fun and everyone loved them – Of course, they all said yes!

Once all of that was done, it was time to do the thing I’ve been waiting to do nearly my whole life: shop for the dress. Although technically, I already have a wedding dress, my darling deranged mother (don’t worry, she’s reading this and knows it’s true) bought me a wedding dress when I was the prime age of…10 (Pictured below). Let me provide some context; she used to work as a wedding planner, so perhaps not as weird as it seems? Needless to say, she was more than a little upset that I wasn’t going to be wearing the dress, I’d promised to wear when I was 10 years old. Luckily, I think shopping has pulled her in a new direction anyway.

So far, we’ve visited two amazing shops; Vanilla and The Bridal Showroom (both located in JBR) and have seen some amazing gowns. Vanilla has all the sparkle and the drama and the Bridal Showroom has an even a mix of stunning classics and really unique finds. I’m pretty sure I’ve found ‘the one’ from The Bridal Showroom, but of course, it’s nearly double my budget (and that’s with it being on sale).

This brings me to…

Lesson #1:

When shopping for a wedding dress, set a budget first!

I mean, will it stop me from getting it if I don’t find a dress I love more? No (sorry Taz). Because it’s hard to see anything else when what you’ve seen is just so perfect. However, I’ve promised myself that I’ll keep searching and attempt to let my mind wander from what it’s pretty much already decided upon. Besides, who needs an excuse to keep trying on pretty fabulous dresses?

How many of our lovely readers are now thinking up excuses to ‘eat your heart out’ and what would you put in yours? We’d be pretty happy with strawberries and cake, but we love the creativity that Kenz has incorporated into her wedding planning so early on. With men in the bridal party and her best friend’s sister officiating, we can’t wait to see the rest of her journey unfold and we’re sure you can’t either. Don’t forget ladies and gents! Set a budget, before you lose it at the first step! Find out how from our article ‘How to Set a Wedding Budget & Stick to It.

Don’t forget to visit us next month to see Kenz’s latest bridal diary post and to find out how their wedding plans are progressing! You can also follow Makenzie over at @Kenzieland on Instagram for more wedding updates!