Get to know the wedding Pro!

Every week, we shine the spot light on our Bride Club ME vendor club members, allowing our readers to get up close and personal with some of the best wedding vendors in town. Here, you can learn more about the people behind some of the businesses you may hire to help make your wedding day perfect!

Above left: Mr. Abed Bibi, Co-Founder & Partner at YouGotaGift.com

This week we speak to Mr. Abed Bibi, at YouGotaGift.com. He provides us with exclusive insight into the online cash gift registry ‘You Got a Gift Wedding Registry’ and shares with us what he loves most about his job.

How long has www.yougotagift.com been established and how does it work?

YouGotaGift.com was officially established in October 2013 and was initiated out of necessity. We are the first Online Mall for Gift Cards in the Middle East! To put it simply, ‘You Got a Gift’ is an awesome service that allows you to send personalized digital Gift Cards to your friends and family by email, text or Facebook, and you also have the option to print and hand-deliver the card.

The beauty of the Money Wedding Registry is that it’s the easiest way for couples to collect money to purchase what they really want instead of receiving unwanted gifts or mismatched items. Guests contribute cash and the money collected gets deposited directly into the bride and groom’s bank account. This allows the couple to purchase what they need the most, whether it is home furnishings or a dream honeymoon!

It’s a simple three step process!

Step 1: Create and customize your Gift Page with a unique url, wedding date, photo and love story

Step 2: Invite your friends and family to contribute money by debit or credit card

Step 3: Once the money has been collected it will be deposited directly into the bride and grooms bank account

What advice can you offer our readers who are thinking of creating a cash gift registry for their wedding? 

At You Got a Gift, we are often faced with this tasking question of what is the polite way of asking for cash instead of traditional wedding gifts. Is there one? So for all the soon-to-be married couples, we’ve put together our thoughts on the DO’s and DON’T on this sticky subject!

Wedding Invitations – Whilst wedding etiquette definitely frowns on either coming right out and boldly asking guests for money, often couples come up with creative ways to ask for cash or gifts on their wedding invitations. Doing so is not only rude but is most definitely not advisable as it implies that a guest is obliged to give you a present. A wedding invitation should simply convey your desire for the guest to be a part of the big day in your life.

Spread the Word Out – The best way of getting the word out that you would prefer cash gifts is to let your parents, wedding party, close relatives and friends spread the news for you. Let them know that when guests ask they can tell them that you would prefer cash as a wedding gift. Don’t be embarrassed to ask them to pass on this information as there is no harm in them mentioning it if asked by a wedding guest or if your wedding is being discussed.

What separates you from other gift registries in the region?

Our main USP which separates us from others is that we are the only ones providing a ‘Cash/Money Registry’ in this region.  And while all the other registries require couples to choose gifts for their weddings, we emphasize on the importance of making the couples dreams come true by ‘Avoiding Unwanted Gifts on their Big Day’ and opting for Cash which they can use to purchase what they really want like their dream honeymoon, home furnishings, charity and so forth.

We are also in the process of revamping our existing Wedding Registry by introducing another service for couples which is Gift Card Registry. This will also be unique in terms of providing couples with the option of choosing an eGift Card that they would like their guests to contribute to which can then be redeemed at our partner store the couples choose.

Another advantage of using this eGift Card will be redemption through Cash+eGift Card where couples can choose to receive the collected money through cash and the balance with an eGift Card!

You have also partnered with the likes of Virgin and Galleries Lafayette to offer ‘eGift Cards’. Tell us more about this. 

Along with our cash registry business, our focus here at YouGotaGift  is to offer the absolute best selection of brands and therefore gifts for our customers. That is why we look to tie up with the key leading retailers across the region, in being the Middle East’s “Online Mall for eGift Cards”.

This  enables you to send Gift Cards to friends, family, employees, or customers, conveniently and instantly from anywhere in the world, to the loved ones within UAE, Qatar, KSA and Lebanon. Currently we have tied up with over 70+ brands.

What do you love most about your work?

What I love most about my work is I love what I do and do what I love.. ;)

How can our readers (Brides & Grooms) benefit from your services?

✔ Convenience ✔ Avoid receiving unwanted gifts ✔ Invite unlimited guests for contribution ✔ Allows contributions from anywhere in world ✔ Easy To Create, Share & Manage.

Who would say “No” to cash if they can ask for it tastefully :)

If you could give one piece of advice to brides to-be, what would it be?

My advice for brides-to-be would be to enjoy their big day and make it as stress free and hassle-free as possible. This is the day which a bride would remember for the rest for her life and that should be celebrated in a big way without any hassles of last minute wedding planning, gifts, guests etc. Everything should be done for the bride as she is the queen on her big day!

Lastly, why did you choose to list with www.brideclubme.com?

We chose BrideClubMe as we believe that it’s a fantastic forum for information on everything bride related be it from tailors, flowers, cakes, wedding invitations etc. This was something that was missing in this part of the region and is a brave entrepreneurial mission of connecting all the brides and the wedding vendors in the region. We have full faith in Rhiannon’s vision and are proud of our association with BrideClubMe.

Thanks Abed! To read more about YouGotaGift.com and their gift registry services, click here, or visit their BCME vendor listing.