Rami And Peta’s Elegant Dubai Wedding Video
Written by on January 4, 2018.
Tagged under: Real wedding Dubai, raffles dubai, wedding video dubai
Rami And Peta’s Elegant Dubai Wedding Video
Today we are thrilled to bring you the wedding of Peta and Rami, who were married in November 2017 at Raffles Dubai. Hailing from the UK and Syria respectively, Peta and Rami did an amazing job at incorporating wedding traditions from both of their cultures.
Peta explains how herself and Rami planned the wedding upon becoming engaged:
Rami and I got in engaged in July 2016 and started planning the wedding immediately. Our first hurdle to get over was sorting out the legal part of our wedding. We got married in the court here and getting all of the paperwork we needed from my side took months (it’s very complicated and I could write a whole article on it!) so we didn’t get legally married until February 2017.
During this time, we were looking at various hotel venues in Dubai and other Emirates and it took us months of meetings, going back and forth until we discovered Raffles Dubai. We needed a hotel venue that could cater for an outdoor blessing and a reception in a gorgeous ballroom. Once we found our venue we then started to work more intensely on our theme and décor. Pinterest was a huge source of inspiration for me and for my husband, who’s very creative; he found sketching very useful for making our ideas come to fruition. Our incredible flower and décor company, Focus Wedding Services, were amazing at making our dream wedding a reality and they really listened to our ideas and most importantly, our budget!
From day one Rami and I had the same vision so the whole planning process was actually really fun and made me feel like we could rule the world together. I had six bridesmaids, including my Maid of Honour, who all flew in from different parts of the world, which was so overwhelmingly special. I found my dream Bridesmaids dresses on Pinterest which I then took to a tailor in Satwa called City Land Tailors (they’re fabulous) and they recreated them for me along with my two flower girl dresses. I chose black so that the bridesmaids would look great next to the six groomsmen in their black tie. Rami wore a white tuxedo with a black flower pin which I thought looked very sharp and expressed his strong sense of style.
The week before the wedding, our friends and family flew in and THANK GOD my maid of honour Laura, Mum and chief bridesmaid Ruby were all there with me in the week leading up to the wedding, as there seemed to be endless little jobs to do. My favourite personal touches from the wedding were the table names. Rami and I picked names of restaurants/bars/hotels we’ve been to together that are really special and memorable, including Soho Farmhouse, Après, Palazzo Versace, and Sexy Fish to name just a few! I also loved the R&P logo that appeared in various different places throughout the wedding from the invites, the name tent cards, menus, and in big flowers hanging behind the top table.
My other favourite personal touch were our vows. We used the traditional Christian vows, “in sickness and in health,” etc, except the last line we changed from “until death do us part” to “in this life and the next”. This was a magical moment for me during the vows. It was really important for our wedding to be the perfect blend of two cultures. Our blessing was very Western, followed by a traditional Syrian zaffa entrance into the ballroom. Most of my family and friends had never seen this before and they absolutely loved it! At the reception, we served a three course sit down dinner followed by speeches and the first dance as a nod to Western traditions. However, we also played loads of Arabic music and the atmosphere was magical.
To recap, I think Rami and myself really loved the wedding planning process and learnt a lot from it. I run my own communications and events business and Rami works for Time Out Dubai so we are both used to organising events and being under pressure, and I have to admit I think that really helped us when it came to our own wedding. We didn’t sweat the small stuff and we never lost sight of the most important thing: the wedding was a celebration of love and the beginning of the rest of our lives together.
Read on to find out more about how Peta’s big day came together, and to see her emotional wedding day video by videographer Manny Moka. Enjoy!
How did he propose?
Rami proposed in Venice at the stunning JW Marriot. We were on our way to Ibiza for a holiday with a group of friends and we had to fly via somewhere in Europe. We booked the tickets a couple of days before we were meant to be flying so I had no inclination that he had planned the romantic couple of days that ensued! Following our first ever experience at a Michelin-starred restaurant, Dopolavoro, Rami got down on one knee and popped the question!
Did you decide on a wedding theme? If so, talk us through your choice…
Both Rami and I were extremely involved in the wedding from start to finish. We both have the same taste and we like anything that’s just a little bit OTT! We are obsessed with the Palace of Versailles and we wanted to channel some of those renaissance elements as best we could on our budget such as the black and white checkered dance floor, candelabras and lots of candles. We chose black and white for the loose theme in the ballroom and for the blessing we wanted a really elegant, classic setting.
Tell us about the wedding cake….
We created the wedding cake with Raffles. We wanted something elegant and fairly simple. By the end of the night, guests were actually eating the cake and they said it was delicious! It was marble cake inside with white icing.
Let’s talk wedding gowns. Where did you buy your dream gown?
Like most brides, the dress was the first thing I set to work on! The amazing team at Si Galerie bought my vision to life and designed my dress from scratch for me. I worked very closely with the designer from picking the fabric to the style. I had a detachable train that I wore for the blessing only just to add a little drama! I also really wanted a statement veil with a lace edge. I was more excited about the veil than the dress!
Most enjoyable part of the planning process…
My favourite part of the planning process was sitting with our flower and décor supplier and seeing all of my husband’s sketches come to life in the 3D renderings. It made me feel so proud of what we had planned and created together.
Most testing part of the wedding planning process as an expat bride…
Of course one of the most testing things is not having your close friends and family by your side during the whole process. I would also say that you’re quite limited here in terms of venues, it’s a 5-star hotel or a 5-star hotel! We found, in the beginning, it was very hard finding an affordable, flexible hotel venue, however, we were so lucky with Raffles. Their team really are superb and I couldn’t recommend them enough.
Top three tips for a bride-to-be…
♡ Invest in photography. Pay that bit extra. Trust me, you won’t regret it!
♡ If you can afford a wedding planner, great, but make sure you do your research and use someone who’s reputable and comes with lots of recommendations. Failing that hire a wedding coordinator to be with you on the day to make sure the day flows smoothly. This will save you and your family having to run around on the day putting the final touches together. The hotels say that will help, but of course, they don’t know your wedding inside out like you do and this will really put your mind at ease.
♡ Enjoy every second, because it’s over in a heartbeat!
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