Organising The Essentials

Our real bride Loren Penney now has less than three months until her big day, which is usually the point at which most brides to be start panicking (if they haven’t started already, that is). Thankfully, our Loren seems to be taking all of the wedmin in her stride and has made great progress since we last heard from her. With some pretty important items now ticked (and re-ticked!) off her list, things are looking relatively calm and organised. Read on to find out what Loren’s been up to.

With the very stark realisation that my wedding is now little over three months away, I’ve had quite a productive month in terms of planning. Future hubby and I have sorted the legalities out which was fairly pain-free and means we now have a date for the necessary paperwork to be completed. We also rather excitedly went to choose and buy our wedding rings, naturally ending up with something a little bigger and sparklier than was originally planned for. Luckily, diamonds and gold are one of the few things that are cheaper in Dubai than back home in the UK. I’m so in love with my wedding band, I’ve taken to trying it on every few days when I think no-one is looking.

I also managed to sort out the task of bridesmaid’s dresses for my lovely sister (my maid of honour) and my equally lovely new sister-in-law. The style of dresses that I wanted for my maids was about the only thing that I had a clear vision of right from the start, having fallen for a floor-length style made of beautiful, silk jersey. After doing my homework on tailors based here in Dubai, I tracked down the amazing Anne Rashid of The Bridal Room in Jumeirah and went to meet with her to discuss making my bridesmaid dresses from scratch. Anne fast became my fairy bride-mother, sourcing fabric swatches in an array of shades and even helping to customise my own already purchased wedding dress. A flash visit from my sister, who tried on a sample of the dresses, and it was confirmed – the maids and I loved it! The dress, of which both will wear the same, is not only super flattering on the girls but also just the right amount of glamorous – perfect for a black tie wedding.

On the subject of dresses, I’m not sure if you remember the trouble I had finding my own dress. Since then, I purchased something that upon reflection was not the dress I’d always dreamed of and was most probably a panic buy at the six-month stage.

On a stolen afternoon this month, I might have ‘accidently’ broken the bride-code and went to try on some more dresses now that the new season’s collections are in stores and I immediately fell in love with another dress in Esposa; it was the reaction that I had been waiting for since I got engaged in April. That’s right, I now have two wedding dresses.

I’ve made the decision to attempt to put my original un-worn dress up for sale in an attempt to claw back some of my dwindling wedding budget.

In contrast to finding a dress, I found shopping for wedding shoes much easier, probably too easy! I spent an excitable Saturday shopping in Mall of the Emirates with my fiancé and left armed with a rather large bag from my favourite shoe designer. Luckily, he did too!

Now that the style necessities are taken care of, I can concentrate on the styling for the day itself as well as the holy grail of weddings – finding the right DJ!

Until next month…

X x Loren Penney x X