It’s All About The Love

Last month, our real Dubai bride Maja Lunsjo was busy setting budgets…this month, she’s making bookings! Read on to find out how Maja has now organised her celebrant and photographer, and learn how she and fiancé Chris compromised on what they felt were the most important elements of their upcoming wedding. Enjoy!

“It says we need to plan it all in order of importance,” I said whilst waving the wedding planning book in Chris’s face. “The most important vendors have to be booked first to avoid disappointment later on.”

“So let me guess,” he answered, “You want to start with the DJ, photographer and sound systems?” I was slightly offended that he had listed my priorities so accurately, but he was right.

It was evident from the moment we started planning that Chris and I were focusing on very different parts of the wedding day. Whilst I was full steaming ahead to plan the ‘party of the year’ complete with sparklers and confetti and all my favourite dancing tunes, Chris was putting all of his thoughts into the ceremony and the celebration of our relationship. I was feeling a little guilty about my comparative lack of sentiment.

After some discussion, we decided to prioritise the ceremony and photographer.

We met celebrant Binny Baker over a coffee at Mall of the Emirates. I was quite nervous for the meeting as I felt I hadn’t given the ceremony as much thought perhaps I should have, and I worried I would come across as unprepared. All those concerns went out the window when I met Binny. She was so enthusiastic and encouraging and wanted to hear everything about our story. Binny had a lot of experience in cross-cultural couples and had done ceremonies for other Scandinavian brides before, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she knew all about our quirky little Swedish traditions. Chris explained some of his vision of the ceremony from celebrating the love we had for each other as well as the love and support from our friends and family who were travelling all the way to Dubai. Binny had lots of ideas on how to incorporate our guests and I definitely felt that she would be able to help us plan the perfect ceremony.

Two weeks later it was time to meet the photographer, Maria Sundin. A lot of people don’t actually meet their photographer face to face before booking, but this was very important to us. You spend a lot of time with your photographer and they are there for all of your most intimate moments, from when your Dad first sees you in your dress to when you might open a note sent from the groom. The personal chemistry, therefore, needs to be right between the photographer and the couple to ensure you are relaxed and enjoy the photography process.

Apart from the fact that Maria was absolutely lovely and clearly understood our vision, there were two main factors that led us to book her for the wedding. Firstly, Maria had done a lot of work at Al Qasr so we were confident that she would know the best ways to capture our day in terms of the best location for photos. Secondly, she specialises in film photography as well as digital. I think the look of film photographs, especially in terms of lighting, is just stunning and so classic. It gives a whole different feel to photos and is something we could not get from other vendors. We booked Maria that same day!

So after a successful February of wedding planning, Chris and I celebrated by enjoying a beautifully prepared hamper from Parlour Boutique that I was lucky enough to win in the Bride Club ME Valentines loop. We discussed our ceremony whilst enjoying our picnic at La Mer, and I have to admit that Chris was right. Whilst our wedding will be a great celebration, the main point is to remember that the thing we are celebrating is our love for one another. As we go into March we will continue to plan our huge party, but now it’s all about the love!

xX Maja Xx

Don’t forget to log on next month to see Maja’s latest bridal diary post!