Behind The Scenes With Bride Club ME

Hello fans! Rio here, bringing you an update on what I’ve been up to behind the scenes at www.brideclubme.com last month in April. From offering wedding planning tips live on stage at BRIDE Dubai to collaborating with Tavola at their wedding workshop, it’s been a busy time. Here’s my monthly round-up:

BRIDE Dubai 2014

April 2 – 5 saw the Middle East’s largest and most luxurious bridal and fashion event take place at the Dubai World Trade Centre, with Bride Club ME once again official ‘online’ media partners of the show. Along with exhibiting, I was also invited to offer daily wedding planning tips and advice to those in attendance. As a bride who planned her wedding in Dubai, my tips were based on hands-on experience, as well as all the know-how I’ve acquired since founding BCME.

Some of my tips from my stage talk included:

• Plan early
• Set a budget
• Delegate
• Get crafty
• Use online wedding inspiration sites and apps

The four-day show featured more than 300 leading global and regional wedding industry exhibitors, showcasing everything from a dazzling range of dresses, shoes and accessories to photography, honeymoon packages, carting and jewellery.

We had great fun mingling with all the vendors at the expo, including our friends over at  My List AE, but above all, we enjoyed meeting lots of lovely brides and grooms-to-be, including some of our readers. We look forward to another successful collaboration in 2015. A big thanks to Maria Sundin for the above images.

The Tavola Wedding Workshop

Along with several Bride Club ME vendor club members, we participated in the second Tavola wedding workshop at the Mall of the Emirates, where experts including Mylist.ae, wedding planner Masha from Fabulous Day Weddings & Events, cake designer Farah from Little Miss Cupcakes and myself offered invaluable wedding planning advice to the brides  in attendance.

Topics covered at the workshop ranged from tips on cake sizing and serving portions to wedding cake trends, table-setting ideas and gift registry selection. An intimate and interactive session, it offered brides the chance to hear some great advice and meet some of the region’s top wedding experts. We can’t wait for the next event and loved the cute household items on display at Tavola too.

The Engage Academy

I’m really excited to announce that myself, along with the founder of www.thefashset.com, are launching a first-of-its-kind initiative in the region. Recently, we’ve been working on the Engage Academy concept and agenda. The UAE is brimming with creative talent in the wedding industry and it’s such a pleasure to be able to showcase this talent via BCME.

There are many new businesses entering the market that need assistance with getting started, using social media, blogging and so on. With this in mind, we are launching the Engage Academy, a half-day workshop for wedding vendors in the UAE.

Details coming soon!

You don’t have to be new to the industry to participate. Whether you are well-established, independent or part of a larger organisation, every vendor in attendance will leave feeling inspired.

We are currently looking for a REAL Dubai bride who would be willing to speak at the workshop about her planning experiences, including the positives and negatives of dealing with vendors. If you are interested in talking about your personal experiences, and would be happy to offer some tips from a real bride perspective, please do email me at [email protected] and include your contact details.

Vendors, this event is strictly invitation only and we have limited seats. If you are interested in attending, please do drop me a line. Full details will be announced soon.

This month, we have some really exciting initiatives taking place, from a unique styled wedding shoot to participating at the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi wedding showcase. May is not set to slow down for team BCME. I’m also being interviewed for an awesome online TV channel, and I’m a little nervous … wish me luck folks!

Don’t forget to log back in at the end of May for my monthly round-up of all the latest events in the bridal industry. If you would like Team Bride Club ME to attend and cover your event, feel free to email us at [email protected].