Behind the Scenes with Bride Club ME {Rio’s monthly round up}
Written by Adam Hurst on February 26, 2015.
Behind the Scenes with Bride Club ME
Hello bride clubbers! I’ve had a mini break from my behind the scenes blog posts recently, due to being way too busy. The wedding season has been truly jam packed, with lots of fabulous wedding fairs to attend and our third Engage Academy event for wedding entrepreneurs to organise. It’s been a hectic but productive month or two! Anyhow, I am back with my latest update on what I have been up to behind the scenes.
The Bride Show Abu Dhabi 2015
We were delighted to be one of the official media partners for The Bride Show Abu Dhabi, held on 28-31 January at the National Exhibition Centre. We ventured into the capital for the first day of the fair and mingled with established and up-and-coming wedding industry professionals. We also enjoyed high tea in the VIP tent and couldn’t resist a spot of shopping ourselves.
If you missed out, don’t fret – The Bride Show is back in March, this time in Dubai. Tickets can be purchased here.
Planning an Engage Academy product styling workshop
As some of our loyal readers know, Bride Club ME has a sister company dedicated to all the wonderful wedding entrepreneurs in the UAE, called The Engage Academy. Now, you may be wondering how this applies to you, the bride. Well, our aim is to encourage excellence and education throughout the wedding industry and this, in turn, affects the quality of services you receive as a bride. Our next event, an interactive product styling workshop with the lovely Louise Beukes from Blovedblog.com on 12 March, is already sold out.
Louise is also a renowned event stylist and will teach our attendees how to create beautifully styled product set-ups. Watch this space for an update.
A Kim K makeover styled shoot/Review
The Kim Kardashian makeup look, is, according to many makeup artists, one of the most popular bridal makeup looks requested in the UAE. So I decided to create an inspiration shoot for all our loyal readers. The styled shoot doubled up as a review of our expert panel member Natasha Zaki’s makeup skills, and I was your model for the day.
It was a super fun day all round, although I am really not the most patient of subjects. Our lovely photographers Sheetal and Bhumi of Candid Kama Photography displayed the patience of saints while working with me, and I thank them for being understanding. Watch this space for the full write-up.
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Wedding Fair
One of my favourite wedding fairs in the UAE took place earlier this month and it was an absolute honour to be asked to be a media partner and exhibitor again. The Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi team are not only organised and a delight to work with, their venue is super pretty and somewhere I personally would have loved to have married. In fact, it was my first choice, but my best friend got there first, he-he.
An array of exhibitors showcased their talents, services and products at the fair, and I particularly loved the Cloud 9 Weddings & Events stand (shown above). I look forward to hopefully participating once again next year.
Birthday treats from Tips & Toes
It was my birthday this month and I was lucky enough to be invited by the Tips and Toes (the UAE’s award-winning beauty salon and spa) team to experience a little pampering at their newly opened salon in Yas Mall, Abu Dhabi. Joining me for a little downtime was the lovely Julie Leblan from Mylist.ae. Both of us had business meetings that day, so kickstarting the day with some girly beauty treats was a welcome treat.
My pampering experience started with refreshing welcome drinks and a tour of the pretty salon and spa. I then enjoyed the best Swedish massage I’ve ever had. I studied Swedish massage in my early 20s, so I can spot a professional massage when I experience one. It was much needed too, as I have been feeling quite stressed of late. Julie and I both then had our nails and toes primped and preened to perfection; my colour of choice was the striking Paparazzi varnish by Tito, while Julie, from France, opted for the very fitting ‘some like it hot’ varnish.
Ladies, if you are having an Abu Dhabi wedding or are simply in town for the day with your girlfriends, I highly recommend booking some treatments at Tips and Toes, Yas Mall. Not only were the treatments finished to perfection, but the salon is also tastefully decorated and the staff are really lovely! Thumbs up all round.
For more information, visit www.tipsandtoes.ae or call +971 2 565 0707.
InterContinental Dubai Festival City Wedding Fair
And finally, the most recent Dubai wedding fair was the InterContinental Dubai Festival City’s exclusive ‘I DO’ event. The first wedding fair to take place at the impressive venue, it was an interactive experience, featuring live entertainment, Q&A sessions by Clare Ebbs of Aghareed and myself, and a tonne of fabulous raffle prizes. Dubai based fashion designer Sohad Acouri displayed his impressive couture wedding gown designs at the events main entrance, with some added decor glamour from Eventsmania.
Bride Club ME were media partners for the fair, and I also acted as the event’s official MC, introducing some of the amazing entertainment on stage courtesy of Bareface Entertainment and AG Concepts. The two-day event was a success and we really enjoyed meeting some of our readers, familiar wedding vendors and newly engaged couples. I also had the pleasure of having a private tour of the InterContinentals wedding venue offerings, my favourite being The Al Badia Golf Club.
The InterContinental Dubai Festival city have just joined the Bride Club ME vendor club and you can read more here.
The Best of BCME Features
It’s a fast-paced life living in Dubai and while we are sure many of you regularly log on to Bride Club ME, in this section I will highlight my personal favourite posts over the past few months, just in case you missed any.
♡ Nail Your Getting Ready Photos/Styled Shoot|Expert Advice: The ‘getting ready’ part of a wedding offers plenty of opportunities for your photographer to take some creative detail shots while you and your girls are being beautified. Bride Club ME and Maria Sundin got together with some talented vendors to create this special feature just for you.
♡ An Experience of a Lifetime with Platinum Heritage (Review): Here, I review a Platinum Heritage experience and talk you through some of the fabulous desert wedding options on offer from Desert Weddings/Platinum Heritage.
♡ Interview: Get to Know the Wedding Pro: Ingrid Keisler, lifestyle events manager at The Address Montgomerie Dubai, provides us with exclusive insight into life as a hotel event manager, what it’s like hosting weddings at The Address Montgomerie and what she loves most about her job.
♡ Real Wedding: A French Shabby-Chic Wedding in Abu Dhabi: Oh my, this real wedding post is simply stunning – but, then again, we expect nothing less when the images come from fine art wedding photographer Melissa Beattie.
♡ Diary of a Real Bride: Our beautiful real bride contributor Barbaranne updates you all on her wedding plans. Any Gary Barlow fans out there?
♡ Wedding DIY: Weddings are usually remembered with lovely pictures, broken heels and happy moments, but our expert panelist Lizmar, from Nifty Little Things, shows us how to make and provide a romantic take-away DIY favour for your guests!
♡ Save 20 per cent off your wedding photography with Goldfish Photography & Video: Who doesn’t love a promotion? A must-see for all brides searching for a wedding photographer in the UAE.
♡ Wedding Venue: Our latest vendor to join the BCME vendor club family is The Saadiyat Beach Club – an absolutely stunning venue to consider if you are looking to have an outdoor beach wedding. Click here for more details.
I’m off to the UK now to celebrate my mummy’s 60th Birthday (I’m taking her to Rome for a few days :))…I’ll be back at the in April to give you more behind-the-scenes gossip from Bride Club ME. In the meantime, I wish you all the best on your wedding planning journey.
Joan Duckworth says
I did enjoy reading the monthly reviews well written and it is nice to know what is happening behind the scenes, well written congratulations.