Wedding Bouquet

Have you already chosen the perfect wedding dress for your BIG day? What about your wedding bouquet? A gorgeous wedding bouquet will set the perfect little accent and highlight you as a beautiful bride... Like with all wedding stuff, there are sooo many options to choose from, different flowers, different colors... It should match your overall wedding theme to have the WOW factor.

We have decided to give you some great ideas for YOUR wedding bouquet. The Wedding Channel has created a great website with some really nice pictures. You can become a member for the Wedding Channel for free and take a look at all these beautiful flowers (click here)

Wedding Reception Ideas

We know you have been thinking about your own wedding for years (most likely)... But there are sooo many decisions to make, designs to choose, things to consider, and where shall you start?!? The team from The Bride Side of Life wanted to you a little bit of a head start and provide you with some great design ideas for your wedding reception.

You will have to decide on a color, design, theme, guest favors. Choosing the perfect reception design will depend on the location, season and of course your own taste. The team from "the knot" has some really fantastic ideas for wedding receptions, which you can view by clicking here.

After you have decided on a color scheme, you can browse through our Guest Favors on The Bride Side of Life to find the perfectly matching guest favors to make your family & friends feel special on such an important day.

Have fun planning!

Wedding Countdown...

The following list provides you with an overview of the most important details you need to consider during your Wedding Planning:

9 - 12 months before your Wedding

• Announce your engagement
• Arrange a meeting with the parents in-law, so the “new” family can get to know each other
• Set your Wedding Date
• Calculate your finances and decide on a budget
• Choose the location and ceremony: How and where do you want to get married?
• Make a first guest list
• Get Wedding magazines and books and decide on the dress you would like
• Look for matching accessories for your dress (shoes, gloves, veil, etc.)
• Visit the Wedding location and confirm a reservation
• Get offers from: Florist, Photographer, Baker, Catering

6 - 9 months before your Wedding

• Reserve the Church (for Christian Weddings) and speak with the priest
• Complete guest list
• Buy your Wedding Dress and accessories
• Make a time table for the Wedding day
• Book Catering service (optional)
• Book Photographer
• Book DJ / Band
• Choose a florist and discuss your ideas
• Send out “Save the Date” cards
• Look for your PERFECT Honeymoon location
• Apply for a vacation at work

4 - 6 months before your Wedding

• Arrange all your documents for the Wedding Ceremony (passports, health certificates, birth certificates, etc.)
• Book your honeymoon
• Choose a menu for the Wedding Celebration
• Order the Wedding Cake
• Choose the best man and brides maids
• Choose Flower Girls and Ring Bearer (inform their parents)
• Print Invitations
• Decide on a Marriage Contract (optional)
• Make a wish list for the presents
• Choose / Book hotel rooms for the couple and guests (negotiate a good price / consider self-catering apartments for some of the guests)

2 - 4 months before your Wedding

• Try on your Wedding Dress and make final alterations
• Give your hair dresser a picture of your dress and decide on a matching hair style
• Decide on transport (i.e. limousine)
• RELAX with a massage at the Spa
• Choose a suit for the groom
• Buy Wedding Bands and engrave them
• Decide on your Wedding make-up
• Prepare your honeymoon (passports, visas, vaccinations, etc.)
• Send out invitations
• Second and final try on for your Wedding Dress
• Have a facial at your favorite spa to look happy, fresh and relaxed during your Wedding
• Choose and buy guest favors
• Buy presents for best man, maid of honor and brides maids
• Pick up your Wedding rings
• Print place cards and menu cards

2 - 4 weeks before your Wedding

• Inform your Wedding Planner, Location and catering service about the final number of your guests
• Try your perfect hair style at the hair dresser
• Finalize the seating chart
• Walk in your Wedding shoes to avoid painful feet on your wedding day
• Complete the outfit for the groom (suit, tie, shoes, etc.)
• Decide on a final timetable for the wedding and have print-outs ready
• Make a music selection
• Organize the bachelor and bachelorette parties
• Make welcome notes for the guests that arrived from abroad

1 week before your Wedding

• Give your wedding day timetable to all people who are involved (i.e. Best Man, Maid of Honor, Brides Maids, Flower Girls, Ring Bearer)
• Give the seating chart to the hotel / catering service
• Double check all reservations (hotel, honeymoon, catering service, wedding cake, etc.)
• Arrange payments / tips for all services and keep them ready in separate envelopes
• Have a last make-over (facial, manicure, pedicure - don’t try new facial products shortly before the wedding)
• Try on your Wedding dress, lingerie, shoes, veil, gloves to make sure everything fits perfectly
• Write your Wedding Speech (optional)
• Pack your bags for the honeymoon

ON YOUR WEDDING DAY

• Hair style and make-up
• Take a deep breath
• ENJOY

After the Wedding

• Send Thank You notes to your guests
• Inform everyone about your new family name, apply for new passport, driver’s license, etc.

Notes

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Wedding in Dubai

First of all, The Bride Side of Life would like to congratulate you on your engagement. Planning and organizing your dream wedding in Dubai can be a lot of fun with wonderful ideas and wedding locations to choose from...

Firstly, you should decide on the kind of ceremony you would like to have. Are you planning to get married in a church (Christian couples), in Dubai court and a mosque (Muslim couples), in your own embassy (for a list of embassies in Dubai click here) or just have a blessing ceremony right on one of Dubai’s beautiful beaches?

Depending on your nationality and religion you can choose from different options. It is important to check with your embassy and the mosque / church of your choice to see which documents are required. Not all embassies in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah will organize weddings.

For Muslim couples, you will usually have a formal ceremony in Dubai Court (Telephone No. 00971 4 77 77 334), it is important to call them well in advance to find out which documents they will need, in order to avoid any disappointments on your wedding day. Usually, at least the groom will need a UAE residence visa and you will have to have a medical check-up, which you can make in Al Baraha Hospital in Deira 00971 4 271 00 00 (it takes at least 3 days for the results). In some cases, they may also ask you for a birth certificate (needs to be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Deira) and a Marital Status Certificate(ask your embassy where to get that).

Now it comes to the FUN part... Finding the perfect wedding location in Dubai - depending on the time of the year, you can choose between an outdoor or indoor wedding. During the Summer months (May – September) we would definitely recommend an indoor wedding, due to Dubai’s melting temperatures. Prices vary in Dubai, depending on the hotel, between 190 dhs – 350 dhs per person for 4 and 5 Star hotels.

One of the most popular hotels for outdoor beach weddings in the Ritz Carlton Dubai. They offer a fantastic and very romantic venue, with beautiful menus and decoration to choose from. You can visit the Ritz Carlton Website to get additional information, by clicking here. Also the Madinat Jumeirah, The Address (next to Burj Dubai) and the Intercontinental Dubai in Festival City are great locations to host your perfect wedding in Dubai.

Most hotels will offer you the option of a wedding cake (for an additional charge). There are plenty of beautiful ideas and designs for wedding cakes. We would like to recommend for you to browse the Internet for some inspiration through www.google.com. Top your wedding cake in style with one of our unique and personalized wedding cake toppers.

Please feel free to download this article to use it as a reference by clicking on the pink arrow next to the title.

We aim to provide you with the best information according to our knowledge, however we cannot take responsibility for variations / changes in the information above.