A Chit Chat with Arabia Weddings: Dot the I’s for Event Planning in Dubai
Dot the I's is an event company that was born from the passion of two sisters: Yasmine and Nivine.
Having organized their own wedding and thoroughly enjoyed the journey, they understand the time it takes to organize the day of your dreams. They believe that they will passionately create fabulous moments that will both dazzle and delight.
With all their hard work in the past 2 years, they’ve been awarded the “Entrepreneurs of the year 2011” by L’Officiel Arab Women of 2011.
- Tell us more about yourself and business.
We’ve always known that neither IT nor banking was our thing let alone a lifetime job, so we both found a passion for planning events instead.
Ever since we were little girls (with a year and a half difference between us) watching our parents getting ready to attend a wedding, our curiosity drove us to wonder, "Why can't we go and what would this extravagant event look like?"
Then we would race to wake up the next day looking for the cute little white box with a perfectly embossed ribbon wrapped around it with two names and a date. If that box looked so beautiful in those less creative days, only we could imagine how exciting and tasteful the wedding had been!
"The ideal scenario is to plan 6 months to 1 year before the wedding day"
Playing bride and groom was our favorite game when we were young. Yasmine would play the groom with the mustache drawn with an eyeliner pen and Nivine would play the bride with a veil, as she was the more feminine one.
All grown up, we've found pleasure planning family and friends' events and have always enjoyed helping them find new and fresh ideas to create a unique celebration. That desire drove us to start our own business. To cut a long story short, all our dreams are coming true!
- What is the best part of being a wedding planner?
It gives us a sense of fulfillment, experiencing family happiness of the bride and groom’s families. You learn a lot from this kind of business, other than improving your communication skills, you learn how to be patient, punctual and super organized, as you can’t really afford the delay in this type of business.
- What are the hottest trends in weddings this season in the Arab region?
Trends change rapidly when it comes to weddings, such as the following:- Color palettes: A wedding is all about setting a theme or a certain color contrast and following the whole theme throughout the process. For the year 2013, the Emerald (green) color so in as well as the watermelon color shades. With no doubt green matches several color palettes, as it is a natural color that can be incorporated as leaves, stems and arrangement fillers.
- Dresses: Lace long-sleeve dresses are in.
- Vintage themes: The word vintage has been popular for the past few years but vintage is not only about a certain color but it’s a theme, a product and a trend. Rustic, shabby chic and country theme are all portions of the vintage theme.
- Nail art: Plain and French manicure was in for brides in the past but now we have much more than that. Nail creativity is outstanding.
- Alternating dresses: A bride opts for several dresses for her big day. Main wedding gown for the ceremony and a short length dress for the reception and the rest of the night.
- Guest book alternatives: Some couples prefer to stay traditional and stick to the guest book for guests to send them their happy wishes but now young and more outgoing newlyweds preferred new and crazy ideas such as wish tags, puzzle wooden pieces, bird cages…etc.
- How does the wedding planning process start and what are the main elements of a successful relationship with the bride and groom-to-be? How far ahead should wedding planning start?
The ideal scenario is to plan 6 months to 1 year before the wedding day. Unfortunately in the Arab world this is not the case. It varies from one client to the other and it also depends on their personalities.
Brides and Grooms-to-be usually approach you for help, for advice and comfort. The key to all this is their trust towards you, the ability to believe that they can trust you blindly to achieve miracles on their big day. Based on our experiences, brides have the final decision on choosing their favorite planner but very few times the groom is the decision maker.
The planning process starts with an inquiry and showcasing our previous work to the client. And at this stage, the bride can decide if they are comfortable enough with the planner or not. I would say it is just a sense of security at the beginning but after some time, it turns into a sense of relief that they are on the right track.
"Budget wedding = meeting the clients’ requirements under a suggested budget"
- Can a bride have her dream wedding on a budget? How can you help the bride and groom in planning a budget wedding?
The concept of having a budget wedding for some clients means a cheap one but this is not true. Budget wedding = meeting the clients’ requirements under a suggested budget.Brides and grooms-to-be approaching us with a budget is usually a blessing, especially if they don’t have a certain theme in mind.
We go all out with creativity, inspirations and ideas that would match their budget, with no boundaries. Our clients are usually flexible and look forward to our recommendations and expert advice. So for example if the budget increased than the suggested amount, they surely go ahead with it; after all they’ve hired us for our expertise.
- What was your favorite wedding theme you created? Who was it for and where?
Every theme we created had a special place in our hearts. Each wedding, color contrast, bridal smile, compliment and appreciation affected us positively. We live their dream with them, we create it from the bottom of our hearts, and we perfect each and every wedding as if it were our own.On the other hand, we love color combinations; mixing and matching colors together creates such an amazing ambience and an extraordinary outcome.
- What is the most outrageous thing a couple has asked you to have at their wedding?
We try our ultimate best to please our clients in a professional way although sometimes it’s a challenge due to certain requirements that wouldn’t meet our standards or quality of work. Our expertise and persuasive methods kick in by recommending either more creative or alternative ideas for their choices.
If you are getting married in Dubai, you will find this Weddings in Dubai section very useful, check it out!
