Jeddah-born and raised, Sarah Al Dabbagh has quickly made a name for herself in the Gulf region as one of the most tasteful wedding planers. Obsessed with all things bridal, she admittedly posed as a child with every bride she found and reviewed every wedding she attended in a scrapbook that she is still keeping today. We picked her brain for a few tricks and trends for the wedding season.
Hiring a wedding event planner has become a worldwide trend, hasn’t it?
It depends on where you are in the world, because in Europe and the States, wedding planners have been around for a very long time. It is even ingrained in the film culture, with old movies like “Father of the Bride” and “The Wedding Planner” with Jennifer Lopez. In the Middle East and the Arab world, in general, however, wedding event planning is still a new market. I think it’s been only six or seven years that it has been going on. Lately, people have realized how important it is to hire a wedding planner for your big day and have someone that you can depend on and hand everything over to.
What are the current wedding trends in Saudi Arabia?
I launched Lace Events two years ago, and I’ve noticed that brides want a wedding that is intimate and more influenced by the United States and Europe in terms of simplicity versus an extravagant show. In Saudi, for the most part, a lot of people will attend a wedding that is more like a fashion show rather than a wedding. Brides now want a wedding to be on a smaller scale, with people that they actually care about in attendance. They want the wedding to be more personalized and romantic. I like it when you can see the bride’s tastes reflected in the wedding, the specific things she likes, or her favorite colors. You know if her style is more rustic or more modern or more classic, so the trend these days is to be very much in touch with the bride herself and her personal style.
Do you leave some part of a wedding to Arab tradition in your event planning or is it just not the trend?
There’s always something that involves our traditions because it is the most important element. It’s a matter of mixing the simplicity and style of the West with the charm and the traditions and hospitality of the East.
Can you tell us a little bit about the trends in terms of the embellishments and activities?
This summer, there are lots of pastels, green, and a lot of aqua. Also, many people like a photo-booth. They love taking a picture so they enjoy using props and it’s a nice giveaway because you get to take the picture back home, like a memory from the wedding. Something new that I recently did was install a video-booth so instead of just having photos, guests could record a video like a guest book and the bride and groom kept the video recording.
In terms of your relationship with the brides, have you ever had any exceptional demands?
I have luckily had only very nice experiences with all of my brides so far and have enjoyed meeting them and working with the whole family. It’s funny that it is part of our culture that everyone in the family gets involved in every little thing you do. So when it’s supposed to be a meeting between me and the bride it ends up being me, the bride, her mom, her aunt, then her grandmother, her grandmother’s sister—everyone has an idea and everyone is trying to convince one another. Then, you see the bride looking like she just wants to cry so I tell her, “It’s good to have different opinions, but next time, come with just your mom or one more person, rather than the whole family where everyone wants to give their point of view and they start fighting.”
What are the big wedding “don’ts” according to you?
In Saudi, something that I think must change is how late weddings start. It’s starting to change but it still needs a lot of work because it’s just not fair—the bride arrives at one in the morning and it’s all about the guests or the dinner and such so the bride doesn’t actually get to enjoy her own wedding, which is a shame. A wedding shouldn’t be a show; it should be something intimate and personal, something that the bride will enjoy every step of the way.
Another thing would be over-inviting or over-loading the guest-list. When it’s more like a show, people in Saudi or generally in the Gulf are still unfamiliar with the RSVP system and they don’t use that technique at all. It’s very difficult and sad because you invite all these people and you never know who’s going show up! You either have more people showing up than you ever imagined or you end up having an empty wedding so I think these are the major no-nos that need to change.
