Unique Visionaries From Middle East & Africa
Aseel Alansari, Bahrain
My Story: Weddings have to be in a theme or a concept in terms of decoration and management, and at that time we didn’t have any company that does it all. My love for design, organizing and being part of the couple’s happiness made me decide to have one to provide everything from A to Z.
Signature Style: I love to deliver a full production at the perfect time with a clean finish. I love providing stylish floral arrangements and making chic and elegant arrangements.
My Dream Destination: A wedding on a snowy white destination.
Ali Bakhtiar, UAE
My Story: I sort of entered the wedding business accidentally, when I was doing an interior design project for a palace. The daughter of my client fell in love with my designs for her winter garden and asked me to step in as the designer for her wedding. She wanted the eye of a designer, rather than a ‘planner’. I was hesitant at first, but she convinced me to take on the challenge. This was my first wedding, and it was a BIG beginning: 7000 guests, 8 days and multiple ceremonies. This phenomenal marriage kick-started my career as a wedding designer.
Signature Style: I think the versatility of my work sets my work apart. I weave all kinds of influences and different design practices into my projects, and I make sure to never repeat myself.
My Dream Destination: I am more drawn to a certain type of place than a specific country or city. I dream of exceptional nature, however it presents itself; places I have never been; hidden gems, remote paradises. All-natural elements inspire me, from dramatic mountains to spectacular seasides, magical forests, and secret lakes.
Alain Hadife, Lebanon
My Story: Back in the days, I used to be a lawyer who loved to party late, which led me to give up my main profession and pursue a new career in the nightlife, restaurants, and the event field. When it all started in 1998, we were the only company in Lebanon and the whole region specializing in this domain.
Signature Style: Crazy, daring, alive.
My Dream Destination: Greece & Italy.
Arun Bablani, UAE
My Story: It all began around 22 years ago when I started working for an exhibition company where I worked for 2 years. During this time I utilized my passion for travel and appreciation of different cultures to produce events in locations globally from fashion shows to concerts. Vivaah Weddings was born in 2012 and has since become a major force, planning around the globe creating magic.
Signature Style: “Doing whatever it takes” attitude. Having planned and executed numerous weddings, my love for creating something spectacular and helping my clients take things to the next level is just one appeal.
My Dream Destination: Ireland.
Adeola Okeshola, Nigeria
My Story: I gave up my finance career to pursue my passion for events after being encouraged by my family and friends. Referred in the Nigerian events industry today as “the magician,” my team and I have been behind some of the most luxurious and expertly planned weddings in Africa. I see myself as the go-to bridal event specialist for couples seeking a truly unforgettable experience on their special day. My works have been featured across top-of-the-line local and global media.
Signature Style: Classy & elegant.
My Dream Destination: Turks and Caicos.
Bisola Borha, Nigeria
My Story: I worked in a multinational company in Nigeria for 4 years doing basically the same thing every day and not growing. Today, I look back and smile because all the negativity I got made me tough and pushed me to want to be the best I can be. I am the founder of the international award-winning Trendy BEE Elite Events and I am indeed so grateful to god.
Signature Style: Creating beautiful unforgettable jaw-dropping moments.
My Dream Destination: Santorini, Greece.
Bibi Hayat, Kuwait
My Story: A lifelong dream of being in design, there was no start to my career, I was always designing in my imagination & dreams. A true lover of decor, styling, furniture and flowers.. this is something I always wanted to do. I guess it started with bakesales and the prom committee!
Signature Style: Interiors bases, sumptuous florals, and a mix and match aesthetic, perfectly imperfect!
My Dream Destination: Kuwait.
Christina Holt, South Africa
My Story: Wedding Concepts really started as an “inner calling.” 17 years ago, I was a destination bride living in Europe and getting married in Cape Town. At that time professional wedding planning was still a novelty and South Africa had just started becoming popular for destination weddings – so there was a huge opportunity to connect my background in hospitality and ambition for service excellence with the amazing local creativity & spirit. I started Wedding Concepts in 2004 when I saw this niche in the market and left Europe in pursuit of my dream to start a new life in South Africa.
Signature Style: My mantra is: “luxury is personal.” We are all about highly personalized service and creating exclusive, immersive wedding experiences that connect our clients to the heart & beauty of South Africa. Attention to detail, inspired creativity, bespoke personalization and a sense of stylish, en-vogue understatement are our signature.
My Dream Destination: The world! Being a traveler at heart it’s impossible to choose.
Fabrice Orlando, Morocco
My Story: I am the creative impulsion behind the brand. As a veteran of radio and television, I have successfully managed the production side of events for France 2, MCM, Disney Channel among many others, spanning a 20-year career in the industry. I believe that imagination has no limits. If you can imagine it, we will create it. My mission is to provide dazzling and inspirational events that will leave guests captivated and take great pride in the smiles and happiness of guests during events.
Signature Style: Our designs are part of our signature but we do make a difference in our way to manage the event flow watching and reacting with the guests, adjusting entertainment that might need to be more efficient because the crowd is quiet or already ready to jump on tables.
My Dream Destination: Japan.
Funke Bucknor Obruthe, Nigeria
My Story: Wedding planning for me started from a passion I had when I was in the university. My friend’s sister was getting married and she said to me, “Funke, come and help me plan my wedding,” and that’s how I started. Wedding planning in Nigeria was very stressful for people at that time so what I just wanted to do was help people, take the stress of them and let them enjoy their day.
Signature Style: Anytime anyone sees an event organized by Zapphaire events, one of the things that they go away with is the absolute attention to details and coordination; everything flows from the beginning to the end and there’s synchronization and full organization. Our signature style is being able to organize an event seamlessly and doing it creatively and creating an experience.
My Dream Destination: Wherever the sea is blue is my dream destination.
Ghada Blanco, Lebanon
My Story: I come from a very artistic background. When I first started in the early 1990s, this type of business did not exist in Lebanon, so I thought, ‘why not introduce more beautiful well-planned weddings?’ Lebanon had just come out of the civil war, and there were few ballrooms or halls for lavish occasions. So I first got to know all the hotels and contacts in the wedding domain, and pretty soon Weddings R Us came about.
Signature Style: We believe our versatility and unlimited creativity distinguish us. Our client’s vision and preference inspire us to re-imagine their taste and style through our extensive experience and professional execution. We are creative chameleons to suit your personal taste!
My Dream Destination: My dream destination would be the Roman Ruins of Baalbek; Baalbeck is a beautiful city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon’s Beqaa.
Jardel Silva, UAE
My Story: I began my career in the hospitality industry, and it goes without saying that I am a people person and I truly enjoy working in a diverse environment. However, with time, I came to discover my passion for weddings and there was no looking back. Design, on the other hand, is something that comes naturally to me. One thing led to another and I was fortunate enough to find the common grounds to make both my interests meet.
Signature Style: Our signature style is to always bring contemporary and modern designs to life. No matter the occasion, our designs are always inspired and curated to produce sets that are chic and elegant in order to stay true to our company name “Eventchic Designs.”
My Dream Destination: Sardinia, Italy.
Koby Bar Yehuda, Israel
My Story: Everything happened very organically, I was in university studying economics & physics while initially, was accepted in architecture at the university. After 6 years, I partnered with Yaron Lousky who took over the management of the company while I was mainly on the creative part. Almost two decades later, after founding the world-renowned company: KBY Designs & event production, I feel truly blessed that I, together with my partner and our team have mastered the art of interpreting our clients’ dreams into momentary living realities.
Signature Style: Our signature style would be our detailed-oriented productions, our lush flowers and our countless mesmerizing focal points.
My Dream Destination: Marrakech, Morocco.
Lisa Shiner, Israel
My Story: Following dual qualifications, I decided to pursue my passion and start from scratch in the events industry. I felt that I wanted to create a new benchmark in the local events industry. One in which contracts were well-drafted, transparent and properly protected the couples. I was able to bring this into force due to my training and moved forward to create a winning combination between professionalism and the ability to build something that is my own, whilst continually and incessantly watching over my clients’ interests.
Signature Style: I would describe our style as opulent and rich in flowers and décor used in combination with carefully sketched architectural designs.
My Dream Destination: Bali. I feel that working in this destination would provide a beautiful result, enabling me to work with exotic local flowers and materials which are less familiar to me in my everyday work.
Majeda Kassir Bisharat, Jordan
My Story: One day, a friend of mine asked me if I was interested in designing and planning her engagement party. I didn’t hesitate, I accepted the challenge, despite it being the first time professionally executed an event for someone else. This event was the turning point for me – there’s nothing that felt more rewarding than seeing the couple and their guests happy, which gave me a glimpse of the bigger picture and the life-changing experiences that come with becoming an event planner & designer. That’s when I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life, and ever since, I never looked back.
Signature Style: Huge emphasis on tunnels/ entrances, experiential events table styling circulation and flow of the layout, quality of event and attention to detail.
My Dream Destination: I would love to host a destination wedding in In the “Die Woud” venue, Cape Town, South Africa. This venue is situated in the middle of the forest and is made of glass. I genuinely admire the symmetry of the trunks in the aforementioned forest and as such, being able to organize and plan an event in the venue within such forest greatly inspires me. However, before going elsewhere, I would love to host a wedding in the “rose-red” city of Petra, Jordan. One of the seven wonders of the world, Petra is exceptionally surreal in every way.
Mohamad Ghayad, Qatar
My Story: Growing up in Beirut I started getting familiar with the business concept at an early age and soon my attention was caught by the wedding industry. I established the wedding design company Le Mariage in 2009 and started my journey as a wedding designer.
Signature Style: Architecture and art installations.
My Dream Destination: Ever-changing.
Pamela Mansour, Lebanon
My Story: Mine Weddings and Events are the international luxury wedding planners of choice for those seeking authentic and unique celebrations. They have built a global reputation for creating outstanding luxury weddings. Ramzi Mattar, who has more than 15 years of experience in this field, always strives to have the most unique weddings. Pamela Mansour, as an expert in her field, has a panache for bridal care. She assists her clients in creating memorable, magical celebrations that exceed expectations.
Signature Style: Lavish and unique designs.
My Dream Destination: New York.
Robert Hykl, Lebanon
My Story: Artisan de Rêves, I’m a dreamer. Following an educational path in International Economy and Finance, and a career launch as an investment banker, I eventually let go of it all and decided to follow my heart and embrace my talent – a passionate and creative skill to design, to dream, to paint dreams, to work with my hands to create unique elements.
Signature Style: There is always a twist in our designs that makes us unique.
My Dream Destination: Latin America.
Walid Baz, Lebanon
My Story: “It all started by chance,” as he says. Beginning his journey in 2009, Walid now stands as one of the top planners in Lebanon and the world. For Walid and his team, building a concept is an art, and they strive to create original, exceptional history, evoking a whole range of feelings and unforgettable impressions each time.
Signature Style: Structures.
My Dream Destination: Miami.
Zainab Alsalih, UAE
My Story: I started my professional career in finance as a banker, but soon realized that this was not where my passion was. I have always felt that there’s something deeply gratifying about bringing people joy and sharing it with them, so I always knew whatever I did, it needed to give me the opportunity to make people happy, and to make a positive impact on people’s lives. I never planned on being a wedding planner, but through knowing what I loved doing, and what I was passionate about, along with recognizing my core skills, my career as a wedding planner evolved organically, one small step at a time.
Signature Style: A focus on detail, elegant use of floral arrangements, and an intimate and romantic approach to designing weddings. Less theatrical and trendy, more personal and timeless.
My Dream Destination: Capri.
Ziad Raphael Nassar, Lebanon
My Story: I began my career as a graphic designer and then as a creative director, moving to Cairo, Egypt in 1998. In 2004, my best friend proposed and I was so excited I couldn’t help but offer my services as an impromptu wedding planner. I had no experience in the field but it always intrigued me – how hard could it be right? Wrong! It was a very challenging project with over 1000 guests. It was not perfect, as nothing ever is, but it inspired me to pursue a career in event planning and concept creation. Soon after, I moved to Saudi Arabia and founded my very own event company, “Once.”
Signature Style: We want each bride and groom to look back at their weddings 15 and 30 years later and feel that their wedding was timeless and that they’d do it exactly the same if they had to redo it. A common link between each wedding, however, would be seamlessness and refinement of the setup, the attention to detail in design as well as superior execution, no matter how large the production.
My Dream Destination: Without a doubt, Marrakech!
