Creating memorable events

Jennifer McGarrigle runs Exquisite Events in Dubai with her Emirati business partner, Noora Al Suwaidi. The pair host premium events, such as weddings, corporate occasions and product launches, managing everything from the initial design phase and consultation to hosting of the events. Every detail is considered, including carpets, chandeliers, flowers, furniture, music, entertainment and catering.

The company, established early last year, already counts royalty among its clients.

Having worked in the airline industry for several years, McGarrigle moved to Dubai with Emirates airline. There, she met her Co Donegal husband and gave birth to their daughter. The family live in a villa outside the city centre with McGarrigle's mother.

“My Mam moved here two years ago, having been made redundant in Ireland,” says McGarrigle. “She came out here for a six-week holiday and got a job, so now she lives with us and our little girl, Holly.

“Mam works in a nursery here, and loves it.”

McGarrigle says Exquisite Events does “high-end corporate events and weddings. Our events tend to be big-budget, but only because our clients have high expectations. We are there for the entire build-up to an event. Some of our events or weddings have a five-day build-up, so I would be there the whole time, only going home to sleep.”

The women handle the design and creative aspects of each occasion, bring in external designers and florists, work with venues or hotels, negotiate with vendors, obtain licences for entertainers and bring in catering if required.

“The client can completely switch off and only approve things, or they can be completely involved in the event – it varies,” says McGarrigle.

Equal partnership

McGarrigle says that while many foreign businesspeople in Dubai have silent partners, being in equal partnership with an Emirati woman is less common, though it works really well for both women.

“Myself and Noora have a very fair and equal partnership and pass everything by each other before any decisions are made,” she says. “We also socialise together, which is perhaps unusual, and spend time on the phone each day talking as friends as well as talking business. I love the balance. We have a great friendship and a mutual respect – it works very well.

“It works so well for me, because you would never break into the Emirati market without having an Emirati person on board. We have got work with the royal family and many of the VIPs in Dubai because they know Noora.

“We have also then got plenty of work with Irish companies over here, because when they hear that one of the partners is Irish it gives them confidence to go with us.”

McGarrigle never dreamt that she and Al Suwaidi would be working on events for such high-profile clients after so short a time.

“We set up in March last year and everything snowballed,” she says. “ We had an event for the royal family on New Year’s Eve. We never thought things would get to that stage so quickly.”

Working from home suits McGarrigle for now. “I get emails at 3am – most of my work comes in after 6pm – so it makes sense to work from an office at home,” she says. “I love having the flexibility as a working mum to do the school run, but I can also commit to everything that needs to be done.”

Different talents

Both partners bring different talents to Exquisite Events. McGarrigle, who holds a diploma from the Institute of Professional Wedding Planners, does a lot of the planning, paperwork and licensing (all entertainers need to be licensed to perform), while Al Suwaidi is the creative mind behind their elaborate events, with a degree in exhibitions and event management from Ravensburg University in Germany and a masters in diplomacy and international affairs.

McGarrigle says that there is a huge amount of competition in the events space in Dubai, where many of her clients socialise four or five nights a week. “The standard expected is probably the highest in the world,” she says. “You have to stand out against the three or four other events they’ve been to that week. You constantly have to come up with new and innovative ideas that haven’t been seen before. It’s competitive, but if you work hard and build trust, you can really be successful at it.”

For McGarrigle and her business partner, the future looks promising, and things may step up a further notch when the World Expo is held in Dubai in 2020. But in the short term, the company’s schedule is so busy that there is little time for making business plans.

“Long term, we would love to have our own in-house designers who can come up with the 3D rendering and drawings for ideas, rather than outsourcing that aspect of things,” McGarrigle says. “The plan is also to expand the business and start doing really big events like arena venues. The events we do currently cater for up to 2,000 people, so I’m talking really huge!”