Event Planning in Dubai

An itemized scope: number of planning meetings, vendor sourcing and management, budget tracking, timeline/run-sheet creation, on-site hours and staff count on the day, and setup/teardown oversight. A one-line fee with no scope is where disputes come from — get the deliverables in writing.

No — the planner's fee is for their time and coordination; caterers, venue, florals, entertainment and rentals are separate and usually the bulk of the budget. Watch for planners who quietly mark up vendor invoices instead of passing them through at cost.

Look for planners in Dubai with experience in your specific event type (wedding, corporate, milestone party) and ask to see a real run-sheet and references from recent clients. Local planners bring venue and vendor relationships that a generalist from out of town won't have.

No written contract or scope, marking up vendor invoices without disclosure, no references from comparable recent events, demanding full payment up front, and being vague about how many staff will actually be on-site on the day. Pressure to commit before you've seen a scope is another warning sign.

Planners price three ways: a flat package fee for a defined scope, an hourly rate for advisory work, or a percentage of the total event budget (commonly 10-20%). Full planning costs far more than day-of coordination — decide how much you actually want to hand over before comparing quotes.

Full planning runs the whole project from budget and vendor selection to the run-sheet; day-of (really month-of) coordination hands a planner your already-booked plan to execute on the day. Coordination costs a fraction of full planning and suits organized hosts who just don't want to run the event themselves.

Often enough to partly offset their fee — established planners have vendor relationships, spot padded quotes, and stop costly mistakes. But treat 'they pay for themselves' as a bonus, not a guarantee; the real value is time, stress and a plan that actually holds together on the day.

On-the-day coordination commonly runs AED 4,000-12,000, full event/wedding planning AED 15,000-80,000+, and companies often quote per project or as a percentage of budget. Free-zone and mainland companies both operate — confirm the licence.