Raquelle and Andy El-Bayeh have one piece of advice for couples planning a destination wedding: skip Europe.
They have the standing to say it. In September, the Dubai-based couple, Melbourne girl and Sydney boy, both of Lebanese heritage, brought a hundred guests from Australia, the Gulf and Europe to the Keserwan mountains above the Bay of Jounieh. They planned it in three months.
Many of the Australians had only ever seen Lebanon on the news. By the end of the week, they were asking when round two was.
It began on Halloween 2024, at a masquerade ball at Soho House Melbourne. Raquelle wore a mask. Andy, by his own account, knew before he’d seen her whole face, and told a friend he had just met the mother of his children. The timing wasn’t right, and they parted for different cities.
Then came a new year’s message, and Arabic lessons every Wednesday night, practised down the phone on her. Andy proposed on 22 December 2025 at Diamond Bay in Sorrento, where he had first asked her to be his girlfriend, the sand covered in roses. The day before, he and his mother had asked for her family’s blessing, with his father, George, on FaceTime from Sydney, too unwell to fly. George passed away three weeks later.
All three venues were a short drive apart, so guests spent the weekend celebrating, not in cars.
Friday: Long Table, Lace and Lanterns. A long table under festoon lights in the stone courtyard of Beit Trad, a house dating to 1808. Raquelle wore Lilian Khallouf, a lace-and-chiffon gown with a piecey hem that moved like a mermaid’s tail, and vintage-inspired satin-bow platforms found with Andy in an Athens boutique.
Saturday: Harissa, Held by Candlelight. The ceremony took place at the Melkite basilica of St Paul, high above the bay, with paragliders drifting past as guests arrived. The couple left the church almost bare: candlelight, loose flowers, their people. Raquelle wore Zuhair Murad: a corseted bodice, a lace sweetheart neckline, a skirt of tulle and embroidered lace scattered with pearls, and a cathedral-length veil.
Andy wore an ivory double-breasted Dolce & Gabbana dinner jacket, black trousers and Tom Ford shoes. His brief from Raquelle was James Bond. His own reference was the final scene of Original Sin. A gold rose brooch by Artzi sat on his lapel, and every groomsman wore a matching one.
Saturday Night: Two Chickens and a Cave. The reception was held at Indira, a 250-year-old Ottoman house in Kfour, under bougainvillea spilling down the courtyard arches. Raquelle changed into a second Zuhair Murad, a sheer strapless column of embroidered lace, to dance until the candles burned down. The night ended in a stone cave turned Beirut nightclub, beneath a neon sign of two red chickens.
The palette followed a Lebanese afternoon turning into night: terracotta, burnt orange, ochre and a burgundy closer to wine than fire. Raquelle did her own make-up, taking her cues from the Lebanese pop stars of the 2000s, in bronzed skin, smoky eyes and big hair.
The rule was that the culture had to come from the couple and their families, never from a theme.
Andy designed Raquelle’s rings with Azar Gems: an oval solitaire on a yellow-gold serpent, and a band that tapers into the serpent’s tail.
Lebanese artist Jules Bakhos, a close friend, drew the invitations and the envelopes for each guest, and designed the wedding website and the keepsakes.
The cocktail menu followed the couple’s story, from a Tommy’s Margarita for the night they met to arak poured the way their families pour it.
The wine station carried Hosea 14:7, the verse that names the wine of Lebanon.
Andy’s father ran El Phoenician in Sydney for 30 years. He never saw the country he carried around Australia. At the reception, he had his own bar.
Andy told the room that his father had a corner of the night, and to go and sit with him. Then he passed on George’s rules for any big night: go bigger, have the time of your lives, do loads of shots on him. A hundred people raised a glass in the mountains of the country he never reached.
Then Andy put his speech cards down and sang Raquelle his own version of “Make You Feel My Love”. She had asked him for months, and he had always said no. Earlier that day, her father had recited a poem of about a thousand words for the couple, entirely from memory.
The wedding opened the week. The couple took their guests down the mountain to Batroun for beach clubs and the Phoenician sea wall, then to Beirut, based in Achrafieh. One night ended at B018, the bunker nightclub with a roof that slides open to the sky.
If We Were Planning Lebanon, We’d Start Here
Get married first, then host.
Keep the venues close.
Hire a brilliant local planner and trust them. Jennifer Tawil delivered all three days.
Build it with friends: the DJs, the MC, the art and the camera.
Thank every guest by hand.
Give people a reason to stay.
Would they change anything? Only the advice. Everyone from hotel staff to strangers on the roadside cheered them on, and Raquelle says she is sad not to be a bride anymore.
Credits
Ceremony: Melkite Basilica of St Paul, Harissa
Reception: Indira, Kfour @indira_kfour
Welcome dinner: Beit Trad, Kfour @beittrad
Planner: Jennifer Tawil @jennifer_tawil
Photography: Karina Lee Studio @karinalee.studio with Sarah Tee @sarahtee__
Film: Unique Wedding @uniquewedding
Social content: Lebanon by Dann @lebanonbydann
Bridal gowns: Zuhair Murad @zuhairmuradofficial
Welcome gown: Lilian Khallouf @lilliankhallouf
Shoes: Christian Louboutin @louboutinworld
Groom: Dolce & Gabbana @dolcegabbana, Tom Ford @tomford; Umit Benan @umitbenan, Prada @prada
Rings: Azar Gems @azargems; Henson & Gold @hensonandgold
Jewellery: Paolo Bongia @paolobongia; Artzi @artziv
Fragrance: Byredo Night Veils Vanille Antique @officialbyredo
Flowers: Flower Concept @flowerconcept
Cake: Bouche Sucrée @bouchesucree
Art, website, invitations: Jules Bakhos @julesbakhos
MC: Rabih Rowell @rabihrowell
DJs: Casa Cascou @casa.cascou, Dan Mumbles @danmumbles, Jean Azzi @jean_azzi
Couple: @red_shiraz, @raquelle_saba, @andyelbayeh
Written by
Editorial Lead
Yash Jain is the Editorial Lead at Wedded Wonderland, where he curates the world of luxury weddings, destination celebrations, honeymoons and travel. With a sharp eye for design, fashion and the finer details that give a celebration its character, he shapes stories that inspire couples and guide them from first idea to final decision. His coverage spans couture gowns and jewellery to landmark venues, considered florals and escapes worth the journey, always with a view to what makes a moment feel truly elevated.
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