An Emirati Wedding

Thursday night I was lucky enough to attend an Emirati Wedding. My friend works for a design house which specializes in Emirati wedding gowns so I was able to go and witness a real local celebration: the marriage of Omran & Nawal. I realized that attending a wedding really is the best way to learn about a culture. It really taught me a great deal about the traditions and customs of the people here.

An interesting fact to know is that the UAE gives nationals Dh70,000 to get married. That is approximately $19,000. This is called the Marriage Fund and it was started in 1992 to encourage nationals to get married. However, the wedding event is apparently so expensive that the $19,000 is not sufficient.

The wedding comprises of several events:

Engagement party: This is held only for women. The bride receives her dowry (this amount ranges but in a recent article it is approximately Dh10,000) plus jewelry, perfume, fabrics, etc.

Henna night: This is two nights before the wedding. The bride is decorated with henna designs.

Last night of the wedding: The men have dinner separately and have their own event. The women gather on the last day and have a huge party which includes the biggest event, the unveiling of the bride in her gown. There is a lot of food, dancing, and gift offerings. At the end of the night, the groom arrives with his father, brothers, and the bride's father and brothers. The night ends with the couple leaving together as man and wife.

I got to attend the last night. It was a very lavish occasion. The giant ballroom held approximately 500 women. There was a huge stage like a real fashion show runway that was in the middle of the room with an ornate backdrop. The women close to the bride all wore bright and bejeweled gowns and they danced back and forth on the stage. The rest of the room was filled with friends and family of the bride and most were dressed in Islamic cloaks or abayas. The buffet was the largest and most delicious buffet i have ever been to. there was lots of tahini. Throughout the night you are served tons of different drinks - coffee, tea, green tea, rose water milk, you name it. There was also endless trays of sweets and chocolates.

The bride entered the room at about 10pm and she did a slow procession by herself to the stage. Her dress was off-white and had a great deal of beadwork and crystals on the bodice. The skirt was heavily pleated and designers helped arrange the train as she walked across the room. It was really stunning, too bad no photos are allowed at the wedding. Dancing continued on the stage while everyone goes up individually to greet the bride and wish her well. The bride is only really at the wedding for about 2 hours.

The men arrived at midnight and the women stopped dancing on stage. The groom greeted the bride and it was very interesting to see as this was probably the first time he saw her without her abaya.

Anyway, it was great to see a wedding that was so different than a western wedding. I was very fortunate to be included since the handful of designers and I were really the only non-Emirati people present at the event. neat.