WOW! WOW! AND WOW! Words fail to describe the spectacle that I was privileged enough to attend last night.
Think red carpet Oscar night then multiply that by 100. Add in the glitz, glamour and sparkle of Tiffany’s and you might begin to describe the event.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to accompany another fabulous New Zealander to an Emirate wedding. If I was blown away by the event last time, well that was nothing compared to this. This was the elite of wedding finery held in a wedding hall at one of the local hotels.
Arriving at 9:30pm after a detour to drop off the teenager, signs warning men to stay away was the first indicator that we were in the right place. Then the beat of the ever present Arabic music led us to the correct entrance. We were guided through the draped white wonderland into an entrance room filled with flower arrangements. A reception committee was ready to greet guests and we joined a local family to be welcomed by around 20 women, ending with the groom’s sister who I know.
A splash of our favourite perfume or oud was waiting at the end of the line for us to perfume ourselves with.
Suitable fragrant we entered the wedding hall itself. All evening I longed to take pictures so I would have adequate vocabulary to describe the event.
The hall was huge. The front was dominated by an enormous white catwalk leading to a stage with a white couch centerpiece.
The rest of the cavernous room was filled with round tables, each seating 12 people. Stately chairs with gold trim housed women of all shapes and sizes. My eyes were immediately drawn to the magnificent floral centerpieces on each table. Tealight candles burned in giant wineglasses, casting a flattering glow over the already glamourous women.
It was difficult to miss the enormous table at the back of the room filled with chocolate displays and macaroon trees inside boxes. These delights would later be handed around to us to sample.
We chose a table and joined three young women. The tables were preset with silver cutlery, plates edged with silver, wine glasses (although we would not be drinking any wine) and entrees.
Our entree consisted of five mini tasters artfully presented - hummus, vine leaves, chicken wrap in lettuce, stuffed eggplant & another dip. A basket of bread was available for us to enjoy. In front of our plate was an Italian salad of cheese, tomato and basil pesto. Plates of tiny nibbles were brought around along with fresh fruit juices.
Very quickly our entree plates were being cleared in preparation for the main meal. Platters of rice, meat and other specialities were placed on the table and we were served individually by the army of servants.
Fizzy drinks (fanta, sprite & coke) accompanied this course). A plate of chocolates with the most delectable soft caramel centre arrived and was quickly demolished.
Then came the delicious dessert of small round balls, like donuts, steeped in sticky sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. These are served on long toothpicks. Tea and the ever present bitter Arabic coffee continued to circulate. The first tea was cold pomegranate juice. The next was hot yellow, ginger infused milky tea. Then came sweet green tea. Another deep fried dessert which tasted of herbs and was liberally dusted with icing sugar arrived.
Chocolates displays were brought around for us to avail ourselves of a choccy or two. Sitting back to enjoy the spectacle I was amazed to see an army of servants walking out in two lines holding plates, of what suspiciously looked like dessert, aloft. Surely not! But yes it was. An assembly line of staff distributed individual plates which contained 5 mini desserts including my all time favourite of creme brulee! But there was even more as the delicious caramel semolina texture sticky dessert arrived.
By now we’ve been continually plied with food and drink for nearly four hours.
And that is just part of the evening. I haven’t touched on the gowns the women wore, the wedding abayas to cover the gowns, the bride’s arrival accompanied by her brother, the grooms arrival later on accompanied by male family members, the cameras, lights, the never ending loud music, the dancing, and best of all the people.
Although it was nearly impossible to speak due to the loud continuous music I ‘met’ an amazing older Arabic woman who chose to sit next to me all evening. She poked and prodded me while looking me up and down. First she checked out my hands and rings! I’m sure she was sizing me up for a wife for her son. Then she kept patting her stomach. Ummmm... As I don’t speak arabic it was difficult but she relentlessly kept talking to me. She was impressed as I moved my hands in time to the music, at one stage grabbing my hands and ‘hand dancing’ with me at the table. Which I was much happier with than stage dancing! Later she took two serviettes to do a hanky dance. She was the life of the party. When the chocolates arrived she spirited many away into her plastic supermarket ‘doggie’ bag. Then she added left-over desserts. What a hoot. All this money and wealth and she’s taking things home.
One point that struck me was how many women there wore the traditional metallic face covering. This differs from the fabric shela or head covering as it is traditionally a metal frame that covers the nose and mouth. Nowadays it appears to be made out of softer metallic looking fabric with cardboard providing shape. It needs to be moved aside or up for eating or drinking. I have not encountered a prevalence of this before and I’d say nearly half the guests were so attired, including younger women.
Once again, although I’d dressed up in my ’best’ finery it was nothing compared to the gowns the women wore. I use the term gowns as dress is too nondescript. Kate Middleton has nothing on this couture. I would have loved to snap pictures of the back of the gowns with covered buttons, lace, crystals, inserts, embroidery... I could go on all night. Obviously I was in heaven. Shoes matched in many cases and all were at least 5 inches high. Hair and makeup was off magazine covers with ringlets to die for. The essential clutch was on display on the table (we were given a mini lesson by an older woman on where to place our bags). My darling friend picked my silver clutch up and examined it then covered it with her serviette. I wasn’t sure if this was to protect it or steal it!
Then there were the jewels. Necklines sparkled and shone, ears were adorned with drops that would do the crown jewels justice. I’d love to know how many of the ‘diamonds’ were real but I’d say a fair proportion were. Rubies, sapphires and jade were common place but mostly diamonds. Even the young girls wore pearls and gold enough to pay off third world debt.
Somehow my silver plated necklace and paste drop earrings just didn’t cut it!
By 1pm most women were leaving so we bade out hostess farewell and left, taking a posy of fresh flowers with us and the most incredible memories.
Think red carpet Oscar night then multiply that by 100. Add in the glitz, glamour and sparkle of Tiffany’s and you might begin to describe the event.
I was fortunate enough to be invited to accompany another fabulous New Zealander to an Emirate wedding. If I was blown away by the event last time, well that was nothing compared to this. This was the elite of wedding finery held in a wedding hall at one of the local hotels.
Arriving at 9:30pm after a detour to drop off the teenager, signs warning men to stay away was the first indicator that we were in the right place. Then the beat of the ever present Arabic music led us to the correct entrance. We were guided through the draped white wonderland into an entrance room filled with flower arrangements. A reception committee was ready to greet guests and we joined a local family to be welcomed by around 20 women, ending with the groom’s sister who I know.
A splash of our favourite perfume or oud was waiting at the end of the line for us to perfume ourselves with.
Suitable fragrant we entered the wedding hall itself. All evening I longed to take pictures so I would have adequate vocabulary to describe the event.
The hall was huge. The front was dominated by an enormous white catwalk leading to a stage with a white couch centerpiece.
The rest of the cavernous room was filled with round tables, each seating 12 people. Stately chairs with gold trim housed women of all shapes and sizes. My eyes were immediately drawn to the magnificent floral centerpieces on each table. Tealight candles burned in giant wineglasses, casting a flattering glow over the already glamourous women.
It was difficult to miss the enormous table at the back of the room filled with chocolate displays and macaroon trees inside boxes. These delights would later be handed around to us to sample.
We chose a table and joined three young women. The tables were preset with silver cutlery, plates edged with silver, wine glasses (although we would not be drinking any wine) and entrees.
Our entree consisted of five mini tasters artfully presented - hummus, vine leaves, chicken wrap in lettuce, stuffed eggplant & another dip. A basket of bread was available for us to enjoy. In front of our plate was an Italian salad of cheese, tomato and basil pesto. Plates of tiny nibbles were brought around along with fresh fruit juices.
Very quickly our entree plates were being cleared in preparation for the main meal. Platters of rice, meat and other specialities were placed on the table and we were served individually by the army of servants.
Fizzy drinks (fanta, sprite & coke) accompanied this course). A plate of chocolates with the most delectable soft caramel centre arrived and was quickly demolished.
Then came the delicious dessert of small round balls, like donuts, steeped in sticky sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. These are served on long toothpicks. Tea and the ever present bitter Arabic coffee continued to circulate. The first tea was cold pomegranate juice. The next was hot yellow, ginger infused milky tea. Then came sweet green tea. Another deep fried dessert which tasted of herbs and was liberally dusted with icing sugar arrived.
Chocolates displays were brought around for us to avail ourselves of a choccy or two. Sitting back to enjoy the spectacle I was amazed to see an army of servants walking out in two lines holding plates, of what suspiciously looked like dessert, aloft. Surely not! But yes it was. An assembly line of staff distributed individual plates which contained 5 mini desserts including my all time favourite of creme brulee! But there was even more as the delicious caramel semolina texture sticky dessert arrived.
By now we’ve been continually plied with food and drink for nearly four hours.
And that is just part of the evening. I haven’t touched on the gowns the women wore, the wedding abayas to cover the gowns, the bride’s arrival accompanied by her brother, the grooms arrival later on accompanied by male family members, the cameras, lights, the never ending loud music, the dancing, and best of all the people.
Although it was nearly impossible to speak due to the loud continuous music I ‘met’ an amazing older Arabic woman who chose to sit next to me all evening. She poked and prodded me while looking me up and down. First she checked out my hands and rings! I’m sure she was sizing me up for a wife for her son. Then she kept patting her stomach. Ummmm... As I don’t speak arabic it was difficult but she relentlessly kept talking to me. She was impressed as I moved my hands in time to the music, at one stage grabbing my hands and ‘hand dancing’ with me at the table. Which I was much happier with than stage dancing! Later she took two serviettes to do a hanky dance. She was the life of the party. When the chocolates arrived she spirited many away into her plastic supermarket ‘doggie’ bag. Then she added left-over desserts. What a hoot. All this money and wealth and she’s taking things home.
One point that struck me was how many women there wore the traditional metallic face covering. This differs from the fabric shela or head covering as it is traditionally a metal frame that covers the nose and mouth. Nowadays it appears to be made out of softer metallic looking fabric with cardboard providing shape. It needs to be moved aside or up for eating or drinking. I have not encountered a prevalence of this before and I’d say nearly half the guests were so attired, including younger women.
Once again, although I’d dressed up in my ’best’ finery it was nothing compared to the gowns the women wore. I use the term gowns as dress is too nondescript. Kate Middleton has nothing on this couture. I would have loved to snap pictures of the back of the gowns with covered buttons, lace, crystals, inserts, embroidery... I could go on all night. Obviously I was in heaven. Shoes matched in many cases and all were at least 5 inches high. Hair and makeup was off magazine covers with ringlets to die for. The essential clutch was on display on the table (we were given a mini lesson by an older woman on where to place our bags). My darling friend picked my silver clutch up and examined it then covered it with her serviette. I wasn’t sure if this was to protect it or steal it!
Then there were the jewels. Necklines sparkled and shone, ears were adorned with drops that would do the crown jewels justice. I’d love to know how many of the ‘diamonds’ were real but I’d say a fair proportion were. Rubies, sapphires and jade were common place but mostly diamonds. Even the young girls wore pearls and gold enough to pay off third world debt.
Somehow my silver plated necklace and paste drop earrings just didn’t cut it!
By 1pm most women were leaving so we bade out hostess farewell and left, taking a posy of fresh flowers with us and the most incredible memories.
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