myfirstlebanesewedding

Driving down the highway (or sitting in the front seat of a car going down the high way) I was amazed by the number of wedding related billboards that decorate the coastal landscape. There's the infamous "You may now kiss the banker!" offering couples loans for their big day, there's the civil marriage in Cyprus-deals for those who can't get married in a church or a mosque as well as countless brands advertising "haute couture" dresses for women who want to get the stripper-bride down the aisle or up the pole look.

I bought the wedding magazine U Bridal, to use for my recent artsy project, and I only had to skim through a paragraph to feel like reading every article before starting to cut out any images. I mean, I come from a culture where marriage just isn't that big of a deal so all this bridal hysteria amuses me; I remember discussing weddings with my friend Monica when we were younger and saying things like the third time you get married it's wisest to wear a minimalistic dress. In U Bridal they talk about your wedding day like its the last day of your life - the whole "remember you will NEVER have as nice of a day like this one EVER again in your life" is on almost every page mixed with tips on how you can bedazzle everything around your tulle-explosion of a dress to make sure that "all eyes stay on you at all times!". Question, if I'm invited to a couple's wedding, why wouldn't I be looking at the bride and groom?!

Luckily, the wedding I attended yesterday wasn't as lunatic as what I had read about, but of course it didn't lack any of the essential elements. It was beautiful outdoors ceremony, which I unfortunately didn't understand a word of, in the middle of a garden with white bouquets on pedestals of different heights. After the ceremony we walked down to a terrass for the welcome drink, which was a chance to mingle and to check out what the women were wearing - I was not disappointed. There were the five hour hairdos, my favorite was the size of a basketball, and the prom-like dresses with "matching" everything, in this category my favorite was a long white dress (seriously wearing white to a wedding, huh?).

After walking down to the dinner area, the newly weds made their grand entrance with dancers, flags, music and dabkeh - this is apparently inspired by the way weddings used to happen in villages. Then there was the dinner, enough to feed a small city in Sweden, followed by the cake-cutting which, naturally, is the moment for the pyrotechniques to come in the picture. Anyway, I had a good evening! Especially during the bouquet toss when I, at first, was the only girl past the age of twelve. I'm hoping to get to go to more Lebanese weddings now that "wedding season" has kicked off. I have a feeling a lot of them will make the royal wedding seem less than understated...