So what will we see at the reception in the Gulf? Here, the bride’s mother and sisters will receive the lady guests as they arrive and the ladies who are covered will have a cloak room to take off their abaya and sheyla. Once in the main hall, there’ll be so much food, there’ll be music, bedu ladies will bring around perfume oil on a long stick that you put into the bottle to take some liquid and apply it to your skin. The local bedu are often hired in to carry bukhour burners around so the guests can waft the fragrant smoke over themselves, The entertainers for the functions are flown in from overseas, particularly Lebanon, and I’ve seen an incredible range of Arabic female singers performing at weddings here. Meanwhile, the male musicians sit behind a screen on stage. The reason for this is that the majority of the lady guests will have removed their abayas and hijab on entering the reception hall. The male musicians are screened so they can’t see the lady guests and while the female guests can’t see them, the musicians can still see the singer or dancers. Once the abayas have been removed the lady guests will be wearing the most amazing array of exquisite evening gowns you’ve ever seen. And the jewellery that’s on display, well, I’m not into jewellery but even I could see that some of the pieces must be very, very, valuable. After attending a wedding in Dubai in the UAE I knew I had to seriously lift my game and I was at the gown shop pronto! Anyway, back to the party. The bride will make her big entrance and I mean BIG entrance. I’ve seen one bride come up out of the floor seated on a revolving throne while another floated down from the roof in a silver egg. And there’s always masses of dry ice! The bride does a few laps of the crowd, stopping now and then for photos and then takes her place for the evening sitting on a throne or gilt sofa. Family members and friends come up to greet the bride and have their photos taken. Bear in mind that there are often several different photo albums prepared as the ladies are often ‘uncovered’ when they have their photos taken.
At the women’s’ party all the wait staff, camera crews and technical staff will be female. Its often like a Hollywood production, there are boom cameras, separate sound systems with the huge microphones with the fluffy ends (sorry I don’t know the name for those) and the cameras that the operator has to wear so it can float up and down (don’t know the name for those either). After the entertainer/s has performed, the band then plays music for general dancing and everyone hits the floor. This is the time for the single girls of marriageable age to be seen. They’ll get up to dance and the mothers of any prospective grooms can watch them and if they like what they see they can speak to an intermediary who knows both families. Its not unlike the debutante balls in the West of not that long ago and seems to serve almost the same purpose. There will be an announcement late in the evening that the groom is coming to claim his bride and the lady guests will put their abayas and hijabs back on. The groom along with his father, brothers and a few friends arrive to great fanfare. The groom sits up on the throne next to his bride, there are a few photos taken and then the couple and the groom’s companions all leave together. It usually doesn’t take too long at all. Then, like Western weddings, once the bridal couple have gone, the party can *really* get started……