How did/will you have your wedding?

[yassmine2878 1]

I need some wedding tips from my ME/NA sisters. Ahmed and I are planning on having our (American) wedding in a small church ceremony. Of course, we are going to have a traditional Moroccan wedding with his family later on, but I'd like to honor his family and culture in our wedding here. Does anyone have any tips or ideas for me? Im all ears to advice, nothing is too crazy or too subtle.

[kerewin21 2]

Here's a thread from a few weeks ago...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5297

We had a small wedding where I wore my Moroccan dress and he wore his jellaba, and we did the dates/milk thing at it (honeyblonde gave a really good description of this in the thread above). We also served mint tea afterwards.

We're having a bigger reception in May, and we'll have arabic music, a belly dancer, and I'm getting henna done.

If you come up with anything else, let me know because I'm still trying to Moroccan-ize our reception!

Have fun!

Sharon

[yassmine2878 1]

Here's a thread from a few weeks ago...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5297

If you come up with anything else, let me know because I'm still trying to Moroccan-ize our reception!

Have fun!

Sharon

Thanks for the thread link. I usually go thread-hunting before I post a question, but sometimes the search results I get back are from the other side of the moon LOL

Let me fill you in a bit on what we've got so far. My cousin is all over the wedding plans like dieters on Godivas, and Im happy to let her do it (I was all about the JP until my cousin got involved, she's become an instant wedding planner and it's wonderful). She has suggested that each of the women in my family wear some sort of traditional Moroccan dress , she's found a Moroccan-type design for the grooms' cake and a henna-like design for the bride's cake, and a Middle Eastern-style ring pillow. My mother has suggested having some photos of his family at the reception, since they cannot be there in person. Im a little upset about that (but my family wont be able to attend our wedding in Morocco either, so I guess it's all a wash). I just wanted to take part in the research/ideas because my cousin is really doing a bang up job and I feel a little guilty for letting her take the reins (even though she's acting like a kid in a candy store )

It's actually a little odd, Im wanting to add some Moroccan flavor to our American wedding, but Ahmed is in love with all things Texan/Western. Go figure! Oh well, I love my Moroccan Cowboy LOL

[Jasman0717 9]

We just went to the local court house

[honeyblonde 0]

I can't give you much advice there. My sister wanted to plan our wedding until my aunts decided that we had no right getting married in a church and my mom informed me that she didn't want me to do it. I had quite a few battles with her about it, and the 1 week before the day I wanted to marry they suddenly decided (after getting to know Abdel better) that it would be ok. By that time I was preparing for finals and so ticked off I just told them to get lost and found a judge I knew to help us. My sister and mom still threw a reception for us, but it wasn't like we wanted at all.

I'm glad your family is being so accepting and you're able to do things the way you want. Good luck and I'm sure things will turn out fine. Your plans already sound quite nice.

[MrsAmera 41]

Well I'm happy to get involved in this one - our wedding is in 3 weeks! The colors for our wedding are red, gold and ivory - I did the red and gold because my fiance is from Marrakech and red and gold make me think of Morocco. We bought a glass star in Morocco, and glass lanterns and tea cups and brought them back. In the middle of our dance floor we are using fabric to make a "taureg" like tent to dance under with lights inside (it made me think of the Sahara). We are using minimal flowers but instead are using a lot of candles. We are having a night time wedding with hors d'ouevres - including stuffed mushrooms, chicken skewers and couscous stuffed tomatoes. Our table decorations are a larger square mirror, with one of the lanterns from morocco on each, with a tea light inside. Then we are using 4-6 tealites on the mirror as well and some stones (like the kind you would use for decorating) in jewel tones to decorate the mirror and create more sparkle. We are doing the milk and dates and also between the ceremony and reception we made a movie with pictures of his family, us together and some of our favorite music. We are having a civil ceremony as we are both Muslims but there are no mosques where the wedding is so we couldn't get an imam to perform the ceremony. His brother is reading the passages from the Qu'ran that are usually read at a wedding. We also will do the dates/milk at our reception. Instead of having a champagne toast we are doing our toast with Moroccan mint tea, in the cups we brought back from Morocco. The cups say "You are welcome" in Arabic - and our theme is that because sharing tea with a family in Morocco is a way of showing them they are welcome in your family we will be welcoming our guests into our new family. The tea cups are also our gifts to give to our guests. Our first dance song is our favorite Arabic song and we plan on having American and Arabic music (probably some French too because we both love Celine Dion's French CD!) I think that we have combined a lot of both traditions and just hope we can pull it off. Good luck!!

[LebaneseMama 1]

Amera,

Your wedding sounds soooo beautiful !! Please when it is all over post pics for us to see. I seriously want the next three weeks to by so quick so I can see those pics that I am sure will turn out gorgeous. I am soo excited ..... have a wonderful wedding and don't let the stress get to you.

Massouna

[~*Dorothy*~ 2]

Amera, your description is breathtaking ...Best of luck and I hope that this day will be one of the happiest in you life...

Edited April 3, 2006 by ella74ny

[yassmine2878 1]

Wow Amera! I had Ahmed read your post too and he really likes your ideas. Hurry up and have your wedding, we want to see pictures LOL! Thanks so much for the reply, you've really inspired me

[Together4ever 1]

We plan to go to the local mosque.

[evilcanuck 0]

We had an extremely small church ceremony in a local church, just family and super close friends, maybe 20 people in all, my sons walked me down the aisle, 1 attendant each.

We went to dinner at nice restaurant tht had a private dining room in the back wit the family and bridal party, about 16 people.

Friends (matron of honour and her husband) own a bar, my husband worked there for 9 years, he even proposed to me there, so it was a no-brainer to hold the reception there. We dd a bunch of food, veggies and dip, lnchmeats, breads, chips and dip, pumpernickle and spinach dip etc, some hot trays also of lasagna and stuff like that from BJ's, heck we even bought the cake from BJ's. I ran out of time to make one of my own and this was easier to serve...adn they put our photo on it!

The bar is a band bar, my husband and all his friends are in bands, have been in bands, play or sing so we didnt have a 'band' or a DJ, we had a 'jam night'. Everyone who wanted to got up and played something. My eldest son played drums with the guys. It ws a real cool intimate night. It suited us well, the music, our friends, the atmosphere. Laid back, fun and filled with music.

A personal wedding is more important than a big one.....IMHO anyways

[evilcanuck 0]

oops clicked here from elsewhere, didnt notice i was in the regional forum...ignore my post LOL

[cbd2cai 0]

oops clicked here from elsewhere, didnt notice i was in the regional forum...ignore my post LOL

But it sounds like such a fun wedding!!! LOL.

[kerewin21 2]

oops clicked here from elsewhere, didnt notice i was in the regional forum...ignore my post LOL

But it sounds like such a fun wedding!!! LOL.

I agree! Apparently a non-ME/NA wedding can also be great

[Aymerlu 3]

Right now the plans are just a little ceremony with a few friends and family. However, it seems that EVERYONE is wanting to come so there may be a lot more coming! Since we don't really want a church wedding, we are using the fellowship hall in my parents church. I am going to have tables set up with little egyptian nic naks on it. I am doing the table so everyone can come in, sit, we say our vows, everyone get the cake and punch....and get out so we can get to the hotel! LOL!!!! I want to have arabic music and other music like Enya and Enigma playing. My colors are ivory, lavenders and purples. Here's a pic of my bouquet. I actually bought it off eBay and I love it! I am going to see if this gal will make more flowers for me too. As for my matron of honors dress. I told her to just go get a pretty lavender/purple dress that she knows she will wear again. I don't want anyone spending money on something they won't wear again.