Omar and Iman's wedding

The last day in our hotel downtown, we finally remembered to take a picture of one of the many freshly squeezed fruit juice shops that offered refreshing mugs of mango, pomegranate, banana, melon and sugar cane (and more) juice. These are really nice to drink in the hot Egyptian weather. Here's me with a couple mugs of mango juice. They were pretty cheap too, at only 2 Egyptian pounds (about $0.40 Canadian) for a big mug of freshly squeezed juice.

We also had a few things to pick up, as I had forgotten to bring my bathing suit, and Julia wanted a scarf to use to cover her shoulders with her dress for the wedding, and we were able to get these things that morning.

We left downtown for the posh J. W. Marriot after that. This is were the wedding was being held (actually the wedding party, as the official religious ceremony was held earlier that week at a mosque). We checked in to our "golf" view room. Here's the very luxurious (and A/C chilled to about 17°C) room:



With sizable balcony,

And a view on the golf course.That right, there was a golf course (nine holes I think) at our hotel in the middle of desert. We also had access to the many pools available, one of which was a wave pool,




and they were of course surrounded by a sandy beach-like setting with chaises longues.

After enjoying the hotel facilities, we got ready for Omar and Iman's wedding. It was scheduled for 9:00, which in Egyptian time means just before midnight. Here's Omar waiting for the bride with the bridal party (I think there were 12 groomsmen/bridesmaids all together).

When Iman was ready, Omar was signaled to got meet her so they could make their glorious entrance. The procession was lavish and included lots of dancing and at least three different bands. The first band walking them to the hall included this ornate looking fellow on the bag pipes.


The video bellow is a one minute sample of the 30 mins of madness that it took to walk/dance form the entrance to the hall (about 50m).



Crazy fun.

Side note: Before all this, if by any chance you were there before the official start or erroneously on time, you could take your picture with the bride and groom... well life size cardboard cutouts of the bride and groom. The pictures would then be immediately printed and put in an album with room for the guest to write a comment for the happy couple. Pretty nice setup.

Next, the production that was the wedding. Very nice looking hall, complete with lit up dance floor, main stage and a band/DJ stage, appetizer buffet, a chocolate fountain, and an ante room for the actual buffet (served at around 2ish).


Of note were the lit up tables. Also, appetizer of chicken livers, hummus, salad, and nuts not from the buffet and already on the table (I mention this to try to illustrate how much food was served).

Oh, and there were running fountains with fresh flowers under the glass in the lit-up tables.

We were also surrounded by an army of waiters. I'm not sure how many but there was at least two just for our table of four and they were dedicated. We were not allowed to have empty glasses for more than two minutes. One took a liking to me and started bringing me random plates of sushi and drinks without me having to ask for them. Another one followed Julia to the appetizer buffet, and took her plate from her and filled it on her behalf.

After a while, the couple made their entrance on the main stage. Here they are dancing for the crowd, and elaborately choreographed affair.

Here is the traditional cutting of the cake. I can't remember why but every groomsman-bridesmaid pair had a cake. When the official cake was cut, shinny confetti exploded from the stage.

Here's everybody getting down on the lit dance floor.




Including the little ones, of course.


This is the second stage for the DJ and a Saxophonist.
And here we are at the end of the night ready to go to bed at around 3:30 am while the party was still in full tilt.
How was all this excitement captured you ask? With a film crew and of course a camera boom for all those tough overhead shots. The video was also being projected on the wall above the main stage.
Also something special that was aired was a music video that the bride made for the groom. It featured herself and her friends dancing to "No life without wife", a song from "Bride and Prejudice". I was going to link to a youtube video of this song from the movie, but if you really want to endure such a thing, you'll have to look it up yourself. I'm not taking responsibility for that.