May 1 – Oriana and Karim’s Wedding

 I'm really fortunate to have met Oriana through work. She must be one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. We spend a lot of time together and I was surprised and very pleased to be invited to her wedding! I was excited to see what happens in Egypt at a wedding and so happy for Oriana. She kept me updated on the events leading up to the wedding. 1^st there was the ring ceremony. They both put their rings on their right hand instead of their left – which means they are officially engaged. Next there was the paper signing ceremony. At this ceremony, they were officially married in front of their family. They signed all their official documents and moved the rings from the right hand to the left hand. And finally, the wedding day which was much the same as our traditional wedding receptions after the church. There was time with the photographer and then the party started with the first dance right away – and Oriana and Karim had fireworks because the whole reception was outside. No tent required in Egypt. There’s never a fear that it’s going to rain.

I have to tell you my story leading up to the party …. I still had one more place to look before making a decision on purchasing a new computer. We had the day off because it was a holiday and we were planning on going out for a nice brunch and then Becca and I had hair and nail appointments at 2:30 to get ready for the wedding. I figured we had lots of time to check out the Smart Computer Mall before brunch. Boy was I wrong. I ended up finding a computer that I wanted to buy. But instead of telling me it was going to take 3 hours to get the computer ready to leave the store, he told me to have a seat, it will be 15 minutes. He had to install Windows, various drivers, a virus program and Microsoft Office among other things. Mike and Becca found a doughnut shop and that ended up being our “brunch”, eaten in the tiny computer shop where the nice man loading up my computer was chain smoking.  When he finally handed me the computer, and I handed him the money, we were already 90 minutes late for our hair and nail appointments.

I should have just cancelled the appointments but I wanted them to at least cut Becca’s hair. We had put it off too long. I feel bad for the people in the salon. I will go back there someday soon. They were very nice and accommodating and tried to work as quickly as possible and still managed to make our hair presentable. I was really surprised – once I stopped being so upset about being late – at how nicely everything turned out.

Oriana told me she was making her first appearance at 6:00. I was having a fit because it was 6:45 before we pulled into the parking lot. We found a table and I was relieved to find out she hadn’t made an appearance yet. It was just after 7pm when they finally came out into the garden. Phew! What a crazy day. Oh and to top it all off – I FORGOT MY CAMERA. The photos I have are from my friend’s i-phone (yay for phone cameras). And one day soon, I will have a few photos from Oriana’s photographer.

Now, back to the wedding story … at 7pm (ish) Oriana and Karim came out to the beautifully decorated outdoor patio at the Country Club in Uptown Cairo. There was a band playing traditional Egyptian music in front of them and they were surrounded by family and friends – all singing and dancing up a storm in celebration. They eventually made their way through three arches and onto the dance floor where they had their first official dance. Oriana had a beautiful photo presentation for Karim and Oriana’s mom had a special gift for her. Then the dancing really started. There were fireworks and the dance floor was lit up …. And it was FULL! Everyone was crowding and dancing around the bride and groom and this, I’m told, is exactly how it is all night long. At one point, they did manage to escape from the dance floor to come around to each table and say hi to everyone. After a while the buffet opened and we enjoyed a delicious meal. They cut the cake on the dance floor – and Oriana tossed her bouquet from the stairs. The music was really good – a mixture of everything with lots of English tunes too. Our group was ready to leave just after 10pm. It was a beautiful reception.

This is a truly wonderful group of women to work with. I love them all.