More about Egyptian Wedding Traditions

Well back in August, I had talked a little bit about Egyptian traditions. With the holiday season, and the chance to actually relax for a minute, I finally got the opportunity to watch my Aunt's wedding video (where I was candle girl - the one 15 years ago). This sparked memories of a few other Egytian Weddings that I've been to more recently - in Egypt. I'll talk about the Egyptian Weddings in Egypt for this entry, then maybe talk about Egyptian-Canadian ones a little later.

Actually before I get to that... for those of you who are wondering why I wear the engagement ring on the "right" hand, instead of the left hand. Egyptians (and many other cultures actually - like many Europeans, Jews, Arabs, Spanish (Spain, Venezuala, Chile), ... I think they even do it in Poland ...), wear their engagement rings on their right hand. At the wedding, the bride and groom switch it to the left hand. It stays on the "ring" finger the whole time, and usually goes on after the wedding ring - making it closer to the heart. Even more practically, the ring fits better on my right hand, ever since I sprained in Stonecliffe last August. (Although I'm not totally sure why it originated as the "right" hand, I think it has to do with the greek or latin (or arabic) words for "right" and "left"; the right is supposed to be better.)

Okay, so back to Wedding traditions. People are starting to ask me about Bridal showers, and Bachelorette parties. I think this is because some of them live out of town, and want to know when to head back to Ottawa. Anyway, this whole "bachelor/stag" and "bachelorette/stagette" thing, don't really happen the same way in Egyptian culture, as in Canadian culture.

The night before the big day (or a couple of nights before the wedding), the relatives, the friends and the neighbors got together to celebrate "the Henna Night". While the men went to the groom's house, we got to party it up at the Bride's house.
At the bride's house the women belly-dance and sing all night (well there's always the eating and talking bit too). The bride wears a dress (often pink) made with silk or cotton fibers, and her hands and feet are decorated with henna. "The Henna lady" that caters to the henna decorations of the bride, often does waxing as well. The other women often jump in at the chance to get henna tattoos and waxing done too. So it's just a night of indoor, outgoing, loud, dancing, singing, and spa-ing fun! The bride sometimes also shows her new jewellery (a gift that the groom buys the bride for the wedding). Meanwhile, the men dance and sing all night at the groom's house, and in case you were wondering, the groom wears a suit (not like a galabaya or something).

The next day, the marriage contract /wedding ceremony is signed and registered in the mosque/church/temple. Other than the couple and most of their families and very close friends. Usually the families take up a lot of the room, so not everyone is invited to attend the ceremony.

Okay, so I didn't make it to the candle part yet, but at least the pre-wedding traditions are mostly covered now. It's getting late and I'm getting tired. But please let me know what you think of this post, so I know if it's a good idea to talk about traditions or not.

Cheers,
Nora

P.S. There are 168 days to go! =)
P.P.S Happy Eid! =) - It starts today.

Dress Shopping Adventures with Mom (part 2)

So yeah, 3 dresses, all very different in style, etc. But yet they all work well for me, I guess it just depends on whether I want to look "princessy", "portable/like sporty for a dress", or elegant". I hope to take a couple of the girls to the store again, and get their opinion. It'll be interesting, since they all look different from each other.

One cool thing about having the Egyptian background, is... connections! Yup, there's always someone who knows someone who... It's cool. We already booked our photographer though, but now a couple of people are still hooking us up with photographers info. Which is cool, but we're more in need of a DJ at this point. The bridal store I went to with my Mom, is giving us a discount simply because our friend shops there exclusively for dresses and gets a discount. So that's really cool. =)

Anyway, I don't have much to say now, since I'm supposed to be busy wrapping.

Have a Merry Christmas,
Nora

Dress Shopping Adventures with Mom

A few months ago I went with Allison, and found the "perfect dress". I have to admit, it does look pretty awesome. So when we were shopping for the girls' dresses, I just had to "try" it on again. - Yup, still looks pretty good.

So anyway, my Mom has been starting to take an interest in the dresses, and asking about them. So this evening, we went to go check them out. Then ... she discovered that the dress wasn't exclusively all totally white. (I know that the "all" is redundant, but I am just using it to emphasis her feeling.) Anyway, while I was still looking through the dresses, another bride came in, and took measurements for the "perfect dress" which apparently was the one I was about to try on for the third time with my Mom. lol =) So I guess it's pretty popular with all brides.

Finally we came up with 5 dresses to try on. All ranging from 500-1000$ after tax and discount (the Arab connection really pays). So it's now down to three dresses.

To be Continued...

Woosh

Anyone else feel like the days are just flying by? Man, I can't believe that it's already the 19th of December! Just over 25 weeks to go!

Well things are moving along... slowly but surely. I got to go dress shopping with the girls on Saturday (apparently most bridal stores are closed on Sunday). It was awesome! They looked great! So now it's still down to 2 colors, and I'm just waiting to figure out my wedding dress first. My mom and I will probably got check them out in the next week. See the lavender color goes best with Ivory, and the Riviera blue color goes best with White. It's weird how that although they both look white (well probably not according to inuits), there's actually a noticeble difference between the two when put with other colors. hmmm

Anyway it was nice, and we had quite an awesome afternoon. Which was followed by a Memorial service, but hey.

Our invitations are pretty much set now, which is exciting! =) I can't wait to mail them out... so I better hold off on ordering them for as long as possbile. lol Yup, I'm the type of person who can't wait for stuff. It's hilarious! =) Jeff's already gotten a Christmas gift. lol so I can't get the rest until Christmas Eve - lol.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the holidays!


Cheers,
Nora

188 days to go

But who's counting? ;)

lol 188 days until the wedding. I'm actually getting excited about it again =) The cool thing is that there are a couple of other teachers at the school who are getting married this school year. Joanne's getting married in April, and Kara's getting married in May. Hehehe, her fiancé's name is Jeff too! =) Awesome or what?! So it's really cool, since we can compare, and get tips/hints from each other. =)

She's hooking me up with another photographer's info - hopefully he's the one, he's cheaper and let's us do our own printing (not the guys she went with, but her brother did. One thing for sure is that the prices keep going up - so her tip is to book one soon. My hope is to definitely get it booked by new years eve!

I'm looking forward to Allison's visit next weekend. I finally get to see her again! (It's been a month.) And...we get to go dress shopping. =) Hurrah!

Okay I'm tired, but I wanted to post this after midnight, so I can watch the days tick by. =)

Have a good one,
Nora

November Update

Well there are 28 weeks to go until the wedding. I actually have a lot to update though! =) Jeff and I finally figured out our wedding party (Allison, Jumoke, Juli, Adrian, Charles, and Chris - we had to fight over Chris, but he ended up being on Jeff's side.) - though we didn't really ask them all yet. We also met a photographer! We still have to meet another one to compare. The other good news, is that I got a teaching job that goes full-time until April. So March break will be spent doing a lot of wedding planning. But luckily we'll have some more income coming in to do it with.=)

I have an idea of what I want for flowers now, but not totally yet. I'm going to go to an open house on Sunday at anikaartsandflowers.com.

The other cool thing is that we heard from another Nora & Jeff =) Is that hilarious or what?! They're getting married this Sunday - so good luck to both of them! Jeff and I still have 196 days to wait. We also have 199 days to wait for the new home we just bought - hurrah, we finally found a place to live (we won't be homeless). =)

How's that for an update?

Cheers,
Nora