I have this well question here and I would really appreciate if someone could tell me how weddings usually go in Egypt.My fiance is Egyptian and we are planning to get married there next year.The problem is he doesnt know much how it goes, he attended one or two in his whole life so not much help.
Do brides usually wear hijabs?What about wedding dresses there?Im really clueless.Are there any special traditions?
Posts: 27 | From: England | Registered: Aug 2008
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I dont know any men over 8 who have only attended one or two weddings in their life! There are weddings going off all the time, its a national passtime here, along with funerals
Some wear hijab but it is considered her day to not wear one if she wishes. There are shops here called coiffures (sp) who do the whole bridal thing, dress, make up, hair and the bride normally spends all day in there with her women all gettin glammed up. An Egyptian wedding is a 3 day event.
This full do does not normally happen with Egyptian Foreigner weddings. If you are getting married in the ministry of justice, wear jeans and comfy trainers, it is nothing like a 'wedding' at all. The big do is the party, similar to a wedding reception in UK, and that is when the couple are considered married although they may have actually done the legal stuff days or even months before. The groom and the family etc pick up the bride from the coiffure and they go have photos done then drive round the streets honking horns and making a commotion to let everyone know these two are married.
Party is loud music with bride and groom sat on thones on a stage on show to everyone and dancing.
This is Egyptian-Egyptian wedding. getting 'married' as a foreigner is a different ball game!
-------------------- If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them. Posts: 15090 | From: http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Jul 2004
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Ah alright,thank you for reply!Gave me a little insight into whole marriage thing.
Another thing I wanted to ask.My fiance insists on paying for everything while Im not really comfortable with it,I mean it just doesnt seem right in my eyes.Is it something Egyptian men have to do or its just him?
Sorry for being nosey!Im just curious.
Posts: 27 | From: England | Registered: Aug 2008
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Here's an insight on the worst scenarioPosts: 3219 | From: Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone. | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by She_Bittersweet: Ah alright,thank you for reply!Gave me a little insight into whole marriage thing.
If you want a fully legal marraige that is valid in UK you have to do this at the Ministry of Justice (mogomma)in Cairo, there are thread on here about marriage at the ministry. Check the British Embassy website for all the requirements and get familiar with them before you come. make sure you have all the paperwork you need.
There is also civil marriage, this can be of 2 types:
Orfi (urfi) where you have 2 witnesses and a lawyer you sign a paper and you're 'married' and entitled to 'be together'. On even of divorce, this paper is ripped up and that's it. This has no legal power outside Egypt.
Registered. You do above with lawyer and this paper is then registered in the court, you are legally married and have to obtain a legal divorce.
They are the legal bits, the party is another thing as it is custom to 'announce the marraige' by the party. These range depending on finance obviously
quote:Another thing I wanted to ask.My fiance insists on paying for everything while Im not really comfortable with it,I mean it just doesnt seem right in my eyes.Is it something Egyptian men have to do or its just him?
you haven't been on here long have you
If he is insisting then AGREE!! Keep you money tight to you. Read some of the stories here please.
quote:Sorry for being nosey!Im just curious.
This is not nosey this is WISE.
Have you ever been to Egypt before?
Posts: 15090 | From: http://www.egyptalk.com/forum/ | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Dzosser: Here's an insight on the worst scenario
the bride looks like she is in the waiting room at the dentist´s and the rest is some peep show for horny men. What kind of wedding is this? Somebody needs to introduce the concept of "bridezilla" to Egyptian women.
Posts: 2184 | Registered: Oct 2005
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matches perfect with your happiness.I think it is very important to design the wedding day.you can choose outdoor wedding and indoor wedding .but it maybe rain outdoor .
Posts: 2 | From: Hong Kong | Registered: Sep 2010
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quote:Another thing I wanted to ask.My fiance insists on paying for everything while Im not really comfortable with it,I mean it just doesnt seem right in my eyes.Is it something Egyptian men have to do or its just him?
you haven't been on here long have you
If he is insisting then AGREE!! Keep you money tight to you. Read some of the stories here please.
quote:Sorry for being nosey!Im just curious.
This is not nosey this is WISE.
Have you ever been to Egypt before? [/QB][/QUOTE]
Im not worried about him at all,I mean that he would take my money especially.We have been together for 5 years and hes not some poor Egyptian who needs to get away from the country.
Yeah Ive been to Egypt like 5-6 times,so I know how its like in there.
Posts: 27 | From: England | Registered: Aug 2008
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I married my husband in Egypt, u do all the paperwork at the MOJ and embassy as Ayisha explained ( u also need a temporary settlement visa) which u can get in a place called tahinie squre (spelt wrong i think) massive government building.
The party = wedding reception I took my own wedding dress from the UK TO cairo. We had the reception in a hotel, we had traditional egyptian traditions, mixed with english and the same for music it was a mixture. OMG getting to the reception is remarkable the Horns!!! It was interesting . I was lucky as my father in law paid for half and my dad paid for the rest. I think my sister in laws soon realised not to mess with a bridezilla as I was stressed lol. Also starved which is difficult to be fair in cairo and my mother in law insisting i eat!because i was paronoid i would not get in the dress ( i did by the way lol) To find out the day after i got married I was pregnant Now cant wait to see what will happen when i go back to cairo.
I married my husband in Egypt, u do all the paperwork at the MOJ and embassy as Ayisha explained ( u also need a temporary settlement visa) which u can get in a place called tahinie squre (spelt wrong i think) massive government building.
The party = wedding reception I took my own wedding dress from the UK TO cairo. We had the reception in a hotel, we had traditional egyptian traditions, mixed with english and the same for music it was a mixture. OMG getting to the reception is remarkable the Horns!!! It was interesting . I was lucky as my father in law paid for half and my dad paid for the rest. I think my sister in laws soon realised not to mess with a bridezilla as I was stressed lol. Also starved which is difficult to be fair in cairo and my mother in law insisting i eat!because i was paronoid i would not get in the dress ( i did by the way lol) To find out the day after i got married I was pregnant Now cant wait to see what will happen when i go back to cairo.
Wow so the baby was concieved during the wedding night! How magical Posts: 2184 | Registered: Oct 2005
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I married my husband in Egypt, u do all the paperwork at the MOJ and embassy as Ayisha explained ( u also need a temporary settlement visa) which u can get in a place called tahinie squre (spelt wrong i think) massive government building.
The party = wedding reception I took my own wedding dress from the UK TO cairo. We had the reception in a hotel, we had traditional egyptian traditions, mixed with english and the same for music it was a mixture. OMG getting to the reception is remarkable the Horns!!! It was interesting . I was lucky as my father in law paid for half and my dad paid for the rest. I think my sister in laws soon realised not to mess with a bridezilla as I was stressed lol. Also starved which is difficult to be fair in cairo and my mother in law insisting i eat!because i was paronoid i would not get in the dress ( i did by the way lol) To find out the day after i got married I was pregnant Now cant wait to see what will happen when i go back to cairo.
Ah congratulations and thank you for replying!I was thinking of getting a wedding dress here and also taking it to Egypt.Here ive seen loads that I loved,while there Im not sure if I manage to come across something I would like to wear. Posts: 27 | From: England | Registered: Aug 2008
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How did I miss this thread!!! Weddings...ah...happy memories. I was married in Egypt too. Regarding the dress, definitely get it outside of Egypt. I was told this from the start by my husband's family as they are mostly imported from outside Egypt anyway and you will pay more. We had a really big wedding with all the trimmings, but I bought my dress from good old Debenhams! At the time I was living in Dubai and I couldn't find anything I liked there either so I bought it on a trip back home to the UK beforehand.
I've got lots of time on my hands at the moment (my inlaws are still staying with us)so I've posted some pics from the wedding onto here. Can't believe it was only 18 months ago...feels like a lifetime ago. I haven't bothered posting any pics of the Church ceremony as it's probably not relevant. I've just added some from the hotel reception. I had it in the garden of a hotel in Cairo. Normally the wedding parties are done at night but as we do ours in UK in the day we compromised and had our party start at 4pm.
There were a few similarities, throwing confetti, tossing the bouquet, first dance etc but I think these have been adapted from western culture.
Kosha? Don't know the spelling, but it's the seat you sit on in the middle of the wedding reception so everyone can stare at you (in our case we used it in the church as well)
Having our meal. Again, the table was centred in the middle as our guest tables were on either side of us. I was too excited to eat more than a few mouthfuls.
Taken on the evening. I think we had about a million pics taken with us and guests while we were sat on the kosha. These are some of my English relatives who came over for the wedding.
Posts: 500 | From: United Arab Emirates | Registered: Jul 2008
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I remember you saying last time we met. Is this friend Italian? Or is that just my imagination?
Posts: 500 | From: United Arab Emirates | Registered: Jul 2008
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Funnily enough Cheeky when we lived in the UAE I had a few friends over there from the north east and when they used to see Sam they called him an Egyptian Geordie. He still blames me for ruining his accent
He speaks in a bit of a hybrid Geordie/Egyptian accent now. He has taken to saying things such as "divent" as in "a divent knaw" (translates to I don't know) He is working in Northumberland among proper Geordies so is picking up Geordie speak. If he ever does call me "our lass" then I will divorce him
He finds it very cold, especially when he has to walk the dog at half five every morning before work, when it's about minus 3. He's had two colds already one of which he gave to Grace. I think I must be special as I haven't had a cold since winter of 2007 when i left for Dubai Posts: 500 | From: United Arab Emirates | Registered: Jul 2008
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Does he call the lil one the bairn? I am picking up some Geordie habits here... I have picked up.... eeeeee and man alive!!! and sorry, I do say your lass when talking to the Washington couple
NOOOO D_Oro... my friend on the pic is Irish and he looks italian, not the guy in these pics.
What does an Irish person look like anyway? (Be kind, my grandfolks are Irish!)
Posts: 11097 | From: Cairo | Registered: May 2008
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Irish typical : dark hair, blue eyes, porcelain skin
No he doesn't call her that cheeky. Although he has started using the word bait. I am not talking about the arabic word for home I'm on about the food you take to work everyday which if I remember from college was an anglo saxon word and so is bairn Posts: 500 | From: United Arab Emirates | Registered: Jul 2008
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My mother tends to say eeeeeeee a lot when expressing excitement. Old ladies use it all the time when something is shocking. I remember when my sister was about 7 she started saying it as well. My mother is going to be helping with the babycare when I go back to work so I can expect Grace's first word to be eeeeeeeee Posts: 500 | From: United Arab Emirates | Registered: Jul 2008
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DG those are lovely photos, you two look great together. The close-up of the juice looks yummy.
D_Oro If something/someone is inside the pic then it would be “in” the pic, but if there is something physical on the pic, then it would be “on” the pic. People or anything photographed would be “in the pic”, a coin/cup of coffee atop the pic would be 'on the pic', on in this case is surface. Posts: 2275 | Registered: Dec 2009
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lol, So the man in the pic is not the Irish who looks Italian but he is DG's husband and he is handsome which every nationality he is.
..... so where is the picture of the Irish, Italian looking guy who is ON the pic? Posts: 770 | From: www.cafepress.com/tahrir_square | Registered: Jul 2010
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quote:Originally posted by D_Oro: lol, So the man in the pic is not the Irish who looks Italian but he is DG's husband and he is handsome which every nationality he is.
..... so where is the picture of the Irish, Italian looking guy who is ON the pic?
I refuse to be confused but lets blame Cheeky. DG married a dude who looks Italian who resembles Cheeky's best friend, an Irishman who looks Egyptian. If you ask me he looks Egyptian, he just looks Italian because he's wearing a TUX. ahahahah Posts: 2275 | Registered: Dec 2009
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Well, if all else fails read the instructions....
I get it now.
Dubai Girl 's husband is an Egyptian in an Italian suit who looks like an Irishman on ferret's facebook page who looks Italian.
In conclusion the Egyptian and the Irishman look like a handsome Italian.... The Egyptian is married to DG and the Irishman is ON ferret's facebook page...... nice. Posts: 770 | From: www.cafepress.com/tahrir_square | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
Thanks for wonderful pics, DG, had now idea your hubby is Coptic(?) - cong-s on your taste!
I think he looks like men from Mansoura, who look a bit French, or at least hubby's friends from there do. Reception looks very nice, is it a secret what hotel was it? Always good to know a few good places here (hopefully not too expensive).
A full cow was killed, horses danced the night before and more than 500 people gathered in the wedding tent, I think, to dance to a live band! (a DJ is a more usual and economic solution) The couple arrived in the family's brand-new fifth-hand MB, right into the middle of the tent, and everyone partied to their heart's content and sincerely . It was fun to watch because you can debate the style and level but these were people heartily celebrating their hard-earned money and success, with the added security that the bride and the groom were the daughter and sun of two brothers... lived in the same house since birth and will continue, there too. The family is in one of the most lucrative businesses here - carpenters.
You can see local elders in one pic and a local council member - sure you regocnise a politician from the smile? And there is one pic where money is collected - customarily you give money if are suitably closely related to them, which is then noted down in a small book - your name and the sum you gave, so that the couple knows to give back in the same amount or level, next time there is an event in your family. They are quite precise about these things so no one feels offended by too much or too little or something!
There is usually no food for everyone in such "open" street weddings because almost all village is expected to attend, but in that case tea and coffee were served by a catering co, very elegant and "expensive" , while "near" family (a hundred or so people) had meal in a separate room. In smaller weddings of 200 people or so, with invitations, everyone gets a kind of cake box with a chicken leg or piece of kofta etc, and a piece of cake, and small bottles of coca etc are offered around.
(You can try translating the text with a tool but the one time I used Google Translator, i got half the sentences back with completely opposite meaning, so it will be at your own risk! :-) )
Posts: 1051 | From: Menoufeya | Registered: Feb 2005
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Hi, I am getting married near Cairo in a church next year, and am slightly unsure of how everything will work. Dubai Girl, your photos are absolutely beautiful, I hope you had a wonderful day. I have had one dress sent over from UK already, but unfortunately I am too fat for it! Eek! So my friends are bringing me the next size up in a few weeks. My in laws are wonderful and have offered to help organise the wedding which I am entirely grateful for as I am useless at this sort of thing. We have already been married in the embassy but thats not a wedding. I was wondering if you had any tips for me regarding the proceedure and what happens? Any advice would be appreciated. Did you send your passport off to get a name change? I rang the Enbassy today and they said I have to send my passport to France!? Also, does anyone know of any good hairdressers or waxers in Sharm?
Posts: 24 | From: Egypt | Registered: May 2009
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quote:Originally posted by CB: Hi, I am getting married near Cairo in a church next year, and am slightly unsure of how everything will work. Dubai Girl, your photos are absolutely beautiful, I hope you had a wonderful day. I have had one dress sent over from UK already, but unfortunately I am too fat for it! Eek! So my friends are bringing me the next size up in a few weeks. My in laws are wonderful and have offered to help organise the wedding which I am entirely grateful for as I am useless at this sort of thing. We have already been married in the embassy but thats not a wedding. I was wondering if you had any tips for me regarding the proceedure and what happens? Any advice would be appreciated. Did you send your passport off to get a name change? I rang the Enbassy today and they said I have to send my passport to France!? Also, does anyone know of any good hairdressers or waxers in Sharm?
Did you choose the Church yet? Once this is sorted you can go a few days before your wedding and do a rehearsal. It doesn't have to be a proper rehearsal, just get your husband to take you and show you what happens. I remember I was nervous to because Egyptian Church Weddings are different to UK ones.
A brief outline:
On the wedding day once you have your dress on you will travel with your husband to a photography studio and have your pics done. This is done before the Church Ceremony but obviously you will have already been married at the MOJ some time earlier. I left it to someone else to arrange the studio and I wish I hadn't because I didn't enjoy the session at all and the photos are so bad (and photoshopped to death) I won't show them to anyone, in fact I wanted to bin them when we were packing up to leave Dubai but have kept them for amusement value. The photographer didn't speak a word of English and kept making me move my head, arms and neck at weird angles for the shots. They look khara. I have an album full of pictures of me in my fake living room and fake ballroom. Tacky and Vile!I'm glad we had a separate wedding photographer so I have some nice pics.
Anyway once that's out of the way you go to the Chruc. I arrived at the Church with my dad, who walked me from the wedding car to the church doorway. All the guests stand outside of the church to watch you enter. They will do lots of that noise that sounds like a red indian One of my husbands aunties is the Egyptian champion, or so you'd think!
I was met at the church door by my husband to be, who took my arm, we entered the church together and walked down the aisle, followed by my parents, his parents, then the rest of the guests. So a bit different from UK where your dad walks you down the aisle as hands you over so to speak at the church door. The ceremony is very long, i asked for mine to be partially in English so my guests could understand. One difference is you are not required to speak, there is no i do! As I remember it, you stand for a bit, they pray, they dress you in capes and crowns, say some prayers, bless the rings, exchange the rings, more prayers, sit on the kosha, kneel down on the floor, pray some more and then voila you're married. Thats not exactly how it goes but it's near enough. There is no "you may kiss the bride" either.
After that you get your pics done with parents, priests and then you outside of the church and stand near the door with your husband and then every guest who leaves the church will walk past you, say alf mabrouk, kiss you, shake hubbys hand, press envelopes of money into your hand. Have your picture taken 5 million times
Once all the guests have said congratulations you get in the wedding car and head to the reception, you will hear honk honk beep beep all the way as this is what they do to wedding cars.
You arrive at your reception, go to your room to freshen up, (in our case we opened our cards and presents as we were staying at the hotel we had the reception in for our wedding night which is the norm i think)
Then the photographer takes you off to get some nice pics. We had our reception in the hotel garden so got pics by the pool, trees etc then we made our entrance to the reception via the front to Zafa music which is traditional egyptian wedding music, all the guests watch and you have to dance to about 15 songs before they let you sit down on your kosha (wedding sofa in the middle of the reception)
Once you sit down in your seat they then play your first dance song. (I can't even remember what mine was now, but I remember we couldn't agree on a song and it wasn't the one that I wanted.) After the first dance, they get every body else up. One thing about Egyptian Weddings, once the food has been served the guests want to leave, so serve your food as late as possible We choose quite a lot of western music and nobody was moving, put a bit of Saad El Soghar and everybody is jumping so for the rest of the reception we played only egyptian music and every body was up on their feet including all my english family and friends.
If you are going to have alchohol at your wedding check with the place you are holding the reception. We put on a free bar for our guests and the hotel charged 150 LE for every bottle taken in. Actually I think we paid less because there was some baksheesh going on, but still it is Egypt they will try to take out your eyes given half the chance.
We looked at loads of venues. I really wanted it at the Concorde El Salam but it was booked and in the end we had it at Le Passage (ex Movenpick)
At the time I was living in Dubai so we had a wedding planner to help with all the mundane stuff like colour schemes, flowers, invites blah blah. My mother in law helped too, she bought my tiara.
Can't help you with hairdressers/beauticians. Just ask for recommendations, thats what I did. I went to a couple of salons to get practise hairstyles to see what i liked best...again can be expensive my hair style was over 1000 LE. I did my own makeup because the arabic style makeup would be a bit harsh on my features so I save some money there
Passport, dont worry about it. I am only now changing my name on my passport and Ive been married 18 mths. Im only doing it now cos Ive had a baby and im in the process of applying for her english passport so we can take her to cairo. I was living in the UAE and it didnt affect my residency at all. I've been in and out of Egypt three times since I was married and it hasnt been a problem. Check again with your embassy if youre not sure. I think that covers about everything. Let me know if you want to know anything else
Posts: 500 | From: United Arab Emirates | Registered: Jul 2008
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quote:Originally posted by nevermind: Thanks for wonderful pics, DG, had now idea your hubby is Coptic(?) - cong-s on your taste!
I think he looks like men from Mansoura, who look a bit French, or at least hubby's friends from there do. Reception looks very nice, is it a secret what hotel was it? Always good to know a few good places here (hopefully not too expensive).
A full cow was killed, horses danced the night before and more than 500 people gathered in the wedding tent, I think, to dance to a live band! (a DJ is a more usual and economic solution) The couple arrived in the family's brand-new fifth-hand MB, right into the middle of the tent, and everyone partied to their heart's content and sincerely . It was fun to watch because you can debate the style and level but these were people heartily celebrating their hard-earned money and success, with the added security that the bride and the groom were the daughter and sun of two brothers... lived in the same house since birth and will continue, there too. The family is in one of the most lucrative businesses here - carpenters.
You can see local elders in one pic and a local council member - sure you regocnise a politician from the smile? And there is one pic where money is collected - customarily you give money if are suitably closely related to them, which is then noted down in a small book - your name and the sum you gave, so that the couple knows to give back in the same amount or level, next time there is an event in your family. They are quite precise about these things so no one feels offended by too much or too little or something!
There is usually no food for everyone in such "open" street weddings because almost all village is expected to attend, but in that case tea and coffee were served by a catering co, very elegant and "expensive" , while "near" family (a hundred or so people) had meal in a separate room. In smaller weddings of 200 people or so, with invitations, everyone gets a kind of cake box with a chicken leg or piece of kofta etc, and a piece of cake, and small bottles of coca etc are offered around.
(You can try translating the text with a tool but the one time I used Google Translator, i got half the sentences back with completely opposite meaning, so it will be at your own risk! :-) )
Thanks Nevermind. Yes he is a Copt. I know what you mean about the Mansoura thing, there was a security guard in my old building who was from there and I thought he was from Europe
Wedding reception was at Le Passage next to Cairo Airport its a five star hotel and it was reasonably priced i thought but then when we paid we were both making tax free money in the gulf Nowadays I'm poor. I would recommend it, the hotel is lovely.
I liked the link you sent about the wedding!!
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-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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DB, thank you so much for your reply, it is much appreciated. Husband to be gave me a brief outline, but left out most of the important details you have included, so thank you. We have chosen the church, we are getting married in his family church where his family live. We are going there later this month to book everything so I will ask to be shown properly what happens. I am a bit concerned about the photographer as I have seen some friends photos and there are exactly as you said. The couple in question cant speak English, and they had photo shopped the words 'Hot Love' 'Sexy love' and 'Sexy woman' over them all, which I thought was very inappropriate. The Church do sounds very different. I am very fortunate that there is an Australian aboona in the church I attend, and he has kindly offered to come with us and translate all the service for me and my parents.How long do you have to wear the capes an gowns for? Is that for the whole service? What happens at the end when we would traditionally kiss the bride? Do they just tell you its done and off you go?! Is the first dance similar to the way we would do a first dance? Like, is it you and your husband, then on the next song one bridesmaid and best man join you? Actually, I wasnt going to have any bridesmaids, do they do that sort of thing? I did tell a cousin we would get her a nice dress and she could be part of it as she is such a lovely little girl. Thanks for the music suggestion! I was a bit surprised at the whole alcohol thing (though shouldnt have been!) my man did say it would depend on where we hold the reception if we are allowed any. I think I am going to do my own make up as well, I am blonde and fair and tend to look a bit like a clown if its over done! The only thing I am worried about really is sitting on the kosha, do you have to do that in the reception? Husband to be tells me that we sit on chairs during the reception with everyone dancing round us and looking at us. I feel a bit uncomfortable about that as I am quite shy in these sort of situations. Again,thank you so much for your message, you have really made me feel a lot more informed and prepared!
Posts: 24 | From: Egypt | Registered: May 2009
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