So if you are here as an expat, you probably will be invited at least once, to attend a coworker’s wedding. Weddings here in Saudi are a big deal. You may be used to going to big wedding affairs, however here things are a bit different. For sure it is a grand event attended by many people, usually in a great hall or hotel. The main difference is that men attend a men only wedding event, the same time the women attend a women’s only event. So when you go, do not be surprised if you do not see the bride. At the bride’s party, only the groom will show for a short time to dance with his bride. Usually there may be entertainment and dancing, food and music. The men dance the traditional dance, but ladies may dance to modern songs. Ladies get decked out in dresses and will not have abaya on usually when in their gathering. For this reason it is really hard to show a video of the women’s wedding party.
I found a pretty good video showing one such wedding on the men’s side for you to see, just to get a sense of how things work. Also there is a really great video by a married couple who live in Dubai and seem to be Emirati. They have their own channel so if you want to hear more from them you can find them on the internet. They make a lot of good videos about life together in Dubai. Hope you enjoy these and get a sense of what the Middle East is like!
Date Palms & Camels 