How to Plan a Middle Eastern Wedding
In our last blog we talked about how to plan a stress-free wedding day. Those tips offer a general guideline that will allow you to plan for success. However, that was tailored for what’s considered to be a traditional Western white dress wedding. Ethnic or cultural weddings are completely different. In this post I’ll walk you through how to create a wedding schedule that’s specifically catered towards Middle Eastern weddings.
Cultural weddings – specifically Arab weddings – are completely different from what’s considered to be a traditional Western white dress wedding. One of the biggest differences is that the Arab wedding ceremony (often an Islamic Nikkah), is held well in advance. This can be either two months in advance or even up to a year.
Being an Arab wedding photographer in Toronto, Middle Eastern weddings make up nearly half of my wedding season. One of our recent weddings was a Palestinian wedding in Toronto where one of the members of Al-Asala Dabke Group, Toronto’s best Dabke group, got married. Arab weddings are known to be full of energy, tradition, music and larger than life celebrations. Behind these unforgettable weddings is a timeline that’s intentionally built to give the couple the space to enjoy those festivities. Here’s how we planned their wedding day.
Morning: Getting Ready: 8:30am – 1:00pm
Like every wedding, hair and makeup starts early. I always recommend my brides to make sure they build in an hour of buffer room for their hair and makeup, as it usually runs 30-60 minutes behind schedule. For example, if your Zaffeh is scheduled for 1:00pm, plan for it to start at 12:00pm. The best case scenario? You’re already ahead of schedule, giving us more time for your prep photos while we wait for your fiancé to arrive with his zaffeh. The worst case? We’re exactly on time.
While your hair and makeup is being complete, your wedding photographer will be capturing your details of your dress, accessories and candid photos of everyone. Once your makeup is 80-90% complete, we begin photographing you.
Pro tips:
- As the bride, you’re the first priority. This means your hair and makeup should be completed first, not your bridesmaids.
- Make don’t forget to iron your bride and bridesmaids robes so that they’re wrinkle-free
- Lay out your dress, shoes accessories etc the night before so it’s easier for your photographer to find them
Groom Zaffeh: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
After the groom has been photographed (typically by the second shooter), his zaffeh will make its way to the brides home, where the groom and his family will be greeted by the brides family, where they will hand off their daughter.
Bride Zaffeh: 1:00pm – 2:00 pm
While the bride’s zaffeh a is fun and joyful celebration, this is also a deeply emotion moment for the brides family. Even though the couple were already married, this is the moment where it feels that their daughter is finally starting a new chapter in her life and the moment finally sinks in. If your photographer isn’t experienced capturing Middle Eastern weddings, make sure to walk them through this process and exactly how every moment will play out. These moments are fast paced and entirely different from any other wedding.
Family Photos and Couple Photoshoot: 2:00pm – 4:30pm
For Arab weddings, family photos are typically done prior to the couples photoshoot. If you’re reading this, I’m willing to bet that there’s a high probability that you’re Middle Eastern, which also meansthat you know we’re not know to be on time. While family photos are usually scheduled for thirty minutes, anticipate it taking up to an hour due to delays and your family wanting to capture every possible family combination of photos. I’ll be putting together a full guide on how to efficiently organize and structure your family photos, so be sure to check back here soon.
Cocktail Hour: 5:00pm – 6:00pm
When we return from the photoshoot your guests will begin settling in. Use this as an opportunity to either relax or greet as many people as you’d like. During this time, your wedding photographer and videographer will be photographing the décor and reception space.
Grand Entrance and Reception: 6:30pm – 10:00pm
Your reception will begin with your grand entrance that’s led by the Dabke group you hired for your zaffeh. It’s difficult to provide an exact breakdown of an Arab wedding reception without knowing your details because as there are often several entrances and several performances. And of course, once the dancing starts, you know that we’re dancing all night. Nonetheless, here’s a general guideline to help you get started.
- 6:30pm – Grand Entrance with zaffeh
- 7:15pm – MC Welcome
- 7:15pm – 8:00 Speeches and Dinner Service
- 8:30pm – Father/Daughter and Mother/Son dance.
- 8:45pm – Dabke Performance
- 9:15pm – 11:00pm – Dabke performance leading into an open dancefloor
- 8:35pm – Dance floor opens
As you can see, a well-planned timeline offers you the flexibility to stay relaxed while keeping the day moving. When everything runs on time, you’ll feel less stressed. Feeling less stressed means that your photos will come out beautifully as you’ll be more relaxed.
Before you begin planning your wedding, just remember most of the information floating around often offered by people who lack real experience in the wedding industry. If you’re unsure where or how to start planning your wedding, you can lean on your vendors as they’ll be your best resource.
