Article:
ISSUE No. 10 May - June 2008

Fairytale Weddings on the Gulf
The Most Beautiful and Expensive Day in One’s Life

During the merry month of May many “love birds” are enticed to step up to the altar. Honeymoons in the Caribbean, on the Seychelles, in Mauritius or the Maldives are planned. The most beautiful day in one’s life is celebrated and documented with much aplomb and no costs are spared. Inspired by luxurious Arab celebrations, many foreign guests choose to combine their stay in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with their exchange of vows on the desert’s edge.

Weddings are celebrated according to each country’s custom. Western couples celebrate their wedding together, but people from the Gulf celebrate separately, i.e. men and women celebrate in separate halls or locations, and even on different days sometimes. Usually about 500 guests arrive to fill large halls or luxurious tents. Depending on family status, these numbers can go up or down. Western guests also have to abide by the strict gender separation and are often invited to such events, even if the couple barely knows them.
Traditional Arabic food is continuously served during the festivities. Arab women wear elegant dresses, often haute couture gowns by famous designers, under their black robes called abayas. It is important to know that the bride is not to be photographed during the days of festivities. Men arrive in their traditional white costume, called the candora or dishdasha.
Wedding celebrations in the Gulf are luxurious and elaborate. The possibilities for a dream wedding are limitless and are tailored exclusively to the wishes of each couple. Hotels furnish their own wedding planners who plan every step of the event with the couple. The “wedding-machine” is set in motion, every minute detail is thought of and refined all the way to the romantic harpist and the professional photographer; even the stretch limo can be ordered. In the land of “a thousand and one nights” weddings take place in Hollywood-like settings.

Price point: Dream Wedding
Also in the UAE, the wedding day or rather the wedding days are considered to be the most memorable in a woman’s life. Men reach deep into their pockets for this; the groom takes care of all expenses. Wedding gowns begin at 40,000 dirhams; rentals are less expensive and so are second-hand gowns. Elaborate ballrooms, multiple course meals, and galleries with rich flower arrangements require the future husband to reach deep into his pockets. Expenses of 300,000 dirhams just for the wedding celebrations for the bride are not rare. Besides that, the bride will receive a whole new wardrobe since she leaves her clothing in her old house. During many festivities, money is thrown up in the air by men and usually the quick hands of children grab most of the bank notes.

The Marriage Fund
The late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founder of the UAE, started a “Marriage Fund” in 1992. This gives working citizens a financial boost of 70,000 dirhams for their wedding plans. The couple should be UAE citizens and the groom’s income should not exceed 15,000 dirhams monthly. The regent intended this as a boost in marriages between local nationals because of a rise in mixed marriages between UAE citizens and foreigners. When one looks at the total cost of a wedding being several hundred thousand dirhams, this only seems like a drop in the bucket.

Married for Love?
Some marriages in the UAE are still being arranged between wealthy families. The couple is often no more than twenty years of age and there is no talk of love in such cases. Marriage often takes place within the family; hence it is not rare for cousins to marry. On the other side, the divorce rate is minimal. In Germany every second couple separates after a love marriage. Nowadays, the phenomenon of late marriages has also reached the Gulf. More and more women choose to stay single and concentrate on a good education and professional degrees, thus many marriages are now taking place after the 20th birthday.