Saloom's crazy yet fun wedding week!

As I mentioned before, my close friend Salma was getting married on July 11th 2006. Lina and I were to be her bridesmaids so we had to run around buying fabric and having our dresses tailor-made plus I was helping Omar (Salma's husband) give out invitations and the like. Lina and I are pretty close to Salma's family and have met her uncles and cousins so we were very much involved in all the preparations. I was so happy that they let us in, I mean most of our parents would have seen us as a burden probably, too in the way. Having Salma's mum ask for my help in things without a second's thought, or having Salma's dad give me a pat on the back when he was happy, or having Salma's brother tagging along with us was so fun and comforting. We really did feel and were treated like we were Salma's sisters. Salma arrived to cairo a day before my bday, attended my bday outing, then the craziness began.

On Friday, we woke up at 7am to go to Ain Sokhna for the day with Salma & Omar's 15 foreigner friends who flew to Egypt just to attend the wedding. I arrived at the foreigner's place at 8am, knocked on the door and to my surprise found out that everyone knew me coz Salma told them all about me and they've seen me in loads of salma's pics. It was so sweet. Plus 2 of the foreigners were Salma's German friends whom visited Cairo at different times when we were in university so it was great to see them again! So we took them downstairs and into a bus and off to Sokhna we went. Lina and I rode with Salma and Omar to discuss the wedding, that's how little time we had to spare to be alone and talk about things. We arrived in sokhna, cooked some foul and had a quick breakfast over discussions of what foul was and how we cook it...Ben, a Polish guy, was already started to think how he would sell foul back home hehe. Then we headed off to the beach where we played many hilarious games in the water, got to know each other, watched dolphins, and got quite a few scratches from the sea animals & shells. The foreigners were Maria (Serbia), Vegaurd, Martin (Czech), Diamandis (Greek), Ben (Polish), Sonya (Mexican), Wiebke (German), Eva (German), Meika (German), Maria (Spanish), plus a couple of Japanese and others. The rest were Lina, Tarek Ga3ly, Tamer Ga3ly, Bassem, Sarah Youssef, Salma, Omar, and myself. We were quite a huge group! We stayed in the water for hours which led to alot of us getting burnt, much to the dismay of the bride and groom! We went to the house, cooked ourselves a little barbeque with all sorts of salads and rice, and sat to eat in the garden. We had some fun conversations there, trying to speak each other's languages and the like. Diamandis was by far my favourite. Such a hilarious and warm personality. He was treating us like really close friends right away and his jokes were too funny for words! The funny thing is that he neither knew the bride nor the groom! He's a friend of Sonya's who just tagged along for the trip. Ben was pretty funny too with all his foul inventions. The Japanese people were pretty quiet and kept a distance but nice nonetheless. After eating and relaxing we packed up and drove home. Lina spent the night and we slept like logs from exhaustion and the sun.

Saturday was the Henna party (bachelorette party) which Lina and I were organizing for Salma. She had no idea what she had coming which made it more fun for us. Salma's mum managed to trust us with her apartment and her daughter. We got up around noon, had breakfast, ran some errands, then met up at Salma's apartment. People were late to the party as usual, Egyptians will be Egyptians, but it was an amazing party! We got so hyper, it was so fun teaching the foreigners how to belly dance and seeing them in action plus Salma and her mum were just so thrilled. The woman we hired to come do the henna, the music, etc had costumes with her so it was just so fun to get into them and be silly. Salma's mum and relatives were also dancing with us and I dunno its just really cool seeing the older generation, who you are so used to seeing in a serious manner, let loose! I just remember looking at them and couldn't help smiling. In the middle, Lina, Sara, Amira, and I would make up dances in the middle and we had people following our lead hehe. Omar's mum loved that and demanded we do the same in the wedding haha. The party ended around midnight and it was definately time for bed!

On Sunday I left the office around 2:30 to go to Salma's house and help her prepare for the katb ketab. I was supposed to stay at work but her mum wouldnt have it! I helped Salma get ready and we ran to the other apartment where Salma's mum hid us in a room away from the guests till Omar showed up. That brought on a flashback...we were in a similar situation 2 years before where we hid with Salma at her uncle's place waiting for Omar for the 2aryit fatha. Salma was SO nervous back then...this time around she was very calm and so sure that this was what she wanted...it was so calming to see her like that yet it also reminded me of the fact that Salma's getting married! I was so honoured that Lina and I were invited to the katb ketab since its usually a family affair. We were there to see Salma sign and stamp all the official documents. We were there to see her dad give his blessing to this marriage. We were there to see the tears and the hugs. It was at that moment that everyone realized that there was a marriage going on! It wasn't a joke! I hugged Salma which made her cry even more, like she usually did when she saw me...I hugged her mum, her dad, and her grandfather...it was sweet. Afterwards, I ran home to get a few hours to myself so I could do my own preparations for the wedding, then I went to the foreigners flat to watch the world cup final with everyone.

On Monday, I got up for work again...work was very annoying at this time because my mind was with the wedding the whole time and not with the office plus would have preferred to catch up on some sleep!! The wedding rehersal was that day and we had to go since we were supposed to make an entrance from a stage within the ballroom. Salma had about 4 flower girls and 4 flower boys plus Lina and I, so Lina took the girls and I took the boys. They were supposed to walk towards each other on stage, hold hands, and walk down the stage. Of course my task was harder than Lina's coz the boys were refusing to hold the girls' hands! I got alot of yucky and ewww haha but we managed. When it was Lina and my turn to come out, we danced out on stage just to be silly haha which led to the wedding planner betting us to do the same thing with our heels on! After the rehersal, I got home and packed a bag since I was gonna spend the night at the hotel with Salma and Lina. A last girls slumber party and stuff. I managed to pass by an outing in Nomad in between to say bye to Nisrin then I arrived at the hotel to find Salma and Lina in their PJs and in bed with salma's mum sitting there trying to keep them awake haha. Then the fun began, we stayed there laughing and making jokes coz we were sooo sleepy. Just remembering all the funny stuff that had been happening. We slept like logs till the morning...

We took our time getting up Wednesday morning...had breakfast sent up, ate in our PJs. Salma was incredibly calm...not the slightest bit nervous. Neither was Omar come to think of it. At some point Lina left us to go prepare the bridal suite with candles and rose petals and the like while I kept Salma company, and ran some errands within the hotel with her mum and brother. Then, Lina and I went to pick up the German girls and Maria to go do our hair. And voila we had the look that you can see in the pictures with the pink roses. When we got back to the hotel, Salma was waiting for the make up artist and hairdresser. Of course the wedding was supposed to start at 9 but at 8:30 Salma was still doing make up and hadnt done her hair yet and I was still in my PJs haha. My mum arrived to the wedding on time so I brought her up to hang out with us. It was cool being in one room together. We helped Salma into her dress while Omar knocked on the door wondering what was taking us so long!! The wedding was lovely...the Riff Band played some oldies which was very nice (thanks to Diamandis, and Emad for the dances), then we had the cake and slide show, and the night ended with a DJ. Throughout the wedding people wanted to take pics of Lina and I coz we looked like twins the whole time! Pink dresses and pink roses in our hair...it was toooo funny. Many people had to leave the wedding early coz of work the next day so by the time the DJ started it was just Lina, me, Ga3ly brothers, Bassem, and the foreigners but it was sooo hilarious. We were dancing like hell and doing funny dances...we had the whole room to ourselves! Salma's parents joined in and it was just sooo fun. My mum was sitting there praying that I'd tell her its time to go home! Salma noticed and went to drag her to join us at the dancefloor. The wedding was over around 4am!! Salma's parents gave us huge hugs...they were so happy we shared this experience with them and it meant so much to Lina and I as well. So we go home, sleep, and I wake up with the worst cold in the world!! Haha, I guess I deserve it for not taking a few days off to recuperate. On Wednesday night we went out with Salma, Omar, the foreigners, Salma's family and some of our friends. It was a bye bye outing for the couple who were off to their honeymoon plus to the foreigners we had grown to love...miss them all already. Nice to know I have friends now all over the place so the options of where to travel as endless now!

That's the end of the most hectic yet most fun week ever! Now that I have some time to rest I will finally allow the fact that Salma's married to sink in. I will miss the days of passing by Salma in the morning for breakfast before going to our classes in uni, the days of passing by her after uni to have lunch with her grandfather, the days in sahel with her family playing cards and having barbeques, the days of just running random errands in town just for the sake of hanging out, the days of meeting up and going for coffee just to sit and complain, cry, or laugh...I will miss these small yet precious moments but I'm sure there are alot more moments to come. Im glad to have been able to get to know Omar just as Salma was getting to know him, so he's not a stranger to me at all...he has become a friend so I know I will be able to stay very close to both of them...Im so grateful for that fact...imagine if ur best friend married someone you didnt know, I would have died! I will miss you Saloomi but I know that Omar will take good care of you, and I am so happy for the both of you! Keep a spare room for me ready in your apartment coz I'm planning to stop by frequently! You cant get rid of me that easy hehe.