Emirati Wedding!

So, I was so excited to be invited to my first Emirati wedding! The vice principal at my school son married the niece of one of the other teachers. They invited all the staff to the festivities at the Fairmont in Abu Dhabi! The Fairmont is awesomeness in and of itself, but add to that a wedding, yay!

I was a bit bummed because they took our mobiles, so no pictures! But we took pictures before and after.

My coworkers and I dressed for the wedding and posing pretty in the Fairmont foyer.

I was so shocked and amazed at seeing all of the teachers out of their abaya's and shayla's! I didn't even recognize half of them when we walked up! And our vice principal! OMG! She looked amazing! And a million years younger!

All the malls have store after store of floor length fancy dresses and lingerie shops. Now I know who is buying all those items!  Picture people in the dresses below and you have the idea.

    

The room was beautifully decorated! A different center piece on every table, beautiful huge bouquets of flowers every where. There was a run way down the middle of the room. A DJ was behind a curtain playing loud, loud music. There were more staff then I have ever seen at an event in my life! 

The ladies were dancing on the runway and there was a camera that relayed the image to huge tv screens placed around the room so we could get close up looks of everything. 

The food was plentiful and delicious! So many items I can't even name them all if I did know the names in the first place. I was trying not to fill up on hors d'oeuvre but they just kept coming and coming! Finally the main courses started.... some kind of marinated chicken, bbq chicken, rice and chicken, fish smothered in some kind of sauce.  A ton of fruit and chocolates!! I didn't stop eating the whole night!    

Finally, the bride made her entrance! Her dress literally must have weighed at least 50 lbs! And she must have been told how to walk cus she took such tiny mincing steps it took almost 10 minutes and 2 songs for her to make it onto the stage. And the wedding planner or someone was walking with her constantly adjusting her dress.  That would have driven me nuts! Having someone flitting around my feet the whole time adjusting my dress! But she looked truly beautiful.

All in all it was a night not to forget!

The beautiful chandeliers in the foyer of the Fairmont Hotel.

 On the walls of the hotel they display art from local artists I think.

The incredible view from the hotel lobby!

The beautiful lobby!

This was in the middle of the lobby for some reason. All made of wood!

Ciao for now!