first Saudi wedding

So I finally attended my first wedding ceremony not the actual wedding but the contract signing making it official that they are married after that they normally hold a ceremony... I think I would have enjoyed the wedding ceremony if I haven't been so sick with "climate change flu" and respiratory infection other then that I think that the wedding ceremony was absolutely beautiful masha'allah...

Firstly I was under a lot of stress and pressure in finding a dress I have only been here for a few weeks and didn't have enough time or the money to buy a dress so luckily my sister in law had a dress that she loaned me to wear and let alone the pressure of looking presentable such as caked on makeup, and dolled up hair'dos  which cost around 200 riyal for just my hair to be done that's 53.00 in American dollars for hair and makeup it can range up to 1000 riyal "266. American dollars" so if anyone has an experience in doing hair and makeup you could make a fortune here in Saudi Arabia as for me I only had my hair done and my sister in law did my make up she does a pretty good job masha'allah but next time I think I will try the caked on makeup for once lol... 

The wedding ceremony was very expected the males and females are separated as they normally would be in any other gathering accompanied with music and loud sounds like "la la la la la" a sound they do with the tongue which I have not mastered yet lol and dancing not your typical jump around dancing more like belly dancing washing machine dancing (if you seen the movie Selena you'll know what I mean by Washing Machine dance).. as for me I didn't dance much I'm the type of person that is very shy and don't like the attention all on me so I just basically sat it out there wasn't much communication for me since majority of my family in laws don't speak English....

after the long period of dancing talking, drinking tea, "saudi coffee" listening to music we eventually gathered around the groom and the bride a lot of us wore niqab "full face cover" I wore it which I normally do not because when I go out of the house in Saudi I don't wear it but out of the respect of my sister in law and myself I wore it, the gathering around the Newly weds was rather beautiful they sit together and in exchange of rings "which normally done at the church in front of the priest" feeding each other sweets, cake and more music and lots of popping confetti and after that there where opening of presents, but I didn't stay up for the whole thing I was rather very sick so I had went to bed for the night pretty early but I honestly cried I love my sister in law and seen how happy she is and truly am so happy for her and wish nothing but the best for her and her new family.

From my first experience of Saudi weddings, I have to say I was rather touched it was very beautiful and I kind of slightly envy my sister in laws on how the wedding's are done and how different they are from American weddings I think if a lot of American girls seen the beauty of saving your self for your husband and what they have to look for there wedding night they maybe would wait I never really understood the real meaning of how important it was to wait to get married in Islam but I think the after seeing how important it is culturally and to see how everyone gathers and prepares for this special day I think is a reward within its self its really an experience that one would have to experience for themselves to understand how beautiful it is to wait for the love of your life to get married.....

for some of my readers wanting more description of the actual wedding out of the respect and privacy of my sister in law that is something I can not share so insha'allah (god willing) most of you will understand...