Alana's Wedding part 2: The wedding

Last night was Alana's wedding. She looked absolutely beautiful, as you can see here:

Here is Alana with her proud mother:

Alana and her groom, Ismail, are very traditional Muslims and wanted a very traditional wedding. This meant that the ceremony was segregated, with the women upstairs in the women's prayer room...

...and them men all the way downstairs:

The tradition is that the bride is asked and must accept three times. The first is the initial engagement. Later, the bride's father and the Imam ask her again if she thinks that marrying this man is a good life decision for her. The third happens at the wedding, when the fathers of the bride and groom bring her a gift from the groom. This gift is hers to keep forever; no matter what happens in the future the gift is hers to keep and she can do with it whatever she likes.

Of course, she accepted and the men returned downstairs for the remainder of the ceremony. The Imam spent some time talking about marriage and it should come as no surprise that the sentiments were pretty universal. He spoke about the important aspects of a successful marriage: respect, love, affection, loyalty, unity, compromise. Then, Ismail signed the wedding certificate and Alana's father brought it upstairs for her to sign. And there were married.

We all went downstairs for the immediate reception (there will be another larger reception tomorrow). The bride and groom cut the cake...

...and fed it to each other:

Pictures were taken with Ismail's family...

...and Alana's family:

The couple sat on special chairs at the head of the room like a king and queen presiding over the festivites:

Rings, of course, were exchanged:

Here's the happy couple:

o( )__