Operation Wedding

The fab feminist Egyptian hipster, Reham, marries my daggy mate from Virginia, Eric.

For those of you who are planning a wedding and considering Kuwait as a possible venue, may I offer the following advice?

Don’t.

The country is dry for a start. And, no, I’m not talking about the weather there, in which 45 degrees Celsius meets 90% + humidity.

You cannot, in fact, purchase alcohol anywhere in the country, including hotels.

So, I hear you ask, “How am I going to make a total fool of myself by participating in the obligatory wedding Nutbush dance without the sustenance of considerable amounts of champagne?”

In fact, the groom’s mother did ask that. Except that, as she is American, her concern was for something called the ‘Chicken Dance.’

No, I do not have further and better details, and since I am apparently the only Australian who does not know how to do the Nutbush dance, I was in no position to demand a demonstration of the former.

Naomi, the groom's mother, clearly way too sober to undertake the Chicken Dance.

But dance we did. And dance and dance and dance. And cut the cake. And dance and dance and dance. And eat some food. And dance – anyway you get the picture. The sequin count was a lot lower than the Qatari wedding I told you about on a previous blog. The reception involved both men and women IN THE SAME ROOM (god forbid) unlike a Qatari wedding, and you could take photos of the women (not only lower sequin count but less ml of make-up on their faces).

Oh huh. Someone take that sword off Eric...

And the dancing begins...

And continues... Doesn't Reham look gorgeous? A non-high heel wearer, she did the entire wedding in gorgeous silver shoes. And she remains the only woman I have ever met to have bought her wedding dress in a SINGLE EVENING. Having arrived in Kuwait thinking she had a simple registry service, she discovered that, while she avoided a wedding with the entire family (around 580 people), they had still managed to muster up 120 cousins from the 'tiny' Kuwait community... Go girl!!!

Even the guys get into the act.

Some of the many cousins. These were assigned to us as English speakers and were a total hoot. And you'll notice that the lack of sequins doesn't equate to a lack of colour...

The cousins let go! The lady in the brown and green told me that she danced through her entire wedding. What? More dancing than this?

Two maids - the family's or the hotel's (although probably the former) had been kitted out for the night in identical, suitably sparkly outfits. This was a new one on me.

So the whole thing was a heap more fun. And it was so great to be involved in something that was a bit of a cultural stretch for everyone (my mate Eric married an Egyptian only female child) but in which so much genuine good will and happiness was involved.

As the dancing continues, the daggier aspects of Eric, much adored groom, emerge, to the hilarity of the guests.

So, a return to the subject of Kuwait. Truly, I couldn’t even recommend it as a stop in a tour of the middle east. There are apparently some good museums, but the taxi drivers don’t know where they are, and they can’t read maps (a form of illiteracy that is quite common in this part of the world). The only place they do know the whereabouts of is called the Kuwait Towers (Kuwait’s answer to the Opera House) and that offers only a series of photos of the destruction of the building during the Gulf War, with terrific captions such as “The Barbaric Iraqi Invaders Destroy even the Utilities (toilets)”.

The resurrected Kuwait Towers. Down with the barbaric invaders!

In short, this is THE VERY FIRST TIME I have looked forward to coming home to Qatar. And that should tell you all you need to know about the country!

See you in Aus in August...

Simone