Love is in the air, along with a lot of sand!

It happened last week, I was invited to my first wedding here in North Africa. I was excited, although sceptical, about attending. Weddings here are all night deals. And, for anyone who knows anything about me, I am NOT a night owl. When the sun goes down, so does my energy level. Obviously now you know that it is I, Steph, who is writing this blog. So, I drank some coffee about 5pm and geared up for a late night. I was determined to try to leave by midnight. Often, these parties can last until 4 or 5am. I was determined, but also knew that one doesn't leave until it is socially acceptable. We arrived at the house of the bride to find somewhere between 30-40 women lounging around in their bright mulaffas, chatting and waiting for the bride. It was 10pm, the bride was finishing preparing herself and had told friends earlier that she would make her appearance around 9pm. So, we were all waiting...10:30, 11, 11:15. Around 11:30 we heard cars honking and loud voices and everyone started to get excited. The bride was coming!! This being my first wedding, I had no idea what to expect. Now, in this culture, there is usually 2 parties in the traditional wedding-one for the groom and one for the bride. Everyone started whispering and standing up to see the bride come in. Here she came!! Wait a second, she is totally covered and we can't see any part of her, not her face, not her hands, not her feet...she is being led by her friends and family. They whisk her into the back room, where I am informed that her closest friends can take a peak at her face, jewlery and henna (a kind of temporary tatoo). All of her preparation took days and even weeks for some of it. And, according to local custom, she is not allowed to show herself to the public during the wedding. So, there she was..I was bummed. All this waiting, all this anticipation for a cultural experience and it seemed like nothing more than sitting in a waiting room or airport lounge. I told my friend that unless something big was going to happen, I would probably leave soon. We were told that the groom would come, see her in the back room for a moment and then everyone would leave for the party in another part of town. All of the sudden, the mother of the bride was motioning for me and my friend to come to the back room. We fought our way through the crowd of women all standing by the back door, hoping to be invited in. We were able to see the bride and take pictures for them, since they had no camera. It was an amazing privilege to be able to be invited into the inner circle, even if it was only for our cameras and a brief moment. She was so beautiful and happy. I went home excited, although tired. The next morning, as I rubbed my sleepy eyes, drank my coffee to get that jolt of energy and played with my kids, I realized how blessed I am to be a part of something so different from my culture, to experience these events and see other traditions around the world.