Elements of Middle Eastern Wedding

Kosha

Kosha is the seating area of the bride and groom. Traditionally it the focal point of the ballroom in which the setup should be aligned around. It's usually the most anticipated statement piece of the wedding. However, nowadays the modern bride is preferring a minimum and very simple kosha design and most likely the design is very streamlined.

Entrance - Zaffa

Zaffa is a musical entrance for the bride and groom in which the father of the bride gives her away to her groom, in front of their family and friends and they dance to traditional drums and sometimes there is a belly dancers show. This show usually takes place in the foyer of the ballroom which is usually designed to match the colors and decor of the ballroom

Ballroom Entrance

After the Zaffa the couple makes the ballroom entrance in a special way whether entering with a car, carriage, coming down from the ceiling or having a special design statement for the couple reveal. For simpler brides they usually just come out on set of stairs where the exchange the rings (from right to left meaning from the engagement finger to the married finger)

** Sometimes the ballroom entrance is accompanied by zaffa according to the couples preference

Cake show

The cake show is also important for some couples in which they either decorate the cake table in a special way or make the cake a special design or even make a special cake reveal. 

Centerpieces

Centerpieces are the focus of brides; they usually put a lot of attention on the style of the centerpiece. It's usually either high or low floral arrangements. Brides with higher budget can request to make a special design or certain style of Centerpieces to be used in addition to focusing on the tabletop design in general that includes napkins and linens.

Setup

Traditionally the furnishing used is the ones provided by the ballroom. Certain changes could be made like changing the linens and chair covers. However, nowadays the furnishing expanded to lounges, chiavari chairs, high tables, acrylic (ghost) tables and chairs different types of tables whether glass top tables with different shapes ( oval, square, rectangle) , s shape tables and circle tables.

In certain Gulf countries the wedding is usually divide in 2 separate celebrations, one for the ladies and the other for the gentlemen. Mostly the wedding design is done for the ladies celebration with minimum decor for the gentlemen celebration.

In Egypt, church floral decoration are usually transported and used in the reception decoration as its a cost effective way to reuse the flowers since the ceremony usually lasts around 45 minutes

For Muslim couples, there is Katb El Ketab (official religious ceremony) this usually takes place either before the wedding reception (sometimes it can be up to a year apart) or on the day of the wedding reception.

Sometimes couple chooses to have Katb El Ketab in a mosque and the decoration is usually minimum to none or couples do the religious ceremony in a separate hall in the same hotel or venue with completely different decor.

The Katb El Ketab decor is similar to the church ceremony but instead of the altar there is a head table and 6 chairs (couple father of the bride, the officiator and 2 witnesses)