The wedding started at 7:30pm; we'd never been to a Muslim wedding before, and didn't really know what to expect in either the ceremony or the reception, but we enjoyed it very much. The room was beautifully decorated with cloth hangings, & the words spoken were very meaningful. The first part of the wedding was performed with the groom wearing a veil & the bride's uncle as her proxy. Then they were pronounced husband & wife, though we still hadn't seen Aliya yet, & we all went into another large room for sweets & hor d'ouevres--an excellent selection of cheeses, smoked salmon rosebuds on mini potato pancakes, chicken skewers, tasty pakoras with mango chutney, & wonderful avocado-crab cakes on crispy tortillas. The Pakistani sweets were superb--there was one like a Greek honey-ball, & one spectacular one made with lentils (!!) & pistachios.
Then we moved into the Four Seasons Grand Ballroom for dinner & the rest of the wedding ceremony.
The bride came in under a canopy in a procession with her family, all in lovely clothes (Asma looked like Queen Amidala with even better hair), & the bride & groom were blessed & fed each other sweets. The dinner was very good, mostly new-American-style food with a few Pakistani sidedishes. Lara asked me to take pictures of all the courses, but I didn't remember to get all of the dishes; below is a shrimp appetizer, a sorbet dessert, and the fresh flower centerpieces. Asma charged Robert with helping to amuse the five 8-16 year olds seated at our table, so taking & viewing lots of digital pictures came in handy.
