Jumana and I met in May of 2009 at Nermine and George’s Wedding. It was the third wedding I had ever photographed and Jumana was one of the bridesmaids. Later she would complain to me that I took several unflattering photos of her singing at the top of her lungs during the wedding. Naturally, this is why she chose to hire me to shoot her own wedding
If you can understand that, you may begin to understand Jumana. In May of 2010 I ran into her again on the roof of the Fairmont Nile City. I was there to shoot Yasmine and Randhir’s Wedding. Jumana was there to check out the venue as a possible location for her own wedding. She told me she wanted an outdoor daytime wedding and was between July and September for months to schedule it. Keep in mind, as she said this it was May and the temperature was nearing 40 degrees celsius (that means hot for my American friends) and we were delaying the entrance of the bride and groom because it was too hot. So naturally July would be an even better time to schedule an outdoor daytime wedding! I suggested the fall may be a better choice. She eventually agreed and told me she’d be calling me in a few days… she meant August. I spent this August shooting in the UK with PR Photography and while I was there I finally got a call from Jumana. She was almost ready to book, she claimed, AND she was coming to London to pick out her wedding dress so we could meet up while she was there. Fantastic! A few weeks later, she still hadn’t booked, still hadn’t come to London and still hadn’t booked a dj, flights, a wedding decorator or uhhhh anything else. It was two weeks from the alleged “wedding date.” I suggested postponing might be a good idea given the situation. She agreed. I returned to Cairo and again she said we have to meet up and eventually we did. Then she said she would get back to me next week on the details. Of course she did not. She was trying to finalize all her plans for her now-destination wedding in Marsa Alam. About 10 days before the wedding she was booking her DJ and we had another meeting. 3 days before the wedding I sent her an ultimatum. “Tell me yes or no tonight or I’m not coming no matter what.” She didn’t call of course. The next afternoon she called. 24 hours later I was on a plane to her wedding in Marsa Alam in Port Ghalib (my threats are generally empty in case you were wondering.
For the next 72 hours I documented the process through which this chaos was brought together into what I must describe as a fabulous wedding. I’m not just saying that. As crazy as Jumana is, she’s also a last minute genius. We landed in Marsa Alam with her friends and family to a 4 hotel resort complex that still had no clear idea as to what the plan was for the weekend. As you’ll see in the photos below. The first 36 hours was mostly meetings upon meetings upon site checks upon meetings trying to finalize every detail for the parties and activities for the guests. In spite of the seeming absence of a plan Jumana had a clear vision and somehow managed to pull it off. It was an amazing weekend. The guests were all wonderful, friendly, interesting people and I count many of them among my friends today. So many people played a crucial role in bringing this weekend together. Jumana’s mother performed amazing logistical feats organizing the resort management and staff. The management and staff at the Intercontinental hotels at Port Ghalib are perhaps the best mind readers on earth because they somehow managed to navigate Jumana and her mother’s, at times, contradictory instructions. Jumana’s brother Mohamed drove from Cairo to Marsa Alam in what he described as some sort of monster truck to bring in supplies for the wedding. Her friend Mona stayed behind in Cairo to pick up Jumana’s dress from the tailor who was doing some last minute touches and then did Jumana’s makeup for the Bedouin night party. Nermine spent the weekend trying to keep Jumana sane and relaxed. Jumana’s dad was just incredibly hilarious. That was his primary contribution, but it was valuable I assure you.
Now as for my dear friend Ashraf; he is a pillar of patience. He survived the most haphazard elaborate and last minute wedding planning process I have ever witnessed in my career without any sort of breakdown. I’m still impressed. I brought him cigars with me from Cairo which successfully got us both yelled at. I take full responsibility, of course, for corrupting himThat said with the help of the occasional whisky he was able to gracefully glide across the chaos while actually attending a surprising number of these meetings himself.
All in all, in spite of the stress and confusion this was honestly one of the most fun wedding weekends I have ever attended and while I was the photographer I felt welcomed as a guest. Congratulations Jumana and Ashraf and best of luck in the years to come.
Oh yes, and here are some of the photographs
