This was one of the most challenging weddings I’ve ever shot. That said, it was extremely fun and at times extremely confusing. This wedding had a traditional Egyptian Wedding Zaffa (Wedding Entrance), Western speeches, Arabic poetry, a Yemeni Zaffa and wedding guests who spoke more languages than a UN translator would be able to swing. At various points in the evening I was instructing guests in English, Arabic and occasionally my very broken French (I would like to once again apologize to all the French guests for my horrendous accent and butchery of their language). Ben’s poor little brother, in my confusion, found me giving him instructions in Spanish; a language no one at the wedding actually spoke, but I had lost track at that point really. This wedding celebrated the union of Ben from France and Atiaf from Yemen. They brought with them their friends and families from uh, just about everywhere. The wedding also took place just about everywhere. I started shooting the prep at Hotel Safir in Zamalek (across the street from my apartment, pretty convenient). Then we took a van with the bride and her siblings (you’ll see) to the Swiss Club in Giza and about 14 hours after I started I found myself standing on the October 6th bridge shooting the afterparty somewhere between Zamalek and Downtown Cairo.
Like the wedding itself, this is a very long post, but if it’s any consolation when I first went through the roughly 5000 pictures I took that day it was quite a bit longer
I hope you enjoy the images as much as I enjoyed photographing the wedding. If possible I hope you’re nearly as confused as I found myself as well…
Now for just a quick costume change…
Just Kidding! It’s not over yet! Don’t you remember? I said AFTERPARTY on a bridge.
Ok, ok now you can leave a comment and move on with your livesCongrats Ben and Atiaf!
