Afghan Pakistani Muslim Fusion Wedding

Muslim Fusion Wedding at Three Rivers Essex

Dancing! Lot’s of music and dancing! That’s mostly what we remember of Uzma & Masiehs Afghan/Pakistani fusion wedding at the Three Rivers Golf & Country Club in Essex.

We love seeing a mix of different cultures coming together and have been lucky to have witnessed quite a lot of fusion weddings over the years. And although we’ve covered a few Pakistani weddings before, it was our first experience of Afghani culture and tradition.

From the extra vibrant colours to the Afghan wedding dance, it was all new to us but also familiar at the same time. It’s fascinating how there are a lot of similarities in Asian wedding traditions. Dancing rituals with swords, similar to what you’d see at some Panjabi weddings. And then there’s the bride and groom under the shawl; together they read passages from the Quran. When finished, a mirror is placed in front of the couple, and they both gaze into the mirror. We see a similar practice in Tamil weddings.

But one tradition you’ll see at nearly all Asian weddings is the groom being asked to empty his wallet before seeing the bride. Masieh tried to get away with it by using some dodgy looking foreign money. No Masieh, that’s an old trick. Doesn’t quite work. Not sure it ever did. :p

The night ended with, yes, you guessed it, more dancing, with some brilliant and crazy moves from everyone. Even Uzma’s supposedly shy (ahem) siblings.

By the end of it all, it was like being reunited with a long lost adopted family. We totally forgot that we were working. It’s fair to say that we had a lot of fun at their wedding and can’t wait to see them all this Saturday for their Civil Registry.

Here’s a selection of our favourite images from the mehndi, wedding and reception.