JEDDAH ARCHITECTURE & SKIES

WHITE MOSQUE BY THE RED SEA

CURVED GOLD WINDOWS OF JEDDAH HOLIDAY INN 

STRIKING ARCHITECTURE OF WEDDING HALL

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JEDDAH WEDDING - WHAT TO WEAR?

WOMEN'S EVENING WEAR CAN BE FOUND EVERYWHERE

READY TO WEAR OR CUSTOM TAILORED

If a woman cannot find an evening gown to her liking off the rack to wear to that special wedding, fabric shops are plentiful and are staffed with seasoned tailors.  Women can select their fabrics and may be armed with photos of the style dress she wants.  All the trimmings are also selected, such as beading, buttons, lace, feathers, or many more embellishments in all colors.  

The Saudi weddings I've attended are simply jaw dropping - from the decorations, lighting, and floral arrangements, to the gowns, high heels, make-up, and accessories - not to mention the unbelievable feast that is often not served until 3am.  Have a look at a post I did a couple years ago for a rare peek inside a Saudi Wedding. 

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A SMILE THAT WILL BE MISSED

MY NEPHEW CORY ON HIS WEDDING DAY

This past week I lost my nephew Cory to Covid-19.  He was a healthy, happy 39 year old before he contracted the deadly virus in late December.  Cory was born to perform and always loved making people laugh. He was so full of life and he was larger than life.  

Cory was always the center of attention - people were just drawn to him. He was intelligent, kind, talented, and hilarious. Cory entertained thousands over the years at Old Tucson as an actor, stuntman, and script writer.  Audience members always sought him out after the show to get a photo with him.  There was a special magic and charisma about him.  

His death didn't have to happen. Cory lived with his wife and his mom, who was infected with Covid by a stupid asymptomatic co-worker who refused to wear a mask.  Cory's mom unknowingly brought the virus home.  All three of them became sick.  The women didn't require hospitalization and recovered.  However Cory, who kept testing negative for the virus, continued to get sicker and sicker.  He was near death when he was rushed to the hospital on January 10th.  He was immediately put on a ventilator in the ICU.  A little over two weeks later, he was dead.

Our family is shattered, heartbroken, devastated, crushed.  We've lost our smiling happy boy Cory.

CORY'S WEDDING WITH HIS WIFE, SIBLINGS, AND HIS MOM

ANDRIA WAS THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE - THEY WERE A PERFECT MATCH

CORY, ALWAYS PUTTING ON A SHOW

MY WEDDING DAY WITH FAMILY. CORY WAS 9.

CORY WITH HIS DAD, MY BROTHER GARY

 

OUR FAMILY LOVED CORY DEARLY

CORY WAS AN ACTOR & STUNTMAN AT OLD TUCSON. 

THAT'S NOT HIS BABY.  HE HAD NO KIDS.

CORY IN A PROMO FOR OLD TUCSON

GOING OUT IN A BLAZE OF GLORY

WE WILL MISS THIS SMILE.  UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN.

PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE - WEAR A MASK!

A "GO FUND ME" page has been set up to assist with Cory's medical expenses and other bills.  To those who have contributed, THANK YOU.  If you are in the position to make a contribution, no matter how small, it would be much appreciated. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE "GO FUND ME" LINK.

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CITY DAILY PHOTO 

CITY DAILY PHOTO's Theme Day is the first of every month.  This month's theme is "Smile."  

Girls' Formal Dress Shop

The store windows of this little girls' dress shop caught my eye.  I liked the colors and the fanciful Asian theme.  These dresses might be worn for holidays or weddings or other more formal events.  

There is no shortage of shops like these here in Jeddah and the competition is steep.  There are always more formal events to attend and little girls here generally have quite an array of formal attire.  

 

Jeddah Wedding Venues

Wedding halls can be found all over Jeddah in every neighborhood. Many are quite elegant - fancy schmancy.  Because of strict gender segregation customs in the past, weddings are usually separate events for men and women.  Slowly some families are opting for mixed weddings, but it's still not the norm.

Many times the bride's event is held on a different date and different venue than the groom's event.  On occasion, they might be held on the same night at the same location at a wedding hall that offers separated entrances and separated ballrooms, as seen in the photo below.

Be sure to visit OUR WORLD TUESDAY, where family-friendly bloggers share a unique glimpse into what life is like all around our ever-amazing planet.  

This post is linked to My Corner of the World. Do check out the other posts from bloggers from all over the world. 

Jeddah Wedding Hall at Night

Wedding Halls are a big business here in Saudi Arabia.  They are found in pretty much every neighborhood.  New ones are even more elegant than the ones built before.  Most Saudi weddings tend to be very elaborate and expensive.  I've only been to women's weddings here (only women are in attendance, except for an appearance by the groom and close male relatives), but mixed gender weddings are becoming more commonplace the past few years. 

To  visit MORE friendly skies around the world, fly on over to SKYWATCH  where you’ll find beautiful skies posted by bloggers all over the world.

Saudi Special Event Bling

Bling bling! Here are some more fancy clutch purses and an elegant rhinestone embellished evening dress that would be worn to a Saudi wedding event.

I'm pretty sure most of these items are imported to Saudi Arabia from either India or Pakistan.  Perfect for the holidays too!

Saudi Arabia Fancy Purses

These purses won't hold much more than a lipstick and keys, and a few might even fit in a mobile phone, but they are intended to be mere accessories to complete an outfit. 

They are perfect accessories for a fancy wedding here in Saudi Arabia - lots of over the top bling, large gawdy stones and rhinestones. 

I believe most of these clutches are from India or Pakistan.

Saudi Arabia Fancy Female Footwear

Saudi women are very fashionable and elegant.  Whether entertaining guests at home or attending a lavish wedding, Saudi women are the epitome of elegance and grace.  This post shows some fancy footwear worn by Saudi women for fancy occasions.

The shoes shown here are not actually that over the top expensive. They cost about 150 Saudi riyals, which converts to about $40 US. I believe they are made in India or Pakistan.

Jeddah Wedding Fashions

These types of fancy dresses are worn at female only events, like gender segregated weddings.  Saudi women would never wear clothing exposing so much skin in front of men who are not related to them.

All the Saudi weddings I have attended have been the most elegant affairs, each one outdoing the one before - the glitz, the glamour, the flowers, the food.

Jeddah Purple Wedding

When I saw that City Daily Photo's monthly theme for May was "Purple," my thoughts immediately went to an amazing wedding I attended on Valentine's Day here in Jeddah. The entire ballroom was awash in shades of purple - purple lighting, purple flowers, purple decorations.  

I wrote about this magnificent event and posted many more photos on my other blog, Susie of Arabia. Have a look! Photos of Saudi weddings are rarely seen or posted on public forums.

City Daily Photo is an online community of photo bloggers that share images of life in their cities around the world.  The first of every month is Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers.  This month's theme is "Purple."  Be sure to visit the City Daily Photo portal to view other participants' entries for today's theme day.

Cute Arabic Greeting Cards

I spotted these charming greeting cards in a female only restaurant here in Jeddah called Sara Ladies Cafe.  They are the work of a young Saudi female artist, Ola Nassief.

This one (above) says "Happy Birthday!"  

"Make the moon go away, and you take its place" is the literal translation of the above card.  In English, we might say something like "You are the moon."

Obviously this last one s for a wedding.  It says "You are the prettiest bride."

You can follow this artist on Instagram @ ola.nassief

Jeddah - Headless, Armless Mannequins

Jeddah has more fancy ballgown dress shops than any place I've ever seen.  Weddings are a huge social event here and the female attendees go all out, like they are attending the Academy Awards.  I got used to seeing the headless mannequins here, but now there seems to be a trend for mannequins to be armless or have arms that are just mysteriously chopped off at some point.  It's kinda creepy.

I'm sure it makes it easier to dress the mannequins if the arms are removed, but if you ask me, it detracts from the appeal and the beauty of the dresses.

Is it just me, or do you find the chopped off arm look distracting too?  A gorgeous dress, so elegant, being worn by a mannequin with her arms chopped off awkwardly below the elbow.  It's just weird...

And I want to know - what happens to all these heads and arms that have been discarded?  Where do they go?  Is there a market for them?

The beadwork, the colors and the styles are truly works of art - why not display them on something a little more appropriate, instead of a hideous version of a human?  I really don't get it...