Men and women have separate wedding receptions, which can be held on the same or on different nights. Guests of an Emirati wedding typically number in the hundreds and for this reason brothers, cousins and male friends often marry on the same day. Each bride, however, is usually the star of her own night. Today in the larger cities often a special wedding hall or hotel ball room is place of the festivity.
Women's receptions begin in the late evening. Guests are received at the door by female relatives of the bride and groom and are offered various perfumes before seating themselves at the table of their choice. Tables may be laden with appetisers and sweets. A multi-course meal is served throughout the evening and servers circulate with coffee, tea and snacks.
After a few hours, the bride enters and walks down a long catwalk in the centre of the hall to a stage where she seats herself on an elaborate sofa. She can stay there to receive guests or circulate among them. Later a change in music alerts female guests to the impending arrival of the groom – the evening culminates with his entrance. He also walks down the elevated aisle, dressed in a gold-trimmed bisht cloak, with a handful of other close male relatives. The men stay there for a while and accept congratulations before taking the bride home. Newly-weds can live together once the bride’s wedding reception has been held with female guests.
Mens wedding receptions are less lavish and extravagant. They meet in big halls to congratulate the groom(s) who are present too. Traditional dances are shown and a meal is served. Servers circulating around with tea and coffee. The celebration for the male can be held on day too. Bride(s) or women never appear(s) at the celebration of the men.
This is a common formula, but wedding practices change according to the time, fashion, family and region in UAE. There are neighborhood weddings at homes in traditional coastal, desert and mountain communities too. Such weddings often happen during winter and still remain popular in different Emirates. Hundreds gather from early morning to drum, dance and feast. Women celebrate it more distrect joining other female relatives in a house beside the tents set up for the men.