Better Late Than Never

53

At the crack of dawn on Friday morning, even before the Fajr prayer was completed, the décor teams at the two venues got to work ahead of the wedding that was to begin late after the Asr prayer, just before Maghrib.

The Abdulaziz backyard was transformed from a plain kept green area to one befitting of a Nikkah ceremony. A rectangular floral arch was set up in front of a wall, on the top of the square shaped uplift that sat two feet above the ground, covered with a white cloth. Underneath the flower arch, three chairs were arranged; two single seats facing each other and a loveseat facing the audience. A smaller floral partition was placed between the two single seats; signifying that one seat for the groom and the other was for the bride.

The rest of the yard was divided into two, an aisle right in the middle with flower stands on both sides. Beyond the flower stands, white padded garden chairs were unfolded and arranged in perfect rows. The men were to sit on the right side and the women were to sit on the left.

The front rows were reserved for immediate families and close friends who were automatically the bridesmaids and groomsmen, and the décor team made sure to put 'Reserved' tags on the seats to make it clear that the chairs were not to be occupied.

Every other part of the Abdulaziz home got touched up in one way or the other. A glass stand was erected by the gate, welcoming guests to the Nikkah of Ayman and Ayra. Drapes stretched overhead from the gates and converged right above the front porch.

The foyer had a table erected to hold small bites and drinks and the living rooms had drapes and floral arrangements beautifying the spaces. There were balloons and ribbons too. Just like Ayra's first wedding, the stairs had fairy lights wrapped around and in-between strung flowers on the railings, and it was a marvellous sight.

In Ayra's room, Ibtihaj took care of things on behalf of the bride and ensured anyone who stepped in stayed quiet so as to not wake Ayra up as the bride had slept way too late courtesy of the bridal shower thrown in her honour and she needed to catch as much sleep as she could get before she was thrown back into the wedding madness.

At Omar Bello's home, sleep was out of the equation for Ayman. He sipped coffee from the biggest mug he could find; knowing he would need it.

He'd planned to get some sleep after Fajr just as Ayra said she'd do but his friends, led by none other than Ricky, and his cousins, led by the goofy Adil, had thrown him a quick 'Groom shower' (Ricky's idea) simply because they couldn't "allow the ladies have all the fun" and because they couldn't have the 'groom shower' the night before as Ayman returned home late from the barber's and had been too preoccupied in putting everything he'd gotten in place for him and for Ayra.

While Ayman was grateful for the gesture, he hated that he couldn't easily fall asleep after the party ended so he'd made himself a big cup of coffee and went outside to oversee the activities of the décor team while everyone else busied themselves with one thing or the other.

All the vehicles that had been parked in the compound the night before – including his – were gone; each one moved to the next compound and the one right after. The front lawn had been cleaned and the interlocked area was covered with faux grass carpets that matched the actual green area; making it seem as though the entire front of the compound was a green area without any hint of sand or concrete in sight.

The wooden pillars, which ended up forming a large pergola, had been erected and the drapes were being used to cover the vertical pillars and also being arranged over the overhead horizontal beams. The pastel shades of pink and orange were soothingly beautiful and Ayman loved how the colour combo looked even better in real life.

While the drapes were being worked on, the tables – two long ones – were set up and cushioned wooden chairs were arranged on both sides. Low vases with flowers in pink and orange shades with green leaves were arranged to run through the middle of the entire length of both tables and then pink coloured candles were placed between the vases, adding so much beauty to the already aesthetically pleasing set up.