Marrakech for Easter Break
Hi everyone,
The Royal Wedding was good for something - we got an extra holiday... yay! It also meant that we only had a three day week that week, so by taking the three days leave, we got 10 days off - not bad eh. 7 of those days were in Morocco for Lany and I, so here's the report...
One of the big highlights was my first 'real' Moroccan wedding. This was on the first night we were there, we literally landed late afternoon, got changed, and went straight to it. While we were the around 7:30pm, Lany was totally correct in her previous statements that Moroccan weddings don't start until about 10pm, and go through until 5am (easily). Hardly anyone was around for the first hour or two, but at least it gave me the chance to get some photos.
Oh, there's like this big stage thing (I didn't know what it was at the start) which the couple sit on throughout the evening and get photos with people. Typically the couple changes outfits a few times and so there's multiple pictures with people throughout the evening. It does seem that basically if the couple isn't taking a few minutes to eat at their nice table (white one in the middle), they're getting changed and getting photos on the stage.... and maybe fitting in a bit of dancing. Oh, and Moroccan weddings don't have table settings, people just move around as they like.
Around 9pm/9:30pm people had mostly arrived, the music kicked off and people started to dance and mingle. I was tripping the light fantastic Moroccan-male style, so basically just bopping around and moving arms ;) At some points I was the only male up there... eeek! Still the khaftans of the women are pretty amazing and colourful, and look great when they are dancing. The colour on my pictures isn't really accurate, but because of the lighting etc there's not a lot I could do about it - needless to say they look pretty amazing.
Around 10:30pm or closer to 11pm the couple arrived in full fanfare! It was a huge spectacle with loud music from the band, the dudes carrying the bride on their shoulders dancing, crossing knives, people dancing, extra musicians running around etc. The pictures don't do it justice, it was a huge event, so hopefully this video will work.
So on to most important thing - the food was good. It was very typical/traditional fare starting with little canapes, nuts and drinks as people arrived (until about 10pm), then when the meal was served with four courses: pastilla, a mix of salads, a whole half of a sheep (absolutely brilliant taste!) and yoghurt ice cream cake and fruit for desert. I totally pigged out on the lamb, it was sweet.... I got jokes from the table because I was having several helpings... (but it's ok, Moroccan's love it when people enjoy food).
In between courses there was a bit of time which we spend dancing, or talking etc. All in all the Moroccan wedding is pretty simple: bride/groom arrive with a huge entrance, bride/groom change costumes a lot, they get lots of photos, they dance a bit, guests come, guests eat, guests dance, and everyone parties. There's no real formal stoppages, or religious things etc - it's just a party! The bride (Yasmin) didn't change much either for the wedding, just three outfits, but I only caught two.......
As we'd flown in and been busy right up to going, Lany and I died at about 3:30am (I think), and headed home... It was good to see the typical wedding, but there are a few things that Lany and I will probably do differently for ours (for a start, we'll have a ceremony/blessing, and probably not the stage thing :P)
After that the week was far more sedate. The weather for the weekend we arrived (i.e. the wedding and next day) was pouring rain, so not a lot of fun, but the few days after were sunny and clear(ish). I got a bit of a swim in the pool and did some running in the mornings, so it was nice. We basically saw some of Lany's friends, ran errands in town, hung around the house (outside Marrakech), saw Lany's extended family, but then also spent time with Lany's sister's parents-in-law who arrived on the Wednesday.
In Moroccan fashion, any gathering involved awesome food, here's a example of some of the things we ate (two of Lany's aunts in particular are AMAZING cooks!) one night at her uncle's place.
Our time at Tahannout wasn't boring though because Lany's parents have a new puppy! It's pretty cute and is really nice. It took a couple of days to start to get it into line because as puppies do it's trying to bite everything. We eventually started to get it to sit, chase the ball and not bite people, but it did take a few frustrating moments ;) It's cute and I'm sure it'll be great when bigger and a bit more calm.
With all the rain recently, the countryside is just full of flowers, as well as the garden at Tahannout... I took a number of pictures. (Too many for here, the garden at Tahannout is really flourishing, so if you want to see photo's of courgettes, beetroot etc check the full photo gallery link on the right).
Just at the end we went to lunch at Lany's aunts house who lives 30 mins out of Marrkech in the country... It was a stormy day with patches of sun, which made for some good photos..
Of course there was good food too!
Right at the end the bomb thing hit, which sux, but fortunately none of Lany's friends/family were involved.
One big thing though was viewing a potential wedding venue, which we then put a deposit on. It's big enough for a couple of hundred guests, and very luxurious, so hopefully it'll be good for everyone! No photos of the venue though, you'll have to wait for those..
So that was about it. Nice to hang out and see family again - my French is still atrocious so I better pull my socks up and get cracking before the wedding! eeeek!
Anka
The Royal Wedding was good for something - we got an extra holiday... yay! It also meant that we only had a three day week that week, so by taking the three days leave, we got 10 days off - not bad eh. 7 of those days were in Morocco for Lany and I, so here's the report...
One of the big highlights was my first 'real' Moroccan wedding. This was on the first night we were there, we literally landed late afternoon, got changed, and went straight to it. While we were the around 7:30pm, Lany was totally correct in her previous statements that Moroccan weddings don't start until about 10pm, and go through until 5am (easily). Hardly anyone was around for the first hour or two, but at least it gave me the chance to get some photos.
Oh, there's like this big stage thing (I didn't know what it was at the start) which the couple sit on throughout the evening and get photos with people. Typically the couple changes outfits a few times and so there's multiple pictures with people throughout the evening. It does seem that basically if the couple isn't taking a few minutes to eat at their nice table (white one in the middle), they're getting changed and getting photos on the stage.... and maybe fitting in a bit of dancing. Oh, and Moroccan weddings don't have table settings, people just move around as they like.
Around 9pm/9:30pm people had mostly arrived, the music kicked off and people started to dance and mingle. I was tripping the light fantastic Moroccan-male style, so basically just bopping around and moving arms ;) At some points I was the only male up there... eeek! Still the khaftans of the women are pretty amazing and colourful, and look great when they are dancing. The colour on my pictures isn't really accurate, but because of the lighting etc there's not a lot I could do about it - needless to say they look pretty amazing.
Around 10:30pm or closer to 11pm the couple arrived in full fanfare! It was a huge spectacle with loud music from the band, the dudes carrying the bride on their shoulders dancing, crossing knives, people dancing, extra musicians running around etc. The pictures don't do it justice, it was a huge event, so hopefully this video will work.
So on to most important thing - the food was good. It was very typical/traditional fare starting with little canapes, nuts and drinks as people arrived (until about 10pm), then when the meal was served with four courses: pastilla, a mix of salads, a whole half of a sheep (absolutely brilliant taste!) and yoghurt ice cream cake and fruit for desert. I totally pigged out on the lamb, it was sweet.... I got jokes from the table because I was having several helpings... (but it's ok, Moroccan's love it when people enjoy food).
In between courses there was a bit of time which we spend dancing, or talking etc. All in all the Moroccan wedding is pretty simple: bride/groom arrive with a huge entrance, bride/groom change costumes a lot, they get lots of photos, they dance a bit, guests come, guests eat, guests dance, and everyone parties. There's no real formal stoppages, or religious things etc - it's just a party! The bride (Yasmin) didn't change much either for the wedding, just three outfits, but I only caught two.......
As we'd flown in and been busy right up to going, Lany and I died at about 3:30am (I think), and headed home... It was good to see the typical wedding, but there are a few things that Lany and I will probably do differently for ours (for a start, we'll have a ceremony/blessing, and probably not the stage thing :P)
After that the week was far more sedate. The weather for the weekend we arrived (i.e. the wedding and next day) was pouring rain, so not a lot of fun, but the few days after were sunny and clear(ish). I got a bit of a swim in the pool and did some running in the mornings, so it was nice. We basically saw some of Lany's friends, ran errands in town, hung around the house (outside Marrakech), saw Lany's extended family, but then also spent time with Lany's sister's parents-in-law who arrived on the Wednesday.
In Moroccan fashion, any gathering involved awesome food, here's a example of some of the things we ate (two of Lany's aunts in particular are AMAZING cooks!) one night at her uncle's place.
Our time at Tahannout wasn't boring though because Lany's parents have a new puppy! It's pretty cute and is really nice. It took a couple of days to start to get it into line because as puppies do it's trying to bite everything. We eventually started to get it to sit, chase the ball and not bite people, but it did take a few frustrating moments ;) It's cute and I'm sure it'll be great when bigger and a bit more calm.
With all the rain recently, the countryside is just full of flowers, as well as the garden at Tahannout... I took a number of pictures. (Too many for here, the garden at Tahannout is really flourishing, so if you want to see photo's of courgettes, beetroot etc check the full photo gallery link on the right).
Just at the end we went to lunch at Lany's aunts house who lives 30 mins out of Marrkech in the country... It was a stormy day with patches of sun, which made for some good photos..
Of course there was good food too!
Right at the end the bomb thing hit, which sux, but fortunately none of Lany's friends/family were involved.
One big thing though was viewing a potential wedding venue, which we then put a deposit on. It's big enough for a couple of hundred guests, and very luxurious, so hopefully it'll be good for everyone! No photos of the venue though, you'll have to wait for those..
So that was about it. Nice to hang out and see family again - my French is still atrocious so I better pull my socks up and get cracking before the wedding! eeeek!
Anka
posted by Anthony Hawke at 11:19 am
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