45 grooms say ‘I do’ at Dewa mass wedding

Forty-five new grooms feted at a mass wedding in Dubai will start married life with a bounty, not a burden. The wedding was the seventh annual event held by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, and brought the total number of unions forged by the government agency to 286.

Grooms at the mass wedding ceremony organised by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority at Zabeel Park on Monday, and (below) a folk dance performed during the event. — KT photos by Grace Guino

he Emirati first-time husbands were decked out in dapper black beshts (the robes that adorn the kandoora on special occasions) at the Sunday night ceremony at Zabeel Park, which was attended by Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and President of Dewa.

The wives, however, were not in attendance in keeping with tradition, with the ceremony for grooms only — both Dewa employees and the husbands of Dewa employees.

The ceremony, which cost hundreds of thousands of dirhams, featured traditional dancing and poetry, with a buffet dinner for those in attendance, including the grooms, their families and corporate sponsors.

But for most of the grooms, the real bounty was being unburdened from the often crippling costs of the UAE marriage ceremonies, with the government also endowing each couple with Dh35,000 and various wedding gifts such as perfume, jewellery and vouchers for clothing and appliances.

Abdullah Ali Al Marri, 25, has been basking in the glory of marital bliss for the past three months since his December wedding. However, while his wife had held a wedding ceremony for family and friends, which cost Dh200,000, Al Marri had not wanted to outlay a similar cost for a ceremony for himself.

The Dewa wedding ceremony was the first opportunity he had to publicly celebrate with his family and friends. “Our company has given us the support to have a wedding in the UAE.”

Al Marri said that support meant a lot to a newly-wed. “It’s my new life, opening a new door to a new life and family in the UAE…now already I have paid everything (for my wife’s wedding). The Dh35,000, I will enjoy it.”

Al Marri and his wife will use the money for a honeymoon to Maldives in April, where he plans to get his diving instructor’s certificate.

Dewa Marketing and Corporate Communication vice president Khawla Al Mehairi said the initiative had actually helped 286 families, helping everyone — not just the couples — stay free from debt. “We will continue (the mass weddings), this is basically to promote the work-life balance of employees.”

The wedding was the single biggest event across all Dubai government-sponsored mass weddings, “which means the programme has got really positive responses from our employees”.

She said the Dewa support was part of its corporate social responsibility programme to its employees as well as a broader government initiative to encourage inter-Emirati marriages. There is a Dh20,000 cap on dowries for all Emirati weddings. “This is coming from the government directives to support the marriage of nationals to each other.”

Dewa also held a series of workshops for fiances or newlyweds designed to induct them into the world of married life.

All of those admitted as part of the ceremony had either been married the past year or were due to be married in the coming year, and had to present appropriate documents as well as proof of citizenship before the ceremony.

amanda@khaleejtimes.com