Many months ago, Maya and Rakan planned an extraordinary wedding in the Vatican, but the new Corona virus came as a heavy guest without invitation, and they ended up marrying in a church near Beirut, in the presence of about 10 people, the absence of decorations, music and the noise of the invitees.
The start of the spring semester marks the opening of the wedding season, and the work of party organizers and the accompanying service providers, which is an important sector in the Lebanese economy, but the outbreak of the "Covid-19" epidemic altered the plans of those wishing to marry and paralyzed productivity, as for most economic sectors.
Maya Khadra (26) did not expect to marry a "empty church" one day, and she, along with her fiancé, Rakan Ghossein (28), wanted an unforgettable wedding.
In the Church of Our Lady of Aid in the village of Shamlan, 20 kilometers from Beirut, the bride and groom last Sunday celebrated their wedding in the presence of their small family members, while it was raining heavily outside.
"(Corona) changed everything, including our marriage," said the young, green-eyed Maya.
The bride, who wore an elegant wedding dress and put white roses on her hair, added: “They called us from the Vatican, and told us that they canceled all weddings for nine months, and we found that we had two options: to postpone for nine months or to marry.”
The newlyweds preferred the second option because "nobody knows when Corona will end first, and because the delay is a waste of time second," according to the young journalist.
As for the third reason, which is not less important according to Rakan, who is the owner of a sports club, it is "We do not want to put a burden on the invitees because of (Corona), and we want to ensure that we do not mix."
"Love is stronger than (Corona) and death and all dangers," said the head of the Lady of Aid Monastery, Father Hanna Khadra, smiling before the marriage ceremony began.
No groupings
In the church hall, the bride's sister took charge of the congratulations via video and WhatsApp, and the bride said in grief that the absence of friends was "the most difficult", as "they were more enthusiastic than us."
Rakan's father said that he was not enthusiastic about a brief wedding, and he wanted to invite “1000 people,” as he did during the wedding of his six other sons. In Lebanon, marriage celebrated the festive aspects, regardless of the bride’s religion or their social and material status. Perhaps the common denominator is the number of people invited by the hundreds, the wedding processions accompanying the wedding, the arrangement of flowers and music, the dancers, dinner and firecrackers, and photographers, most of whom use drones to photograph.
During the past years, a number of banks devoted loans to those wishing to marry, because the cost of weddings, which are delegated to organize them to professional companies, ranged between 200,000 and 800,000 dollars on average.
Lebanese young men and women who live in countries of expatriation choose to return to their country during the summer for their wedding.
Weddings often include dinner with a variety of foods, in restaurants, luxury hotels, or marine resorts. And spread in recent years halls and outdoor spaces, specially set up to organize weddings, on the beachfront, or in mountainous areas amid stunning landscapes. The newlyweds pay thousands of dollars to rent these places, in addition to the cost of clothes, food and other services.
On the other hand, marriage abroad has also become a common practice, and for the financially capable they sometimes reserve special flights to transport their invitees to Italy, Cyprus, Paris, or other countries, to participate in the wedding.
Chanel Fayyad, 29, and her fiancée, informatics engineer Eli Kassis, 32, postponed their marriage, which was scheduled earlier this month, until next week, after the government imposed a curfew on their wedding day.
Chanel said by phone: "We decided to walk with a brief wedding to ensure we are together, and we take advantage of the opportunity of the stone to spend more time together, especially as we do not work" due to the state of public closure.
A double challenge, Pamela Mansour Muhanna, who along with others owns the Maine wedding and event organization, explains that "more than 75% of the parties" in Lebanon and abroad have been canceled due to the outbreak of the virus.
She says: "We face a double challenge. If the Corona crisis ends, we have to see how we will deal with the economic crisis," which began its features since last summer, which led her with her partner to establish a company in Riyadh six months ago, and she adds, "After (Corona) we will work to strengthen We worked abroad. ”
Weddings were planning lavish parties and had to content themselves with a family party or postpone.