A Lebanese wedding rarely starts on the wedding day. It starts weeks or months earlier, in a living room, when one family visits another to ask a question. This Wedded Wonderland guide walks through Lebanese wedding traditions in the order families usually keep them. It is written for Lebanese-Australian and mixed-heritage couples carrying these customs to a celebration in Italy, Cyprus, the UAE or at home in Australia.
There is no single Lebanese wedding. Most families draw on the same set of customs, in roughly this order:
the formal asking (tulbeh)
the engagement (khutbeh)
the henna night (laylat al-henna)
a church crowning or a katb al-kitab
the zaffeh entrance
the dabke
zaghareet, the cries of joy
cutting the cake with a sword
sugared almonds and sweets
Lebanon's communities include Christian, Muslim and Druze families, and customs vary between them, and between regions and households within each. A Maronite family and a Sunni family may share the dabke and the sweets, then mark the marriage itself in quite different ways.
The practical point for planning: ask both families early which steps they want, rather than working from a list. If one partner is not of Lebanese heritage, the same conversation tells you where the two traditions sit comfortably side by side.
Many of these customs are shared across the region. Our guide to Arab and Levantine wedding traditions covers the wider picture.
For the background: Britannica lists Shia and Sunni Muslims as Lebanon's two largest religious groups, with Maronite Christians making up more than one-fifth of the population, alongside other Christian communities, the Druze and a small Jewish minority. The country has no official religion.
Most families keep several steps before the reception begins. They run from the first family visit to the ceremony itself, and each family decides which ones to include.
Most written accounts describe Arab weddings across the region rather than Lebanon alone, so read this as the common pattern and let your families fill in their own.
The tulbeh (also written tulba, toulbe or tolbe) is the formal request for the bride's hand: a private visit, limited to relatives, in which the groom and his family ask the bride and her family once both families have agreed, and the families then formally recognise that the couple will marry.
Arabic coffee is often part of the visit. One account, written about Muslim families in Egypt, Palestine and Jordan, has the families read the Fatiha once the father agrees, typically over Arabic coffee in the Levant. Treat the details as your family's to decide.
The engagement is the khutbeh (printed khutubah in some sources). Across the region, the common pattern is a simpler party or family dinner, without a zaffeh, at which the couple exchange rings and place them on each other's right-hand ring finger.
Some Lebanese families do throw a large engagement party; others keep it to a dinner. Neither is more correct.
For a wedding abroad, a smaller engagement dinner can work well as an early welcome for guests who arrive a few days before, so the families meet before the big night.
The henna night, laylat al-henna, is a pre-wedding evening that many families keep, and regional accounts show how it has changed. Historically, in accounts from Palestine, the groom's family danced through the village to the bride's house, where henna was mixed and applied to the couple's hands. Today, especially outside Palestine, it is closer to a women's celebration with music, food and dancing, and henna drawn on the palms and feet of the bride and her guests.
In Lebanese families who keep it, the evening is often told as an intimate one: the women of both families, a tray of henna, songs, and the bride at the centre. Some families call the pre-wedding gathering by other names, and some Christian and Muslim families skip it altogether.
On the wedding day, many families keep a moment when the groom and his family come to collect the bride from her parents' home. It is often told as the most emotional hour of the day: music at the door, parents saying goodbye, and sometimes a small zaffeh leading her out.
The idea is old. A Melkite Greek Catholic history of the crowning describes how, in the Holy Land in the time of Christ, the groom led the bride from her father's house to his own in a procession of his friends and her family, with psalms sung. That is background, not a description of modern Lebanese practice.
In the Eastern churches, the heart of the marriage service is the crowning. How the rite runs in a Maronite or Antiochian Orthodox parish, and who holds the crowns, varies by church and family. Your priest is the person to ask.
A crowning procession circles the central table or lectern, so the ceremony space needs a clear aisle and room around it. One line stands out for Lebanese couples: a crowning prayer in the Orthodox text asks God to "exalt them like the cedars of Lebanon, like a luxuriant vine". If you would like it in the order of service, ask your priest when you meet.
Church texts describe the service like this. The Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton calls the Eastern Churches' marriage service the Mystery of Crowning. It describes a betrothal with rings, consent, prayers and the joining of hands, the crowning, readings from Ephesians and the Wedding at Cana, a shared cup of wine for the unity of married life, a procession around the table holding the Gospel Book, and the removal of the crowns.
The Orthodox Church in America text follows the same shape: a Service of Betrothal at the back of the church, with the rings blessed and exchanged, and then the Service of Crowning in the centre. The priest crowns the groom first and then the bride, and blesses them three times. After the common cup, he leads the couple three times around the lectern while those behind them hold the crowns.
What do the crowns mean? The Orthodox text links them to the crowns of the martyrs, the witnesses of Christ. The Melkite page, citing St John Chrysostom, adds Christ's victory over sin, death and evil, and the royal authority of the children of God.
For many Muslim families, the marriage itself is the katb al-kitab, the signing of the contract (also called aqd nikah or aqd zawaj). In regional accounts of Arab weddings, it is the focus of the official ceremony: a sheikh or imam gives a short address, the bride's father or eldest male relative accepts the proposal, the documents are completed and two witnesses sign.
Those accounts describe it as usually held, in the Levant, at the bride's or groom's family home, and sometimes at the wedding hall, a mosque or a court. The same source treats the contract and its announcement as the only Islamic requirement, with the proposal, engagement, henna and reception as cultural additions.
Many families also agree a mahr. Britannica describes the mahr as a marriage custom but gives no Lebanon-specific detail, so the details are a matter for the families and the officiant.
Practice differs between families and officiants, so let the families lead on who signs, when and where.
The reception is where the music, dancing and food take over. These are the moments guests tend to remember, and each one asks something specific of the venue.
The zaffeh (also zaffe or zaffa) is the procession that brings the couple into the celebration. It is often told as drummers, dancers and singers leading the way, the beat loud enough to be heard well before the couple appear, with guests clapping them in.
Some families hold a zaffeh at the bride's door before the ceremony, others save it for the entrance to the reception, and many do both. For a picture of how it feels, see a glamorous traditional Lebanese wedding in Sydney.
Britannica lists Lebanon's national folk arts as including song, the dabke ("the national dance") and zajal, or folk poetry. The dance is quite common in festivities in the area between northern Syria and southern Israel, and the Druze communities of Lebanon, Syria and Israel are very fond of it. Britannica notes it is danced mainly by men, though at weddings many families invite everyone into the line.
Dancers move in a straight line holding handkerchiefs high, and the first dancer in the row signals each step or jump. Because the dance is shared across that region, it appears in neighbouring traditions too; see the dabke in Palestinian weddings.
Zajal itself, the recited or sung poetry, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2014 for Lebanon on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which describes it as declaimed or sung at social and family celebrations and in daily life. UNESCO does not name weddings, so treat zajal as part of Lebanon's wider folk culture rather than a set wedding custom. See the UNESCO listing for Al-Zajal.
Zaghareet (singular zaghrouta, also written zalghouta) are the long, high, trilling cries that rise from the women in the room. They are often told as the sound of joy itself: heard as the bride leaves home, as the couple enter, as the rings or crowns are given.
Many Lebanese couples cut the cake with a sword or a long ceremonial blade, often after a short, dramatic entrance with music and lights. It is often told as a sign of strength and of the couple cutting the first piece of their new life together, though families tell it in different ways.
The cake is usually tall and the moment is staged for photographs, so it tends to sit late in the evening, after the first dances.
Sugared almonds and wedding sweets turn up at many Lebanese weddings. Families often serve mlabbas (sugar-coated almonds) at the engagement and the wedding, in small favour bags or bowls on every table, alongside trays of Lebanese sweets late in the night.
Their meaning is often told simply: sweetness for the marriage, and something for every guest to take home.
Couples bring these customs to lake villas in Italy, beach venues in Cyprus, ballrooms in the UAE and family-sized receptions in Australia. For two real examples, see a traditional Lebanese wedding on Lake Como and a Lebanese couple's medieval-style wedding in Italy. If the Gulf appeals, our Middle East destinations are a good place to start.
Each custom asks something specific of the venue. These are the questions worth answering before you sign.
A zaffeh needs a route, not just a doorway: a clear path from where the couple arrive to the dance floor, wide enough for drummers and dancers, with guests on either side.
A dabke line needs a long run of floor rather than a small square, because Britannica describes dancers moving in a straight line led by the first in the row. Ask the venue for the floor's real dimensions once tables are set, and whether a terrace can take the overflow.
Drums are loud. Ask each venue for its music finish time and its rules on live percussion and amplification outdoors. Put both on your booking checklist, alongside what the venue includes, which your Wedded Advisor confirms in writing before you commit.
A henna night works best once the close family has landed and slept. For a destination wedding, that usually means two nights before the wedding, leaving the night before free for rest and a rehearsal.
If older or less mobile guests are coming, ask the venue about steps, slopes and terraces between the ceremony, dinner and dance floor, and ask your planner how guests will get between the hotel and each evening's event.
Henna is not a quick job, so book the artist early in the evening and keep the room warm and unhurried. A private dining room or a villa's lounge suits it better than a public space.
If you are holding a katb al-kitab or a crowning, plan where it sits in the week as well. Regional accounts describe the signing taking place at a family home, a mosque or the wedding hall, so a quiet room with a table for the signing and the witnesses is worth asking for. For a crowning, ask for the clear aisle and room around the table described above.
Check the venue's rules on ceremonial blades before you plan the cake moment, and ask whether it can supply one. If a family heirloom is travelling with you, check your airline's rules and the destination's rules on carrying a blade well ahead of the flight.
Agree the timing with the cake maker and photographer, and keep the blade with a named person until the moment it is needed.
As at November 2026, Smartraveller's overall advice for Lebanon is "Do not travel", because of the volatile security situation, armed conflict, civil unrest and terrorism (updated 24 September 2026). That is why this guide is about holding the celebration elsewhere. Read the current Smartraveller advice for Lebanon before any travel plans.
A few points from that advice matter to Lebanese-Australian families. Smartraveller says religious law has the same standing as civil law in Lebanon, and that all family law matters, including marriage, are based on local religious laws. Smartraveller also notes that, although Lebanon recognises dual nationality, it treats Lebanese dual nationals as its own citizens, and that this may limit consular help. For anything that affects your family, check with the Australian Embassy in Beirut and Smartraveller.
Wherever you marry, Smartraveller's guide to getting married overseas says to check the destination country's requirements with its embassy or consulate, and notes that some countries ask you to prove you are free to marry. You can't register an overseas marriage in Australia, but in most cases it is recognised if it was valid where it happened and would have been valid under Australian law. Our guide on whether you need to register an overseas marriage at home explains more.
This is general information, not legal advice. Smartraveller suggests talking to a lawyer to confirm a marriage's validity.
The customs that matter most are the ones both families recognise as their own. Start there, then find a venue with room for the zaffeh, a long floor for the dabke and a quiet space for the moments before.
For more ideas from other cultures, see our wedding traditions worth keeping from around the world, or read the free Wedded Wonderland digital magazine. When you are ready to talk dates and places, a Wedded Advisor is glad to start the conversation.
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