A celebration built around family and ceremony
Across the Arab world and the Levant — Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine — a wedding is rarely a single event. It is a sequence of gatherings that can begin weeks before the wedding day itself, each one carrying its own meaning, music and food.
The details vary by country, by faith and by family, but the shared thread is the same: the marriage is a union of two families as much as two people, and the celebration is generous, public and warm.
The moments you will recognise
Whether the couple is Muslim or Christian, secular or devout, a handful of moments recur across Arab and Levantine weddings:
- The engagement (often called the khotbeh or tolbe) — the families meet and the proposal is formalised.
- The marriage contract — the nikah for Muslim couples, or the katb al-kitab — witnessed and signed.
- The henna night (laylat al-henna) — an evening of music, dancing and intricate henna designs, traditionally for the bride and her closest women.
- The zaffe — the loud, joyful musical procession of drums, derbake and song that announces the couple and opens the wedding party.
- The walima or wedding feast — the shared meal that anchors the celebration.
Tradition, carried anywhere
More and more couples are choosing to celebrate these traditions far from home — a Lebanese zaffe on an Amalfi terrace, a three-day Levantine celebration in Dubai, a henna night the evening before a coastal ceremony. The customs travel; only the setting changes.
Explore the guides below for the specific ceremonies, then read on for how to plan a multicultural or destination wedding without losing what makes it yours.