Wedding preparations continue...

Next week is the big week for Mariyah, my friend Samina's daughter: a week of celebrations preceding the big day itself  which will be on Sunday 29th. .
So their house is a hive of activity, preparing decorations, ticking items off lists, juggling phonecalls with henna artists, make-up artists and the soon-to-be mother-in-law.  Negotiations between Samina and Mariyah, on the one hand, and M's fiance's huge extended family on the other, have had their ups and downs. But as the big week and big day get closer, everyone's getting more focused on the essentials.
Samina wanted some help this week with putting some last-minute decorations together This kind of thing isn't my strong point, and I was probably more use as moral support than as anything more practical. Fortunately, a morning together gave us plenty of time to chat and catch up too. I am also learning about the full sequence of events that constitute a Pakistani Muslim wedding process here. I've been to Muslim weddings before, but this is the first time I've had a close-up view behind the scenes. It is a real privilege.