The Marriage (Part III)Marriage everywhere is somehow the same. Vows are exchanged, witnesses are available, the couple is in their wedding outfits, they're announced married to the public, a wedding party, then the honeymoon starts.
There are a few differences between the west and the middle east regarding the application of the wedding; and the conditions and rules between the couple when they're married.
West
- Bachelor and bachelorette parties are organized by friends and family.
- Guests invited are limited to a certain number of people (relatively 100-200)
- Alcoholic beverages have to be served in the wedding
- Anyone can oppose to the marriage and share his/her opinion publicly and state the reasons
- The newly weds couple can be intimate in front of the guests during the wedding
- The bride can keep her job after marriage
- Having children is usually planned
- No sexual obligations
- The husband have the same privileges as the wife, no differences or discrimination
- They don't lose their privacy
- They can have different friends
- Each can go out alone
Middle East
- Throwing a bachelor or a bachelorette party will end the engagement
- There must be a large number of guests invited or the wedding will build a reputation of cheapness or poverty (relatively 500)
- Alcohol for Christians and no alcohol for Islam
- No one dares to oppose to the marriage
- The newly weds can dance and hug but it's inappropriate for them to kiss or be intimate in front of the guests or they will be talked about as "westernized"
- The man has to work and the woman has to quit everything and concentrate on being a housewife, cooking, cleaning etc.
- Children are never planned "if God wants us to have them now then so be it"
- The woman is obliged to have sex with the man even if she doesn't want to, in Islam it's equivalent disobeying the wish of God
- The husband is everything and the wife is almost like a figure, but things have changed now with our modernized societies
- Nothing stays private anymore, all secrets have to be revealed, they have to share everything
- They have to have the same "married couple" friends
- They have to always go out together, except for work
