It was my first time as wedding photographer in Cairo. Well actually it was my first time in Egypt ever.
How is Cairo? Well there’s really no easy way to describe it, especially being there forso little time, that would not be fair. But I can tell you about what I felt after spending a few days in the city. It’s an insane, tumultuous, heaving realm of chaos. But also majestic and proud, evocative and mysterious. With 22 million living in its metropolitan area, Cairo is the largest city in Africa. This simultaneous crowding and expanse can be felt everywhere. Driving from one place to another can take ages, traffic is dense, very dense, but in one way it dances like a waltz.
For all of its craziness, Cairo somehow still feels right…and in my opinion it is its warm people who make this place even more attractive. Two weeks before this wedding I photographed a wedding in Verona, Italy. The beautiful bride, Natalie, is originally from Cairo. I had my first most intense contact with Egyptians, and I was totally fascinated.
I’ve been to other ancient cities before, like Fez in Morocco or Varanasi in India, but the heart of Cairo is just magical, a walk in Mu’izz Street is like a journey to the past, Egypt in its essence. The street remains the living example of why Cairo went for so long the heart of the Arab worlds.
There I met Gabriela and Adam. Gabriela said: “My calling to Egypt actually started at a young age. Around 8 years old. Little did I know all those years ago mind-blown by my school trip to the museum to see mummies at the Egyptian exhibition, that I would a) live in Egypt, b) find the love of my life in Egypt who’s Egyptian, and c) get married to him in Egypt! I remember coming home from the exhibition so chuffed with my treasures to show off to my sister and brothers, which consisted of two small polished turquoise scarab beetles and a gold pressed pendant. At home we also had this book that would show us what the pyramids looked like inside and who were pharaohs, my favourite part of course, and thinking wowwwwww! So it was only natural that I was intrigued when my parents told us we were going to live in Egypt for their next posting.”
After walking around Old Cairo we went to the Pyramids. Back to the roots where her love to Egypt once started.
Their wedding was surreal, just like the city.
People came from all over the world and celebrated that great day with them at the famous Marriot Mena House, at the foot of the Giza pyramids. This place was in the 19th. century a hunting lodge built by El Khedive Ismail, viceroy of Egypt. Legend has it that the road between old Cairo and Giza was built by him for the secret love he felt for Empress Eugene de Montijo, Napoleon III ‘s wife, who by that time was involved in the construction of the Suez Canal. He wanted to make the road more pleasant and accessible for her.
The party was memorable!
The next day we drove to El Gouna, to the Red Sea in the South of Egypt. With its paradisiacal beaches. A wonderful destination to spend some days with your closest friends and family. The After Wedding reception at the Maison Bleuemade this story unforgettable.
This wedding was a great experience for me. Not only for the photos you will see, but also for what I felt inside all those days. I can’t be grateful enough for all the experiences my work is giving me and all the great people I am meeting on this path.
I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did.
