The Omani Wedding in 2014

I have been noticing one wedding trend of late. Omani girls I know who could afford to have giant, extravagant hotel ballroom or tented weddings, are opting for a smaller, more intimate  affair, held over several days in the home of one of their relatives. The decoration is not the usual stage, but a chair for the bride and some beautiful but homely backdrop. There is a night for her friends, another for close relatives, another for other relatives, and that's that. Examples of what these house weddings usually look like (although most of these wedding photos are examples of Indonesian and Malaysian home weddings as no one I know personally allowed photographs to be taken during their home wedding):

In case you have never atteneded an Omani white hotel wedding, they look more like this, with a kosha chair or couch for the bride to sit on (later joined by the groom when the night is almost done and they leave together) attended by women-only who sit at tables or on couches lining the aisle leading up to the stage with the kosha:

At both kinds of wedding, the rule for the guests remains the same, dress up as much as possible, but at least, the house wedding feels like one has the excuse to be more relaxed if one wishes to be, less pressure, for maybe not all your friends can afford a new evening gown but maybe a little shift dress would be fine, an no trip to the salon for professional hair and makeup for the home wedding, where to appear so is almost matronly, in the ballroom...

Just thought the new trend was interesting to myself. From an anthropological perspective, I assume the more affluent girls are wider travelled, and have experienced, say, the culture in UK for weddings, and preferred some of the customs there over those more prevalent in their families usually. Ironically, of course, the home wedding was always more traditional Omani in village life anyways.... but....  Anyways, I am not an anthropologist and I was never a bride who threw a wedding feast/party at all, so what do I know? {Photos taken from various sources, and are from Oman, Saudi, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates}