It will be a traditional Syrian wedding, or at least as traditional as a wedding can be inside a tent in Hawrelak Park at one of Edmonton’s biggest festivals.
Mostafa Khalis, 20, and financée, Manar Shakeouf, 17, will exchange vows in public at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
The two Syrian refugees met in Edmonton a year ago at high school, where they fell in love and became engaged.
When the time came to pick a venue for their wedding, they decided to go big and have a public ceremony at Hawrelak Park.
“Everybody help us to come here to Canada,” Khalis said. “We wanted to celebrate Canada’s 150 by having everyone share our wedding.”
‘So happy, so excited’
Shakeouf has been in Canada for only one year, but isn’t daunted by the prospect of potentially hundreds of strangers watching her get married.
“So happy, so excited,” she said.
The two have been engaged for a year and had planned to have their wedding in August.
“We told them, ‘This is the best place to have your wedding, to be as history, for the memory forever,’ ” said Ayman Almykdad, who is supervising the first Syrian pavilion at the multicultural festival.
“Nobody will forget and you will not forget that at all,” he said.
Fathers of the bride and groom will be at the wedding, along with friends and other members of Edmonton’s Syrian community in Edmonton.
“Everybody [is] excited to come and see,” Almykdad said.
Syria is 1 of 4 new pavilions
Syria is not the only country to be represented at the festival for the first time. Making their first appearance are Albania, Sierra Leone, and Ghana.
In total, there will be a record-setting 70 pavilions at Heritage Festival, representing over 100 countries.
There will be plenty of whirling and dancing at the festival. (CBC)
Admission is free but people are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to help support Edmonton’s food bank.
Another first for this year’s festival is a floating pavilion. The Australian pavilion will float in Hawrelak Lake.