How to organize a wedding in Morocco and Jordan

How to organize a wedding in Morocco and Jordan

wedding in Morocco; Step-by-step instructions from an expert

wedding in Morocco; Morocco with its unique magical atmosphere and Jordan with its lunar landscapes and biblical shrines are ideal for those who want a new burst of emotions and a holiday in oriental traditions. Olga Metelkova, Senior Manager for Jordan and Morocco, Cape Verde, Turkey (Istanbul, Cappadocia), expert of the tour operator ART-TUR, advises what non-banal ideas for weddings and romantic vacations to offer lovers.

wedding in Morocco; Where to start?

Suppose you don’t know what a wedding looks like in a Muslim country. ART-Tour experts will gladly tell you about all the nuances. It is important to remember: in Jordan and Morocco there are no civil marriages, and all marriages must be performed in accordance with the recognized religious tradition. Therefore, orient your clients towards symbolic ceremonies.

Given that Morocco and Jordan are visa-free destinations, tours to which are most often booked in last minute mode, professionals will be able to prepare an offer in the shortest possible time. However, it is best to discuss all the details with your clients 3 months before departure, so that they can enjoy a dream trip.

wedding in Morocco; Which region of Morocco and Jordan to choose for a wedding?

We work out the wedding scenario with each couple individually. When choosing a ceremony in Morocco, much depends on the time of the ceremony. In May and autumn we recommend lovers to stay in villas in Palmeraie district, in riads or luxury hotels in Marrakech, such as Royal Mansour 5* – it is a real oasis of luxury, stylized under the traditional Arabian quarter of Medina, where newlyweds will be welcomed by the sounds of ethnic music gnau or the performance of a dance group. And those who wish to immerse into the world of fairy tales of “1001 Nights” can choose for the ceremony the terrace of Berber hotel-palace Kasbah Tamadot 5* with panoramic views of the Atlas Mountains.

Usually preparation for the ceremony is accompanied by mehendi ritual and visiting the best spa centers of Marrakech. Lovers can relax in the hammam with the famous scrubs and then treat themselves to a massage with argan oil. After that, lace patterns will be applied on the bride’s body, which will be a kind of protection for the young ones.

Alternatively, the couple can exchange vows in the rocky desert of Agafay, an hour’s drive from Marrakech. Here, white tents, a floral arch and gourmet chef’s treats are set up, and candles and torches are lit at sunset. The evening ends with the launching of flying lanterns or twinkling fireworks.

In the summer season, when Marrakech is hot, we advise you to consider accommodation in luxury hotels on the Atlantic coast, such as Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort 5*. The resort boasts a seven-kilometer beach where you can have your ceremony first, followed by horseback riding along the ocean and a romantic dinner with Moroccan dishes to live saxophone music.

A compromise for the couple combining the avid adventurer and the relaxed vacationer can be found in Jordan. Exploring coral gardens in the Gulf of Aqaba and sailing on a snow-white yacht, visiting sacred sites, bathing in the healing waters of the Dead Sea and hot springs – this is definitely an unforgettable wedding trip.

Pay attention of lovers to the “lunar” desert of Wadi Rum, where you can organize a Bedouin-style celebration with dancing around a bonfire under the starry sky, and then take a hot air balloon flight at first light.

And for customers looking for a total reset following a demanding pre-wedding marathon, think about booking a room in the Main Hot Springs 5* eco-hotel, which is around an hour’s drive from Amman.Here they can not only say “I do” to each other on the top of the mountain, but also relax at the healing springs and admire waterfalls.

wedding in Morocco; How much does a wedding ceremony cost?

The minimum wedding package in Jordan and Morocco from the tour operator “ART-TUR” will cost about $ 1500 for two people. It includes the decoration of the venue, the ceremony itself, makeup and hairstyle for the bride, treats with oriental sweets. We always offer our clients interpreter services, wedding costume rentals, all kinds of decor, live music, helicopter flights and other options. The final cost of the celebration always depends on the number of guests, the level of the hotel and additional services. However, no matter which hotel from the range of “ART-TUR” the newlyweds choose, they will be surrounded by attention and care for the whole vacation.

wedding in Morocco; Where to go after the holiday?

Tourists have a lot to offer: from traditional beach, health and excursion programs to various thematic and pilgrimage tours. They can be combined with each other in any variants. For example, supplement a rich informative trip to Morocco with a vacation at Vichy Celestins Spa Hotel Casablanca 5* on the Atlantic Ocean coast

One of the main must see in Jordan is the eighth wonder of the world – the ancient city of Petra, carved in pink sandstone by the Nabateans more than 2 thousand years ago. Imagine: in the evening a thousand candles are placed in the gorge of Sik and young people, holding hands, pass the rift among the rocks, and at the end of the way a mesmerizing view of the treasury of El-Kaznah opens before them. Such an excursion will remain in your memory for a long time.

Do you have any questions? Do not hesitate to ask them to the experts. And let the love story that

wedding in Morocco; begins in Morocco and Jordan never ends!

Do you often book tours for special events: weddings, bachelorette parties, bachelor parties, anniversaries? We suggest you tell us about the most extraordinary requests in the comments.

“ART-TUR” – your specialist in the Arab East. Entrust the organization of your wedding trip to professionals!

wedding in Morocco; Renting a car in Morocco: risks, automatic or manual

Narrative

Merzouga, a well-known tourist destination in the Sahara Desert on the Moroccan side of the Algerian border, is located about 250 kilometers from Boumalne Dades, a town in the center of Morocco. a lovely small hotel. The trip takes about four hours.

Somewhere around hour one – 188 kilometers from the hotel we had booked, 400 kilometers from the nearest major city and an unknown distance from the nearest English-speaking person – our car started to break down. On the bleak Moroccan desert road, my girlfriend and I suddenly felt very alone.

We got our first warning about 30 minutes after I accidentally drove into the middle of the market in Rissani, where locals stared incredulously at a stupid American trying to pull a luxurious new Peugeot out of food stalls and crowds of camels. Naturally, we wondered if the little orange light on the dashboard indicated that we had accidentally lifted something into the underside of the car during this escapade at the market. Or maybe it was the check engine light. Or maybe the wiper fluid was low (admittedly unlikely in the desert). Or maybe it was nothing, because the light disappeared after a few minutes – replaced only by another warning light, this time accompanied by a loud beep. New lights followed. Events partly went downhill from there.

I should have known the machine was malfunctioning. Every travel forum in Morocco suggested driving because there were so few automatics in the country, and because those automatics tended to be lemons, even when they were relatively new, such as oursConsidering that it was easily below freezing every night during our three days in Merzouga, I should have known to occasionally operate the automobile. I should have known to refresh my pathetic French before traveling to a French-speaking and Arabic-speaking country or renting a French car, at least enough to read the driver’s manual. But the lesson that stuck with me after that little incident, the one thing I couldn’t have known, was how complete vulnerability would change the way I looked at traveling abroad.

Smartphones, portable chargers, and nearly ubiquitous Wi-Fi now make it possible to stay connected in some of the most remote regions on Earth. Translation apps break down language barriers. Travel guides from websites such as Matador, TripAdvisor reviews and social media allow travelers to carefully plan any trip off the grid. Even when the signal fades, Google Maps can track your phone’s location offline, allowing you to navigate without even touching a paper map.

All of these technological innovations are making countless travelers safer, certainly a positive evolution. But they have also removed any sense of risk or vulnerability that can foster cross-cu

wedding in Morocco; ltural connections between visitors and locals.

One of the last remaining examples of this vulnerability is renting an automobile.There is no bus driver or train conductor there to help you get to your destination if something goes wrong. While driving in the desert in many countries, you are unlikely to meet another English speaker. So when your car sends you a few disconcerting alerts before eventually shutting down completely, you have no choice but to rely on locals who can’t understand you and have little motivation to help you.

In our case, these locals turned out to be residents of a small Moroccan town that is not on Google Maps at all. Before we reached the town, car alarms were screaming at us for miles. All the warning symbols on the dashboard lit up, went out, and lit up again. We stopped several times with no hope of understanding the cause. So maybe it was a blessing that when the car finally decided to completely shut down, it stopped right outside a small cafe.

It was the middle of the afternoon. Soccer was playing on the TV to an empty room. Eventually a man came out of the back room to see what we wanted, why we were parked right in front of his store. It took about a minute to tell him our car had broken down and another 10 minutes for the man to try the ignition a few times. Another local man came in and decided to give it a try. When they both agreed that the car wouldn’t move, the cafe owner called a local mechanic.

Meanwhile, we were desperately trying to contact the rental agency, not a large international chain, but a local Moroccan business, with the cafe owner’s phone number (old school Nokia). When we finally got in touch, the first thing the rental agency told us was to make sure no one touched the car. I looked over to see a mechanical elbow deep in the engine, pulling parts left and right. By now half the town had gathered to watch the scene unfold. A mechanic’s helper joined him, and gathered a quorum of random strangers to contribute to the work. Others came and went out to watch the soccer game. Almost everyone agreed and told us in French and Arabic that we shouldn’t have rented an automatic car. Everyone knows they are trash.

After a few hours and a lot of stress, we learned through broken French and gesticulation that the car would work if we replaced a few parts and put water in the radiator every 100 kilometers. The café owner helped the mechanic draw up a bill for the parts, and he added several large bottles of water so we could cool off the engine as we drove.As he presented the scribbled cheque, he grinned. The total

wedding in Morocco; amount came to about $25. We gave a tip

.No one was happy when we left. The assembled crowd went back to their daily lives, back to the match on TV, back to work in the cafe, back to the auto store. I doubt they remember the two Americans who rolled their car into town on fumes and left a few hours later.

But I won’t forget them. We never exchanged names, stories, or interests, but for a few hours I had to absolutely trust these strangers in a foreign country. With no digital assistance, no language skills, no other options, I felt a genuine connection to my hosts, whether they cared or not.

The car finally died the next day. It wouldn’t start in the morning, despite the valiant efforts of another Moroccan mechanic. We hired a car to take us to Marrakech, where we took a train and left our automotive misfortune behind. All things considered, I would rent a car again in Morocco. Only next time, I’m learning to drive in the first place manual