Mediterranean and Middle East · Arabic
Egyptian Wedding Toasts: Cheers, Speeches, and Customs
A procession of drums, a sharbat toast, and a bride seated on a throne.
Raise a glass
Fi sehetak
fee seh-HET-ak · To your health
To the couple
Alf mabrouk!
alf mab-ROOK · A thousand congratulations
Who speaks, and when
- Speeches are not the custom. The zaffa, the procession with drummers and belly dancers, announces the couple, and that is the moment.
- Elders bless the couple. A master of ceremonies and a singer run the evening.
- Guests congratulate the couple one by one at the kosha, the decorated stage where they sit.
How long
A wish and a photograph. The kosha line can take an hour, and the dancing takes the rest.
What you’ll see
- The zaffa: drummers, pipes, singers, and dancers lead the couple into the hall, slowly, with the guests clapping.
- The kosha: a decorated stage with two seats where the couple sits, and where every guest comes to congratulate them.
- Sharbat, a sweet drink, is served to toast the couple, since many weddings are alcohol-free.
- The henna night, the evening before, for the bride and the women of both families.
- The couple's first dance, and the bride's dance with her father, are often to a classic Egyptian song.
If you’re the guest from somewhere else
- 'Alf mabrouk' at the kosha, with a photo. Everyone does it.
- Dress formally. Egyptian weddings are glamorous.
- Expect the cake and the main dancing well after midnight.
A toast you could give
Short, warm, specific to the couple, and ending on the phrase. Swap in your own names and your own detail; the shape is what matters.
Yasmin has the loudest laugh in any room and the kindest heart in it. Omar, you will always know where she is. Alf mabrouk, and fi sehetak!
Speaking at a Egyptian wedding?
Whatever the tradition, the speech that lands has the same bones: one story, a turn, a word to the partner, a toast. The guides have it for every role, and the free check reads your draft and tells you how it lands.