Diary With Deena | Reminiscing About My Palestinian Henna Party

Hello, ladies! I hope you’re all doing well and staying safe.

The first anniversary of my henna party passed recently and since I have never shared anything from that night before, I’ve been trying to sum up my reflections as well as find some special photos from that evening. As you continue to read, please remember the importance of saying “mashaAllah” (“what God has willed”) when you hear or see something about someone else. For those who may not know, mashaAllah is a reminder that everything is achieved by the will of God and saying it will benefit you and protect the other person, inshaAllah (God willing).

I just can’t believe it has been an entire year since then, and almost an entire year since my wedding as well (FYI - there will be another two blogposts coming soon about my wedding and what I learned from a year of being married). If someone told me then how the next year of my life would go, I would’ve called them crazy. It’s incredible what can happen over the course of one year, subhanAllah (Glory be to God). Obviously, none of us could have planned for this; Allah (swt) is the greatest of planners.

I just want to start off by saying how so very grateful I am, alhamdulilah (Praise be to God), to have been able to have my henna just the way I wanted it, and before the pandemic. I never took a second of this night for granted and I am so happy I got to share it with people that I love! I pray that the pandemic ends soon, inshaAllah, and we can all go back to having fun like this together.

So what exactly is a henna party? A bunch of girls get together to have their henna done? Not exactly. In Palestinian tradition, it is usually a party for the bride thrown the night before her wedding, and the guest list usually consists of women who are related to the bride. Mine was a bit different in that it was about 6 weeks before my wedding (to make it easy on myself and my family) and both men and women were invited (so my parents could invite their friends who would not be able to make it to my wedding in Toronto the next month). It was an evening I shall not soon forget; in fact, it was one of the best nights of my life, alhamdulilah.

The morning started off like any other party day normally would, I headed straight for the salon. I had my hair done at Salon West Dearborn; they are absolutely the best in the biz. The reason I did my hair was because the party included both men and women together. After dessert, we closed the giant partition to separate everyone and I got to take off my hijab, as did my female guests. This was really important to me because I wanted the best of both worlds and alhamdulilah it worked out great! If you’d like to know more about how I planned my henna, let me know!

After getting my hair done, I went home to do my makeup and get into my dress. I then met with the best videographers & photographer in the world, 3M Productions and Photos By Manal. They are such kind women and they will treat you and your guests with the utmost respect while carefully capturing footage that you will cherish for a lifetime. All of the photos featured below were captured by them.

In planning this party, it was so important to me to try and stick to the Palestinian traditions that I hold so near and dear to my heart. So, that meant several things for me. Firstly, wearing a traditional Palestinian embroidered gown (called a thoub in Arabic) that was custom made for me in Palestine. I also wore my mother’s gold jewelry, and had my hands completely covered in henna (Sandy Rippetoe did an amazing job and she is such a sweet person!).

I also had my father, brothers and husband wear traditional Palestinian scarves around their shoulders (kuffiyeh, in Arabic) and I asked that all my female guests wear traditional clothing if they had it.

Look at all this lovely red! I’m obsessed!

We had our first pictures done at my house so that I could have pictures without my hijab (a great option if you wear hijab and want pictures without it!). We got our first look moment and a few shots with my family which was so special to me. I also decorated my house a little bit just for these photos, and I even dressed my husband up in my grandfather’s abaya (a traditional dress) as well as his hatta w ‘egal (traditional Palestinian headdress for men).

We took the rest of our shots at the Warner Mansion in Downtown Farmington which was so fun! I had my high school senior photos taken there just a few years before then so it was nice to be back there for another big moment in my life.

When we arrived at the banquet hall, it was already so beautifully decorated by Lama’s Florist. And of course, we had a gorgeous dessert table filled with traditional sweets, fruits, and customized cookies with our names written in Arabic on them. On top of that, we had the most amazing cake I’ve ever seen. Everything on the dessert table and cake table was made and set up by Sweet Creations by Layla; she’s the absolute best! The cake was everyone’s favorite part!

I inadvertently asked at least 3 different people to grab me one of these cookies before they finished and all 3 of them did lol! Oops! They were so gorgeous!

Layla added these dolls for me and honestly they made my night. So cute!

After taking photos at the hall with our extended family, we ran off to the bridal suite to wait almost an hour and a half for the guests to arrive and the party to start. I always wondered what the bride and groom do while they wait and I got my answer: you wait nervously as people try to enter the room a billion times either by mistake, or to give you an update on how many people have arrived so far lol!

Since my henna was a little more like a wedding, we had a traditional wedding zaffa (welcoming of the bride and groom). This was by far the most epic moment of the entire night. Basically, the debka group hired (we hired Mawtini Dabkeh Group; they’re so fun!) will do a 15-20 minute drumming and chanting session at the front of the hall while surrounding the bride and groom. They make a ton of noise with their drums, chant Palestinian folklore rhymes that are hundreds of years old, and get all the guests extremely hyped up. Being the center of attention during this part was unexpectedly hard. You have hundreds of people watching and recording you, and you have to not only remember to smile the entire time, but also to try to lock this memory in because it is only going to happen once. It is so scary and yet so amazing. I wish I could do it all over again.

This photo from the zaffa is my favorite one! Such a cool shot.

After the zaffa, we had a more formal entrance, led by a singer and two of the debka performers on drums. We made our way down to the dance floor where our families joined in and all of our guests surrounded us. This was definitely another one of my favorite moments. You could really feel all the joy in the room!

Of course, it was so important for me to have was traditional Palestinian line dances performed (debka, in Arabic). We had the debka group do a performance for our guests and then they pulled my husband as well as all the men down to the dance floor to do a little extra part called al-dehiyeh. It was so fun to watch, and all the men were so happy to get to participate!

Dinner was served right after the performance and it was so delicious thanks to the chefs at our venue, Farmington Hills Manor. We then got to cut and eat our gorgeous cake!

The last part of the evening was just as fun as the beginning. We had the partition put up and I headed to the bridal suite to take off my hijab and fix my hair. We then had another formal entrance, this time just for the women, with my father, brothers and uncle! It meant so much to me to get a few more minutes to celebrate with them before the girls and I brought the house down!

I’m so happy Manal got this shot of me with my dad! So sweet!

One of my favorite moments of the evening took a few months of preparation. My friends and I choreographed a debka performance that no one could forget! It meant the world to me to have worked on something so special with my closest friends and to have performed it for our guests.

Raised that flag high and proud :)

The girls and I danced the night away and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It meant so much to me to be surrounded by all my friends for such a momentous occasion in my life. I am so grateful!

I can’t express how much I miss seeing all of these people.

If I could go back and relive this night, I would want to do it a hundred more times. It was just such an amazing evening and I have my parents, first and foremost, to thank for all of it. I also have my sister, Faten, to thank, for being my show-runner, my friends, for helping me in countless ways, my vendors, for bringing my ideas to life, and my guests, for joining us in celebration and wishing me and my husband well.

If you’re still reading, thank you so much. I hope this post put a smile on your face and that you truly enjoyed taking a trip with me down memory lane. If you’d like to see more posts like this, reach out to me! Tell me what you loved. I’d love to chat about it even more!

I’ll be posting a similar one soon about my wedding so I hope you’ll stay tuned for that! Salam, gals!