Afghan wedding

This was certainly unlike any wedding I've been to. Never did see the bride. You can see the light brown wooden temporary wall that separates the men from the women in some pictures. Guests start arriving at 6 and largely just sit and chat. No food or water in sight and the music is deafening. We arrived at 7:30 and as the only 2 foreign guests somebody ran out to the street vendor and got us each a dusty bottle of water. Did I mention the music never stops and its deafening? Hall starts to really fill around 9 and the dancing starts to pick up. 9:30 the groom appears and goes round to each table to shake hands. He's now married. (That's him in the bottom 3 pictures, suit and tie). Only the two families are witnesses to the ceremony. Now the place is jammed and the groom is placed in a circle of men and dances for everyone. Next dance he's sitting and everyone dances around him. Very passionate and wonderful to witness. Second dance he's seated and men take turns dancing in front of him. (If you click on a picture, it will enlarge) At one point they've picked him on his chair and carry him round. I'm told this was a "small" wedding with only 700 guests. A larger wedding is 5,000 guests. The building we were in (there are over a dozen similar wedding buildings in Kabul now, complete with several associated businesses - traditional Afghan wedding dresses, mens's suits and tuxes, and 3 new limo companies) was five floors with a wedding party on each floor, all with bands competing to see who could be the loudest. Kids running everywhere. Some men in traditional dress, others in suits (very shiny) and some younger guys in T-shirts and a few ball caps. One of the odder sights was a guy wearing a Guiness beer T-shirt, in a Muslim wedding. The traffic outside had to be seen to be believed. Didn't see a woman all evening. They have their own entrance at the other end of the building. We left around 10:30 and begged off the meal as we had to get back for a Skype conference call for work. Unfortunatley it was a very big deal that we couldn't stay for the hospitality of hte meal. Dusty drive through the back streets of Kabul. Hit a police check and had to produce our passports. No Cancuks flags or jerseys in sight. Back to the villa for a handful of Advil for the splitting headache. Did I mention that the music, although rhythmic, was deafening? Fascinating night. My ears are still ringing this morning.