Arabian Affair

A tale of true love in a classic English venue.

Layan and Khalid became husband and wife at Hedsor House, Buckinghamshire on 5th April 2014. She says: “I can’t remember the exact moment I met Khalid. I was probably 16 years old, but I can’t recall precisely how or when our paths crossed - clearly we weren’t interested in each other at the time! After I finished my gap year, we began messaging and found we really got along. When we announced our engagement, our mutual friends were shocked - they didn’t expect us to get together. We told our families about a year after we became an item and were engaged soon after.

In Arab culture, once you involve your families it means you’re serious about the person you’re with and it’s assumed you want to tie the knot. What usually happens is the man’s family proposes to the woman’s family, rather than the man to the woman one-on-one. The best part about this was I got to choose my own ring!”