Ali's Aqiqah

Out of town, visiting my family in the States, I was able to photograph my new cousin's Aqiqah. For those non-Arab speakers, it's pretty much a religious baby shower. It was on the thirtieth of September of Two-Thousand-of-Sixteen, a beautiful day after several rainy days. The sun was shining bright, but it happened to have a little problem, wind. Setting everything up before the invitees arrived, the wind kicked in and almost ruined some of the décor, thankfully that didn't happen.

The location was a picnic shelter, there was a lot of grass surrounding it, along with a small playground park for the younger kids to enjoy. The main table had several items relating to the shower, little baby booties, a diaper cake, white and blue pearls, blue sprinkles and tiny rattles, and a photograph of the precious boy (may Allah protect him). There were party favours sitting at one end of the table, some in an elegant white satin design with a light blue bow on the front, some in a white taffeta pouch with the goodies showing inside, and other tiny blue boxes that had the words "baby boy" printed on the front.

The centerpiece of the table, was a two-tier fondant white cake. It had a two striped bows on each tier, a stripe going across the top tier, and circle shapes of the striped design scattered across the bottom tier. On the bottom of both tier drops was blue teardrop piping across the edges. The contrasted colours throughout the cake and the design of the event was blue and white. A selection of cake-pops were added on an end to celebrate with the guests; they too had the sweet and elegant décor of the contrasting colours.

Bowties were used in almost possible aspect that it could be incorporated. The mother absolutely adored the bowtie on the baby boy. Everything flowed together beautifully. Religious prayers and dua's were printed and shown on a stand, both in English and Arabic, for various guests to read. The baby boy's name was spelled out with wooden letters placed alongside the diaper cake. It was all so charming.

As all the decorations were coming to an end, the guests began to arrive. There was laughter, joy, memories being recalled from family members and close friends. It was a delightful time to be at that moment in time. The enjoyment of the event lasted for a few hours until the sun began to set. It was a full day of happiness and bliss.


Location: Longview Lake - Lee's Summit, MO
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Seeing cousins, being able to see and meet them at a very young age, is something to cherish forever. Being surrounded by family and close friends. I had a lot of fun photographing this event (and my new baby cousin), and I hope that I am able to continue photographing as many events for my amazing family as possible.


#Lifestyle