Tripoli fashion designer offers smart weddings on a budget

22 March 2012

TRIPOLI: One woman asked for a clock to be sewn into her dress, another wanted a procession of ducks and chickens, and by far the most extravagant wedding was when the bride arrived on a galloping, white horse greeted by 40 men dressed as Ali Baba and surrounded by $25,000 worth of flowers flown in from the Netherlands.

“There’s a lot of money spent on stupid things for weddings,” Tripoli-based fashion designer Toufic al-Hassan observes. He should know; he’s spent 20 years in the dress design business.

After seeing countless elaborate nuptialsthat he didn’t think were worth the hassle and expense, Hassan turned his attention to wedding planning, coming up with the idea of a creative yet economical event – the “smart wedding.”

The cost of weddings in Lebanon can easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it’s not uncommon for families to take out large-scale bank loans, sometimes worth more than the value of their homes, to finance that one special day. In contrast, Hassan has planned weddings for as little as $5,000.

Hassan, who started his company Vows last year, has five “smart weddings” in the works for this summer – a sign that not everyone in Lebanon is after a traditionally over-the-top affair.

The first expense to go is the Zaffeh, the traditionally dressed group of Arab men hired to sing and dance in a wedding procession – an indulgence that alone can cost thousands of dollars. One tradition he has found to be a less expensive and more personal alternative is the Turkish “wish tree” – where guests tie messages with well-wishes for the couple to a tree.

He also shuns the idea of using a “horde of white cars” driving through the streets honking, considering it a useless expense and a nuisance for those in the vicinity. Instead, he likes the idea of the simple car with tin cans tied to the back.

Hassan emphasizes that his business does not just aim to reduce cost and eliminate unnecessary extravagance, but also to provide what may become a couple’s trademark personal touch as they start their new life.

“If someone tells me ‘I just want something simple,’ then I tell them to do it themselves,” he says. “I want my weddings to have a signature so that people will ask about them.”

Indeed, he says he has been careful to plan weddings that highlight a personal aspect of the couple, particularly the bride, as this is often overlooked when planning expensive and elaborate ceremonies and receptions.

For one summer wedding that Hassan is currently planning, he is arranging a personal album of photos of the bride’s old shoes that she wore at her family house until her last day at home, which will be the eve of her wedding – a symbol of leaving her old familiar life for a new one.

And instead of a grand entrance at the wedding ceremony, she will arrive in a black London-style taxi, looking back at the camera at her last moment before marriage.

For another upcoming wedding, the unconventional designer will have the bride photographed enjoying her last cigarette smoke, a habit she has promised to break for her new partner.

And if he does think an expense is worth it, he will encourage his clients to splurge a bit.

For those who do not plan on serving alcohol, he insists they can still add more personality to their special day by serving a creative mix of fruit juices for a nonalcoholic punch. He will also suggest to Muslim brides that they include their best friends in the ceremony, even though bridesmaids are not part of their tradition.

But there’s one rule he won’t bend – and that’s his insistence on placing practicality above extravagance.

When one bride asked him to embed a chandelier into her gown, he shook his head saying, “Where would I put the generator?”