Badie's Wedding

AA

Alhamdullilah, beloved brother and DMC charter member Badie Ali - the well known chief operating officer of a major media conglomerate - recently got married and on top of that, got married to a girl who compliments our brother very nicely. But, she works (or worked) for the UN, so clearly her intellect more than compliments his, it surpasses him.

And so this past Sunday night, Badie honored his friends with the opportunity to share in his happiness by inviting us to his wedding celebration. This night was nothing short of a DePaul / DMC reunion, but with all of us in suits (sans Awais, but more on that later). Our table was overflowed with the likes of Fahad, Sami, Tariq, Eyad, Meraj, Taha, AJ, and A-Moose. Not to mention that there were other DMC guys like Aladdin (also newly wed, too, mashaAllah) and Mustafa Squared.



After getting our seats, the night officially started in royal fashion when Badie walked into the hall alongside his father, followed by close family and friends. I think Taha said it best when Badie entered: he looked like Arab royalty walking in as though he was about to claim the throne to Palestine. The happiness and excitement on his face was unmatched and soon enough that energy transferred to the dance floor. Now, Arabs are cool and all, but I am now completely convinced that they have no right making fun of desi dancing (i.e. screw in the light bulb dance, pet the dog, etc.). I mean, they're dancing consisted of a lot of skipping and holding of the hands. What's more is that I didn't see any swords being thrown around like dandias are at desi dance offs. In fact, later in the evening, me and my good friend Fahad aka Masood went out and documented this for your viewing pleasure. I think The Riyality Show (Omar) and I, however, did bridge the gap between Desi and Arab dancing with our hybrid performance of "East meets West and runs into the Middle East" fusion dancing. Be warned that the contents here are Rated R. Ok, maybe PG-13. Relax, just watch it below or click here:



What you didn't see here was the screw-the-light-bulb dancing Badie and I did in the middle. Also, I'm not entirely sure of some of the footage Masood caught (i.e. the posterior of some random Arab guy), but it's well captured and documented regardless. Much love, Masood. I can see future collaborations down the road...

Other highlights of the night had to include Awais. Awais in recent years has been caught seen in the back pocket of many an Arab including guys like Aladdin and Badie. That being the case, you can imagine our collective surprise when he came to the wedding in a gray sweater turtle neck and jeans. Yes, jeans. You know how there's always that one fobby desi guy that wears jeans to a wedding? Well, yeah, meet Awais. Ok, I should be a little sympathetic here considering how bad he felt. The poor guy forgot his dress shoes at home and didn't want to come in with his everyday shoes and suit. He called me asking for an extra pair, but I didn't have his size (though he later asked me to bring the extra pair well after I offered and well after I left home). Despite that, Awais' everyday shoes are actually black and he could have pulled off wearing the suit (I mean, it was a segregated wedding, Awais! You had no one to impress!). But, because he didn't feel it was appropriate, he came in his jeans. He also wouldn't enter the main hall and stick around as a result; he just stayed in the lobby and left after about 30-40 minutes. To his credit, he did come all the way from the city to give Badie a gift and to at least show his face (he also did have to go back to Indianapolis that night, too).

One of the quotes of the night had to be OR pointing to AJ saying, "This is Corporate America" based on AJ's very professional, well-groomed look and then immediately point to Tariq saying, "This is R&B" based on Tariq's dark brown, pin-stripped suit that was reminiscent of what many R&B singers or rap artists would rock at award shows. But he did pull off the look extremely well, mA.

Finally, and perhaps the most important "event" of the night, there was the presentation of the dessert. It was a masterpiece and our only regret was that we were too stuffed to enjoy every single item on the dessert menu. The menu was very Grand Lux-esque (i.e. a huge variety); even Taha himself couldn't hide his excitement. You could've almost mistaken him for me at that moment.

Anyway, I'm very appreciative to have been a part of this happy occassion in a good friend's life, mashaAllah. Seeing Badie happy and having good friends come together to celebrate it is absolutely priceless. We wish the newly wed endless happiness and pray that Allah (swt) blesses them with love, mercy, and success. May Allah facilitate to them all good and protect them from all evil. Allah huma sali Allah Muhammad. Ameen.


Much love, Badie