My name is Birna, I am a recent PharmD graduate residing in Plano, TX.  I am Harari which is a tribe in the far east of Ethiopia. My husband and I have known each other for most of our lives, but it wasn’t until we both graduated with our undergraduate degrees that our relationship evolved into something special. The funny thing about our proposal story is that I was not expecting one since we had a date set for our Nikkah. On the day my husband proposed, he told me we would meet with a few friends for dinner that night. Once he picked me up, we drove to downtown Dallas where he said they would catch up with us. We walked to a beautiful garden area, and that’s when a photographer came and introduced herself to us. She told us she worked for a local magazine and asked if she could take a photo of us, and we agreed. After a couple of photos I turned towards him and saw him bend down on one knee. I was completely surprised! My first thought after the proposal, is I couldn’t wait to get back to my family and share this story with them.

Waking up the morning of the wedding day I felt excited and ready for the events to begin. Picking out the dress was the easiest decision and purchase I made for the wedding. It took me just one day to find it! The moment I tried the dress on I had no doubt it was the one. The only hard part was waiting 6 months for it to be made. Having my girls with me that morning and that day was everything! My bridesmaids! Oh how I love these girls! They have made the whole planning process and wedding day memorable and easy for me. I’m grateful to have had them by my side. The memories I have with my bridesmaids is one that I will cherish for a lifetime.

It was very important to me that the dresses the girls wore on the wedding day would be one that they felt comfortable and confident in. Picking the color was quite easy because I love purple/lilac and I knew all the girls would look great in that color. As I walked into the reception on the first wedding day (Ankar Mahtab) I was definitely overcome by so many emotions. It was one of my most happiest moments walking into the room that was filled with so much love. Seeing all my family there and, especially those who have been a part of every stage in my life and those who made the long journey from out of the country was such a beautiful moment; and looking over to my side and seeing my mother in happy tears watching us enter the room brought tears into my eyes.

Walking into the reception the next night on Saturday left me in awe, because I finally got to see the room that I had envisioned and worked with Bebe all the months prior. The décor and stage was more than what I had imagined! The most memorable moment for me during the wedding was being surrounded by everyone that I love (family and friends who I’ve grown up with in Dallas since we were young), and celebrating this joyful moment with them.

Gufta Mogad occurs towards the end of the wedding events. While not as common now, traditionally Harari women will part their hair in two parts and wrap/tie it with the gufta (scarf that will hold their parted hair in place) to signify her being married. From then on the woman is to always have her hair parted and tied before leaving the house. On the day of Gufta Mogad, the woman whose marriage you’d want to embody will be the one who will part your hair. During the process of tying the gufta, the mother of the bride and her side of the family will stand on one side from where the bride is sitting, while the mother of the groom and his family stands on the opposite side, and they will go back and forth singing how lucky each side is to have the bride and groom.  My favorite part of Gufta Mogad (Sunday’s event) was having all the important women in my life around me as they dressed me up.  

One advice I would give to other HabeshaBrides is to enjoy all the moments leading up to the wedding. Once the actual wedding day/weekend comes, time truly does go by so fast. Planning a wedding is only stressful when you don’t have the right people around you, so it’s important to surround yourself with those who support you and the vision you have for your wedding. This is one very important advice my bridesmaid gave me after she had her wedding! I’m fortunate to have had the full support of my family and bridesmaids with any decision that I made.