Waleed Moujaes Marries Michelle Salamy on April 17, 2004

A wedding that rivals a fairytale and the best of royalties...
Classy, elegant and very touching

And what a wedding it was... where do we start??? 
I have a feeling that no matter what I wrote would fall short.

OK, I will give it a try until someone else would volunteer and write a more worthy and complete report...

I guess one place to start is when we began to hear rumors that Waleed was floating on air... A member of the Shweir.com family claimed that he saw him riding a cloud nine... translation:  Waleed is in love with a special lady that Waleed met, Michelle Salamy... and all Waleed could talk about was Michelle, Michelle... then we heard about a great engagement party*   to the pre announcement of the wedding, "Save the Day", to the formal invitation and several events of wedding festivities including the wedding reception.  Some of those events were to welcome those who traveled from far away and from overseas.

*  At the engagement party, Michelle conspired with other family members to bring Waleed's mom, Marie, from Shweir, Lebanon to L.A. to surprise him.   (Well, first Waleed was so impressed by tasting some favorite Lebanese food, where he kept thinking and saying, boy that taste so much like his mom makes.  Then his mom walked in from the kitchen... surprise...)

All it took was just a few minutes to meet Michelle to appreciate Waleed's state of mind.  Michelle has this exceptional personality that is warm, caring, genuine, fun loving and full of life.  She radiates wonderful energy that is contagious.  Her mom, Joyce and her brother Chris are  her role models.  That is not all.  The whole family is like that.  I was one guest among hundreds and I was so touched by their hospitality, open home, open heart, their love for God, family and community.  Other guests were similarly touched. I can go on and on, but let me at least get the pictures posted and perhaps some one would send reports about certain aspects of this great wedding. 
There were enough roses and flowers to fill a swimming pool. 

Aside from the fancy wedding invitation, at the church, we received another envelope with the program listing and acknowledging every participant and their relationship to the bride and groom.  It also had touching messages of appreciation to their families. 
For the reception at one of the fanciest hotels in Beverly Hills, there was another envelope awaiting each guest on a bed of flowers.  In each, aside from seat assignment, there was a personal message for each guest from the bride and groom. 

The wedding reception at the Regent Beverly Wilshire deserves a chapter by itself. 

Friday evening party at the Ajalat home: 

My flight from San Francisco was late, so after getting a rental car and following great directions, I made it to the Ajalat home just in time to watch a DVD presentation and good wishes from Shweir on their large screen TV.  Wow, what a beautiful home and wonderful hosts.  I was so impressed with all the details.  From the moment I drove up, I was greeted with the car valet, "Valet Girls", so I did not have to worry about parking my car.  Everything was first class from the food to the live music ensemble playing on the balcony overlooking the pool and back yard.  Even a collage of pictures (above) was adorned with fresh roses.  

Watching a video of good wishes from Shweir

And at the Universal City Hilton Hotel Lobby:   

Assembling for the wedding...

				Seeing Mouneer Moujaes after 35+  years... Wow

Do you think Waleed was humming the tune of "Get me to the church on time..."?

Meanwhile, the church was so beautifully decorated... roses and beautiful flowers everywhere... rose petals were few inches high at both edges of the isle. 

There is a correction I need to make... at the heading above, I wrote that this wedding rivals royalty.  In my viewpoint, it surpasses it.  Granted, royalties have the media and stuffy title on their side, here Michelle and Waleed have Family and God on their side... One of the many touching moments was to see the bride's brother, Chris, walking his sister down the isle, both beaming with happiness, anticipation and excitement. (See picture on left)   Then "Abouna" Chris, after he hands Michelle to Waleed, he walks towards the altar and joins more than half a dozen clergy to perform the wedding ceremony of his sister.  Such a blessing, no royalty or movie star can match.

and at the Wedding Reception:

					Either things were getting hot or too much Arak...

Remember my first welcome encounter with the Valet Girls above?  well, my last valet encounter was as great of a pleasant surprise...
That was when the valet at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel brought my car and as soon as I got in, there was another surprise from the bride and groom in the car.  There was a card of about 3" by 9" hanging on a hook from the mirror.  I thought it was a car marker for the valet to quickly locate and retrieve the car, instead, there was a beautiful picture of the bride and groom and a note thanking us for attending their wedding...  All night long I was thanking them in my heart, and here they are thanking us....
Ohhhhh... I was so touched... no, by then, I felt loved.  I felt the love radiating from the bride and groom and both of their families.

Waleed and Michelle
We love you too.

And saying goodbyes to those who came from far away at the Hilton lobby on Sunday morning after a great brunch

Thank you for the Salamy, Moujaes and Ajalat families
 for including us in your celebration and for
your wonderful hospitality.