For the rest of my life

SIXTEEN | Mehndi night for the girls

I know that I've been a bit MIA for so long, so I thought I'd treat you all with a double update. I'm also trying to write a few more chapters while I've got the momentum to so that I can form a little bit of a bank of my writing - that way I could upload so much more regularly, maybe even getting myself on a bit of a schedule... who knows?

- Sumaiya's PoV

I wake up to my phone screen blaring brightly into my tired eyes as it reads the time as 4:04 a.m. to me and screams in my ear to get up. I hear one of my siblings in the bathroom and realise that I don't have much time left if I have to join the queue of people waiting to carry out their ablution.

I say this because the main bathroom is currently being used by my father's parents and his siblings along with their children. That meant my own siblings were using my en-suite and of course my parents were using their own.

My house was a very bustling environment: there was people in a cheerful spirit all over the place, decorating hampers, making up gifts, packing up favour boxes to take to the venue and ironing their outfits for today.

I am exhausted. Last night was my mehndi night – and it was amazing to say the least. It was such an amazing opportunity for all the girls in my family, as well as our close friends to get together and have loads of fun before the big day.

I had arranged for my mehndi to be held in a venue which had lots of greenery, because I thought it would complement my dress exactly how I wanted it to.

I had my gown specially made bespoke to my ideas. Although it was traditional in the Asian culture for the bride to wear very traditional dress in bright colours, I had decided that I would prefer a more western look, but use a bright fabric and allow my surroundings to implement some forms of culture. I took another moment to admire the intricate designs that had been painted on my hands with the traditional henna ink the night before.

sumaiyas dress:

her stage:

her jewellery:

her henna:

Finally, by 4:20, the bathroom was empty and I was finally able to perform my ablution. After praying my fajr prayer, I raised my hands to Allah and prayed that in the next few days to come, I would be able to bond with my new husband and be the best wife I could possibly be for him. Although I had gotten to know him a bit over the time we had our nikah, I still feel like we needed to actually be together to really get to know one another.

I could hear people chatting downstairs already, the men had probably returned from the masjid. I thought about going down and starting my day, but I thought I should probably get some rest for at least another hour or so because today was going to be a long day.

I popped on a face mask, tied my hair up into a bun on the top of my head, slapped on some of my favourite lip balm and lay back down on my bed with my phone.

Some of the phrases etc. you'll come across in this story may be some that you might not understand as they could be culturally specific. I'll try to define them where I remember, but if I don't mention what they mean, feel free to leave a comment below and I'll answer it as soon as I see it :)