I met Ahmed while I was on holiday in Egypt in May 2014. He is related to some friends of mine and, while he took a liking to me, I wasn’t interested at first. However, things developed between us when we were held at gunpoint and robbed – I have never seen anyone try to protect me and care for me the way he did.

Ahmed proposed in the typical Egyptian way of asking the eldest male who could speak for me whether he could marry me. He asked his uncle, who lives in the UK and is one of my friends, and he in turn asked me on my husband’s behalf. I didn’t think twice – I just knew.

Our first wedding was an Islamic service held in Alexandria, Egypt, in a hired hall designed for weddings in December that year. Pretty much everyone and anyone came, including my husband’s family and friends, along with my mum, dad, brother and his partner. You don’t pay by the head for weddings in Egypt, so it was pretty much an open invitation. There must have been well over 300 guests.

Our entertainment included dancers, two live singers, a band and a DJ in between. We ate traditional Egyptian food with halal meats, mashi and pastries and sat under a canopy of flowers and lights. The bride and groom are expected not to eat in front of the guests so we were taken to a separate room for our meals – I was so relieved to be alone with my new husband that I think I hardly ate.

My family and friends were blown away by the Egyptian wedding. It was just so amazing. The only downside was that, traditionally, we were not allowed to kiss on the lips or drink any alcohol.

Double the fun, double the cost: what it's like to plan two weddings, from the couples who did it