Just over two weeks ago I was very kindly invited to a wedding, not just any wedding though, my first ever Moroccan wedding. 

At first I was really nervous, I wasn't sure what I would wear, how I should have my hair and make up and most of all if I could even look half as decent as the other ladies there.  Here in Morocco wearing an outfit that did not consist of a Takchita would be little less than embarrassing, and never having worn one before I was worried if I could find one I liked and fitted me well.  Thankfully my Mum's Husband's family came to the rescue and I borrowed a lovely one from his sister.  With the outfit now in motion I was excited, the only things left to think about were hair, make-up and accessories.

So the takchita, as I said above I borrowed it from family but what I didn't mention was that it was actually one of his sister's wedding dresses, she had multiple dresses, its normal for brides to have up to 10 here.  Maybe this is something we could adopt and make part of a traditional British wedding?  She wore this the day before her wedding while some of the female guests are herself had their henna applied, so I felt really honoured to be given the chance to wear something so special.  Truthfully though, when I first tried this on I wasn't keen.

 I loved the material, the colour, the beaded detailing and the fit.  I tried on about 7 different dresses and this one fitted perfectly, unlike the others.  The only thing I found strange was the shape, takchitas are by no means flattering, I could be wearing the world's best bra and my chest would still look flat and shapeless.  Most takchitas are made up of an under dress and the top dress, which mine was and to save myself embarrassment I wore leggings to cover up my legs a little bit more. The reason all takchitas are shaped similarly is to ensure the ladies are respectively covered up, being a Muslim country it is inappropriate to be flashing all of the flesh.  They are held at the waste with a belt but this still doesn't make much change to the bust area. This proved to me that I relied on clothes that were more figure hugging but tummy skimming in order to make me feel good, I didn't like this realisation, why should clothes make me feel good, shouldn't I feel like that naked?  This is when I decided to start a healthier eating and exercise routine.


My belt and shoes were from the local souk, a traditional Berber market, basically the bullring of Agadir.  We got a really good deal, negotiating of course is the only way to shop in Morocco to ensure you are paying as little as you can, but still a fair price for the traders.  I loved the muted gold colour and felt that they enhanced the outfit rather than take it over.  These were both reasonably comfortable to wear, the shoes were a pleasure all night but the belt did get slightly less comfortable as the night went on due to the straight cut of it.  My mum allowed me to wear some of her jewellery as I own no gold jewellery and with this outfit, silver just wouldn't have looked right.  I wore a gold heart with diamonds on a long gold chain and a delicate gold charm bracelet, thanks Mum!

 I had my hair done at the French salon where my mum is a regular and I applied my Mum's and my own make up, I will be telling you all about that another day though or you would be here all night, so look out for a post in the future.

Looking at the photos I was happy with how I looked and received so many lovely compliments.  Although I know that inside I felt a bit strange just due to wearing something so different to what I'm used to, I suppose it would be like a girl who normally wears trousers wearing a skater dress for the first time.

Have you ever attended a wedding where you had to wear something a little bit different than usual, how did you feel?