Birds (4 of 6)

Omama and I chatted after she had changed back into jeans and a denim jacket; I wanted to know, of course, how she met her fiance. She giggles and tells me the story of how they first met when they were just 11 and 10 years old, making donation boxes at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), their neighborhood mosque in Sterling, VA. “I was a little diva at the time,” she says with a laugh, “and he’s had a crush on me ever since.” They reconnected in college, when they were volunteering with a Muslim youth camp; sparks rekindled, this time on both sides.Omama and her fiance got married on April 14^th in a vintage rustic style wedding that took place in a barn, an hour from her Northern Virginia home. The groom wore a light blue jacket with black lapels and a black bowtie. Omama looked stunning in her one-of-a-kind wedding dress. “Every aspect of the wedding was phenomenal,” says Raghad, “from the dress to the farm setting,” remarking on how the bride and groom departed from the lavish hotel style Middle Eastern weddings to one that was uniquely their own. “They’re like birds,” Raghad tells me. Birds?, I ask. “Yes, it’s a Syrian saying, they're delicate, sweet, in love - like doves."(4 of 6) Photo: George Kolotov