1	Engagement Photo Album Jeffrey Scott Tynes & Natasha Jalil Twal May 30, 2003
2	Before we go in, we are both mighty nervous, excited, even tired. It was going to be a challenge to get through the evening. But it proved well worth while for both of us. This evening proves to be a mini-wedding. We’ll take you through it …
3	As the guests arrived, we sat in a side reception room with the photographer. He took photos of us in every imaginable fashion. While we were here We actually made a call back to the US to Mom and Dad T and left a message. Did you get it?
4	Meanwhile, outside our little enclave, the Twal family greeted arriving guests and helped them find their seats. Here Tania and Poppa Twal (Jalil) await the beginning of the evening’s event.
5	Now we’ve got a crowd. Uncles (left and right of Jalil), Brigitte below, with Mom/Hamati, or mother-in-law, watching from behind.
6	Here’s a three-shot of Dad and the brothers, ready for the khotba, Arabic for engagement.
7	And now we arrive. This is quite a show actually. Everyone is in their seat, dramatic music plays and bam the doors swing open and in comes the glamorous J couple.
8	This glamorous couple made it straight for stage, only later to find that we should casually stroll in, as if we haven’t a care in the world. Then we stand for inspection J .
9	A lot of nervous smiling goes on here and then there’s the bit about not knowing what to do. We casually whisper to one another out of smiling mouths, “What do we do now?” We are the show after all, the reason for the night’s being.
10	Well there’s a few things, but the real business comes quickly with the putting on of the rings (on the right hand) and other jewelry, all called shebkeh in Arabic. It combines a tradition, the wealth held within the jewelry, with the Western ring tradition.
11	Still not quite aware what was going on, we just grin away and slap those babies on one another to the delighted “ooo’s” and “aaahh’s” of our adoring fans.
12	Natasha got real serious at one point putting on an earring. Not-to-worry, a beer later all was good.
13	Next comes Mom and Dad. They have a shebkeh set as well, leaving Natasha double adorned and all the lovelier for it.
14	Now get this. Next we have to dance in front of everyone, like “Hey look at us, we’re engaged, we’re happy, you’re not, let the envy begin.” But for us, it was more like “Oh MY GOD!” We made the best of it though.
15	We had to dance for what seemed like an eternity while others watched. There was an arrangement that Jeff and my friends, affectionately referred to here as ‘the girls,’ would join right in. It was not to be. We had to suffer on our own for a bit J.
16	It didn’t last too long though, with the girls, the Sis (corner left) joining in to music we chose previously, though we still can’t remember the name of it. In fact, looking at the pictures now, we can’t really remember being here J.
17	Then we took a break. Whew! It was going to be a dancing night so it was good we got a rest. We still hadn’t figured out where we were. Had to look around at everyone staring at us and smiling to remember we were at our engagement.
18	Ah, yes. The cake show; it is a wonderful thing. In comes a big old cake and a sword. Clapping and excitement is not far away.
19	Down we come, though Natasha saw the picture now and said she doesn’t even remember a cake. It was all like a dream.
20	Then comes the bubbly. The waiter kept insisting we shake it up and spray it around like we won the Indy 500 or something. We kept our heads, popped the cork out into the room and took out our glasses.
21	This is one of our favorite pictures, as we exchange glasses. There is another, less coordinated effort (not pictured here) where we try to help each other drink. Natasha turns my glass with her hand and I turn hers with mine. Dribbling ensues.
22	And then, yes you guessed it, we dance again. This time the slow dance, with no hope of an interruption. We dance, people watch, I chat gleefully, Natasha stares about like a deer in the headlights J.
23	There were a few other guests we haven’t mentioned thus far: Mark and Brigitte’s precocious daughters. Here we have a sleepy Amy, with Muna, one of the effervescent girls, dancing quietly as we hog the stage in the background.
24	It was spotlight, video rolling, camera snapping, all attention on the front stage time.
25	Later we were joined by a tiny dancer – Mark and Brigitte’s daughter Jessica with Auntie Tania.
26	And then, believe it or not, after all that, we have ourselves a big old meal. Here we take an inspection tour…
27	And we sort of regain our senses about what we are doing here and realize we are hungry. Though we must note, we never really get to eat. The food is right there in front of us on the plates but there are lots of ‘mabrook’s,’ or congratulations, and things to do. No worries. We have a whole lifetime ahead of us to eat.
28	We have a few guest shots mixed in here, not too many, just a taste. Here we have Brigitte (back left) with a number of the cousins, of which there are quite a number.
29	And here is Mom/hamati, we believe sitting pleased as can be at our recent endeavor J.
30	Here a shot with us and the girls. Jeff was barely hanging on at this point, but there was lots of dancing left to do and the girls take no prisoners on the dance floor.
31	During one of the more quiet moments, Mark (our photog for this little expedition) took a more reflective shot of the girls (from back left: Muna, Abeer, Sewar, Fairuz, front left, Sandy, Lana, Ghalia). Though not fully illustrated here, this lot danced the night away.
32	The End We hope you enjoyed the show. The wedding is likely to prove that much more enjoyable, as we’ve had this little bit of practice. We sort of know what to do now. This is a bit of a shortened presentation, as this event lasted from 8ish until something like 1am or later. We can’t really remember; just know we were tired after. It was really wonderful. We really are so grateful for all the love, support and help we got to make our dream so much fun.