How to plan a wedding when you don’t know what tomorrow will bring
In Gaza, couples are adapting wedding plans to a landscape of destroyed venues, scarce supplies and steep costs. With many halls damaged or located in restricted zones, families are turning to makeshift spaces such as tents, cafes and repaired warehouses to hold ceremonies.
Why It Matters
Weddings illustrate how civilians are trying to maintain normalcy and mark life events despite widespread destruction, displacement and economic collapse. The adaptations — from borrowing bouquets to converting warehouses into halls — reveal both the scarcity of resources and the social importance of communal rites amid the conflict.
Key Facts
- artificial flower price: A single artificial flower costs about 25 shekels (roughly $8).
- bouquet coping: Many brides borrow or rent artificial bouquets because fresh flowers are rare and artificial ones are expensive.
- venue example and cost: A cafe rented for two days cost 3,900 shekels (about $1,300) for a wedding.
- average annual per capita income (2022): 3,900 shekels.
- average per capita income (late last year): About 500 shekels, a drop of at least 85% from 2022.
The war in Gaza has drastically narrowed the options couples have for wedding celebrations. Many traditional halls were destroyed or lie in restricted areas such as the so-called Yellow Zone, reducing the number of usable venues and pushing prices up. Some remaining halls have reopened after damage, using plastic sheeting and fabric to patch spaces, but operating them is costly and risky because of proximity to conflict lines. Venue owners and managers say expenses for running a hall — from electricity to decoration — have climbed, while demand has fallen. At al-Tayeb Hall in Jabalia, managers report only about five weddings a month or fewer. In one instance a family paid the equivalent of Gaza’s 2022 average annual income to rent a cafe for two days, yet the wedding celebration was muted when equipment, including the DJ, failed. Because of the shortages and costs, couples are improvising. One hall manager converted an old pickle warehouse into a venue to meet local demand, and other couples hold ceremonies in tents or empty open spaces when traditional halls are unaffordable or unavailable. Flowers are hard to find; fresh blooms are scarce and artificial flowers have risen so much in price that brides often borrow or rent bouquets for a few hours. The human toll of the conflict also shapes how weddings look. Some grooms arrive to book halls with no surviving family members to celebrate with them, saying they are the sole remaining relative. With roughly 70 percent of Gaza described as under occupation and siege, organizers and families often accept significant financial and personal risk to create moments of celebration amid ongoing hardship.
Keep Reading
Fetterman’s GOP convention appearance raises questions about his political future
25 years after 9/11, airport security gets second look from Trump
9/11, Charlie Kirk anniversaries loom large for Gen Z
