Maysa Monem Abdul-Rahim, 24, center left, and Rahim Nouri, 23, center right, arrive at their wedding... 
(Marko Drobnjakovic/AP Photo)
Three cars bedecked in flowers and ribbons swerve around blast walls and honk through police checkpoints, before screeching to a halt outside a Baghdad hotel. A brass band runs up to a shining sedan as the bride, struggling with her gown, emerges.
Confetti and rosebuds are showered over Maysa Monem and her new husband as women ululate — while inside the Sheraton's ballroom, 300 friends and family wait, along with a luxurious, 10-layer wedding cake.
The long stretch of relative calm in Baghdad is sparking a marriage boom.
Couples who put their lives on hold amid Iraq's turmoil are rushing to make up for lost time. Not only do more people appear to be hitching up, newlyweds are throwing lavish wedding parties like those that were once a mainstay of the Baghdad social scene.
During the darkest days of Iraq's sectarian violence in 2006-07, when Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents were killing members of the rival sects, many couples put off marriages. Families were too busy mourning deaths or just dealing with the worries of day-to-day life in a war zone. And with Baghdad people hunkered down in fear, just finding a potential spouse became more difficult.
Weddings did go on, but they were small, quiet affairs to avoid notice. Wedding parties were a favorite target for suicide bombers.
Now with violence down 70 percent from a year ago, the freeze on personal lives is thawing. While comprehensive statistics aren't available, reports from a few local authorities suggest weddings have jumped dramatically.
Shiite imam Ahmed Hirz Al-Yasiri says he certifies marriages for up to 20 couples a day in the Shiite district of Sadr City, twice the rate over the past three years. Ali al-Ukaili, a judge in a Baghdad municipal court, says he gets up to 100 marriage applications a day, compared to 70 only a short time ago, an increase he attributes to the greater security.
And newlyweds again want to make a splash. Hotel and social club owners are rushing to meet demand, and ballrooms are booked months in advance, at up to $6,900 a night — a fortune in Iraq. Sheraton manager Mustafa Abdullah says the hotel now hosts about 20 weddings a month.
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