KATB KETAB & WEDDING CEREMONIES | MANIAL PALACE, CAIRO
Adham Hussien & Samara Alkhammach: Full-Service Katb Ketab at Manial Palace
A 400-guest Katb Ketab on 26 December 2025, planned as two connected experiences: a formal Pergola ceremony with passed hospitality followed by a more social garden gathering built around live stations, a non-alcoholic bar, mingling and dance.
- DATE: 26 DEC 2025
- OCCASION: KATB KETAB
- VENUE: MANIAL PALACE
- ACTUAL GUESTS: APPROX. 400
- LORIENTAL SCOPE: PLANNING + EVENT MANAGEMENT + CATERING
A Katb Ketab designed in two acts
Adham Hussien and Samara Alkhammach held their Katb Ketab at Manial Palace’s Pergola area on 26 December 2025. LOriental was appointed directly by the family to plan, design, cater and manage the event, with responsibility spanning the ceremony setup, guest flow, passed hospitality, live culinary stations, non-alcoholic bar service and the integration of family-provided details.
The family deliberately made the Katb Ketab the larger gathering, with a later wedding celebration planned for a smaller guest list. That meant this occasion needed enough scale and structure for the wider family circle while still retaining the social rhythm of a Katb Ketab rather than becoming a conventional wedding reception.
Planning around two different social rhythms
The guest journey was divided between two connected areas of the palace. The Pergola carried the formal ceremony, while the adjacent garden became a second destination after the Katb Ketab for younger guests who wanted to mingle, eat from live stations and move onto the dance floor.
This was not simply a change of scenery. The service format changed with the mood of each zone. Passed canapés suited the seated ceremony and congratulatory period; high tables, open circulation, live food preparation and the bar made the garden feel intentionally more informal and active.
Formal hospitality at the Pergola
The ceremony area used theatre-style seating for the broader family and adult guests who were greeted with Arabian coffee and stuffed dates. Passed luxury canapés allowed hospitality to continue without interrupting the ceremony sequence, giving guests food in a format that worked around arrival, seating, the Katb Ketab itself and the flow of congratulations afterwards.
Because the event was being managed as one complete experience, setup decisions, service timing, family details and catering were coordinated together rather than handled as separate supplier packages.
A garden program built for movement
After the ceremony, the adjacent garden shifted the energy. High tables and open mingling space sat alongside live culinary stations, a dance floor and beverage service, giving younger guests a second phase of the event with a completely different pace.
The food program followed that movement: Lebanese chicken shawarma, Egyptian street-food items, loaded fries and other casual live-station dishes, crêpes and waffles, Syrian konafa, charcuterie and grazing, live mixology and hot beverages. The point was not to force one dining format across the whole guest list, but to match the food to how each part of the event was actually being experienced.
Detail-heavy planning without fragmenting the event
The family stayed closely involved throughout planning, with successive rounds of review and refinement before details were locked. Food, live-station choices, setup details and family-provided giveaways all had to remain connected to the same overall guest experience.
That level of involvement made coordination itself part of the work. The planning team had to absorb detailed feedback while keeping the ceremony, setup, station program, bar, giveaways and guest movement inside one coherent operating plan.
What this case demonstrates
The Manial Palace Katb Ketab shows LOriental working beyond a catering-only brief. The case combines full event planning, heritage-venue execution, guest-flow design, passed canapés, live stations and beverage service for a large private celebration with two deliberately different social environments.
It also adds a useful Manial Palace proof point: the Pergola and adjacent garden were treated as connected parts of one guest journey, with service formats selected according to what guests were doing in each space rather than repeating the same hospitality model throughout the event.
