The organizers of the event say 158 couples will be married simultaneously.  The mass wedding was initiated by Dubai Deputy Ruler Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

Sheikh Hamdan bears all the costs of these mass weddings — which occur annually — due to his interest in providing a decent life for young people in this country to reduce the costs of their wedding.

Obaid Salem Al-Shamsi, assistant director general of Dubai Municipality, said the municipality opened up this service to employees of more government departments this year.

Al-Shamsi said the event is in line with the approach established by the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan.

“Organizing these weddings are practical steps towards the consolidation of the behavior of rational spending on weddings,” Al-Shamsi said, referring to one of the biggest obstacles to getting married in this region.

The organizing committee prepared a special booklet that contains profiles of the grooms and their expression of appreciation addressed to Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.