Sister of Salim, Kat Mehajer, holds lavish wedding in Sydney
EXCLUSIVE: It had a motorcade, $10,000 dresses, and a helicopter — but something was missing from this Mehajer wedding.
IT HAD several $10,000 dresses, 200 staff, 100 guests, 30 motorbikes, 25 sports cars, 20 drummers, two doves and at least one police helicopter keeping watch but the mammoth wedding celebration of the sister of controversial property developer and deputy mayor Salim Mehajer, which was held in Sydney on Saturday, was lacking in a few areas.
News.com.au had exclusive access to Saturday’s event to mark the union of Khadijeh Mehajer, known as Kat, and her 33-year-old IT engineer partner Ibraham Sakalaki.
But while the big — and very secret — bash may have set the family back a cool $1 million, onlookers remarked that it was almost intimate and modest compared to big brother Salim’s wedding last August.
That extravaganza, which closed down an entire street outside Salim’s home in Lidcombe, Western Sydney, featured at least 60 cars, news.com.au was told, and double the amount of bikes.
However, the belle of Salim’s ball, his wife Aysha, was nowhere to be seen at today’s event, held in a mansion in Kenthurst, on the city’s northern fringe.
The married couple haven’t been seen in each other’s company for months.
But sister Saana told news.com.au it wasn’t about outdoing one another.
“There’s no competition,” she said.
“We don’t compete with our siblings, we all support each other and root for more.”
Sister Aiisha said she had started applying her make up at 4am for the ceremony that kicked off an hour later than scheduled at 1pm.
She said the theme of the day was “classy and elegant, as you can tell, need I say more?”
Commenting on her sister, who spent big on $10,000 dresses from renowned designer Steven Khalil, Aiisha said, “Look how beautiful she looks, today was everything and more than I was expecting”.
Of course, that’s on top of the Alex Perry number she donned for last week’s low-key event.
The bridesmaids themselves wore extravagant pale pink dresses with full skirts, designed by Dollhouse.
In scenes reminiscent of Salim’s lavish wedding celebration, a fleet of luxury cars and a Mack truck set off in a convoy from Western Sydney earlier today to mark the start of proceedings. Salim himself turned up at the venue in a flashy white sports car.
Police were on hand as the Mehajer bandwagon threaded its way through Sydney’s northern suburbs to the 11-year-old mansion, with helicopters buzzing overhead.
They told the Daily Mail they were merely there to make sure everything ran smoothly.
“Flemington local area command is working with other agencies following notice of an event this Saturday,” a spokesman said.
“The NSW Police Force will have sufficient resources to be able to deal with any eventuality and to minimise disruption to the community.”
A cavalcade of bikers in black shirts emblazoned with Mehajer brothers in gold were seen pulling up at the entrance, and the groom Ibraham arrived ahead of his wife in a white Ferrari to a cacophony of drumming.
After leaving his sports car lbraham entered the mansion and, beneath a glittering chandelier, ascended the staircase to meet his new wife.
Kat’s father Mohamad delivered the traditional duty of giving her away during the nuptials — later, he celebrated with his daughter, dancing outside the entrance.
The sedate ceremony last weekend was in stark contrast to today’s lavish event at Kenthurst, which saw around 100 guests gather to celebrate the couple’s bond.
Security was tight, with bodyguards surrounding the mansion despite it being off the beaten track and a world away from brother Salim’s nuptials in suburban Lidcombe, in Sydney’s west, last August.
Most of the 100 guests were prevented from driving to the location on the city’s isolated northern fringe with the family instead providing drivers and hire cars. Even then the location wasn’t revealed until 40 minutes before the ceremony was due to start.
If Saturday afternoon was sedate, the marriage mayhem is set to crack up a notch this evening as more than 300 people squeeze into a secret venue in Sydney’s CBD.
Many of those will again be chauffeured in private cars to keep it secret until the last minute.
Music, feasting, speeches and the appearance of an “international celebrity” are all said to be on the cards. But given the Mehajer’s Muslim faith, alcohol will be probably less free flowing than at most weddings.
It’s a glittering end to a dark week for the Mehajer clan which was overshadowed on Monday by the emergence of a video which appeared to show former Auburn deputy mayor Salim sending an expletive ridden video to his wife Aysha.
The Mehajers insist the video was taken out of context.
The run up to the wedding has not been without its road bumps. Trying to dodge the $200 plus fine Salim copped last year when he closed a street without permission for his wedding extravaganza, the local council last week confirmed Kat and co had made inquiries about a permit to cordon off a local road.
A spokesman for Cumberland Council, the new authority which absorbed Auburn Council which Salim once sat on, said on Thursday that, “In mid-August inquiries were made on behalf the Mehajer family to close a street in the Cumberland LGA for the purposes of conducting a wedding procession involving dozens of vehicles.
“They were advised, based on the information provided, that it was unlikely that consent would be given. No application has been received and no approvals given.”
The bridal shower was held at Salim’s mansion and transformed the home into a pink and white wonderland, with Kat donning a cool mint green Carla Zampatti dress.
“When my sister [Kat] slays it on her bridal shower, bring on the wedding,” Aiisha wrote on social media with an image of Kat relaxing on a pink and gold chaise longue.
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