You're listening to Island of Love, the documentary on the BBC World Service, with me Yolandenelle.

This week why thousands of couples from the Middle East are forced to wed in Cyprus because they can't get married at home. The music is kind of cheesy and the civil marriage hall in Larnaca is a little drab.

But I can't stop smiling as the ceremony begins.

Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning.

Abdul, you got the name, right?

Abdul, got there.

He's a zag, he's a z, he's a z, he's a jazzy. He's just.

And Raquel,

Seedan,

in fact shes.

Racheel Zaidan and Abdul Khadir-Haji are Lebanese, but they've had to come to a foreign country to make the

commitment of a lifetime.

In Urylarka, a city with its 5,000 remember now for the rest of your life.

While the grey-haired wedding officer wears a dapper suit, the couple aren't dressed as your typical bride and

broom. They're in jeans and t-shirts. They've brought nobody along to hear them exchange

their vows, which aren't in their native language Arabic.

Do you take this woman to be your love or wedding wife? Yes. Yes, I do.

Rakkha. Do you take this man to be your

law for wedding husband?

Yes, I do.

As from this moment, I pronounce you, man and one.

...