Egyptians hold IS-themed wedding

In what was described as an act of defiance against the jihadist group, an Egyptian couple held an Islamic State-themed wedding, complete with guests in executioner masks, the group’s propaganda anthems, and to top it all off — a cage for the bride and groom, similar to the one in which a Jordanian pilot was burned alive.

In a video of the event, several dozen guests are seen waving daggers, their faces obscured a la Islamic State executioners. One of the guests then approaches the startled bride and grinning groom and leads them toward the cage. Once in the enclosure, the couples — now equipped with daggers of their own — proceed to awkwardly bust a move.

According to The Guardian, the groom — Ahmed Shehata — was behind the bizarre wedding theme, and had told his bride Shaimaa Deif in advance that he was planning a surprise for the reception.

“I knew there would be a surprise,” she later said. “But I never imagined that the surprise would be like that.”

Deif said she had given the groom black cloth before the wedding, upon his request, which was later made into masks. “I thought it was for something romantic,” she said.

But the guests were not informed in advance of the mock jihadi takeover, and some briefly panicked as the masked men stormed the hall, believing it to be real — including the bride’s father, who rushed toward his daughter’s side.

The couple maintained that the wedding theme was a show of defiance against the Islamic State.

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“We aren’t making light of other people’s blood. We’re showing that we’re not scared, and that Egyptians meet any crisis with laughter and comedy,” Shehata said.

“The cage you’re scaring us with, we are dancing inside it,” Deif added.

The video was posted earlier this week, but it was not immedately clear when the wedding took place.

The wedding video, which has since gone viral in Egypt, came several weeks after the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya by IS-linked jihadists — something that factored into the groom’s decision.

“I couldn’t do it after everyone had forgotten it. We did consider people who knew the victims in it. But we had to deliver this message now,” he said.

“Whatever happens because of this [massacre], you are not going to scare us,” he added. “We will scare you, because our enjoyment, our happiness and our weddings will continue whatever you do.”