love and marriage

this past weekend was Samet's younger sister Saadet's wedding to her fiancee Suleyman. we traveled to their home in Izmit for the short wedding ceremony, then a 5 hour bus ride to Enez (the groom's hometown), in the Edirne region of Turkey, for the wedding party. it was my first Turkish wedding, so I got to experience all the festivities and customs and got to swim in the Aegean Sea!


marriage is a big deal in turkey. young people generally get married around their early to mid-twenties and it's a big celebration and rite of passage. family is so important in their culture, that the marriage becomes like the start of your real life in some ways. kind of weird for me to wrap my head around growing up in the US where getting married is often a more disposable act.


the night before the wedding, is the Kina Gecesi (Henna Night), at the bride's home. everyone comes out, but this night is special more for the ladies of the family. the bride wears a red veil and everyone sings songs about henna and her departure from the family. i thought maybe we'd get elaborate henna decorations, but the henna comes out in a bowl (kind of looks like an olive spread) and is put on the ladies' palms or fingers. after it dries, it leaves a auburn/orange stain which will wear off naturally in a week or so.


here's cousin Seda helping Saadet with some last minute pinning. it's custom for all the ladies to go to the kuafor (hair stylist) to get their hair and makeup done before the wedding, and it's paid for by the groom. it's pretty eleaborate and reminds me of those wedding salons in Taiwan/China. everything almost has a certain procedure that they've all got down pat.


the wedding ceremony was held in Izmit, and actually is just the formalities/legalities. the whole process takes about 5 minutes. it was funny cause when we walked in, they were playing dance music (candy shop by 50 cent). then everyone sits down for about 5 minutes, watches the procedure, and then that's it! the dance music goes up again, but everyone's leaving! here's saadet and her soon to be hubby Suleyman as she signs the register.


the bride and groom receive gifts of gold coins, jewelry and money pinned to sashes they wear around their neck. here's saadet receiving a bracelet from her father right after the wedding ceremony...but wait till we get to the wedding party!! we take a bus ride to Enes, a small sleepy beachside town, where Suleyman is from, for the big wedding party.


i love this pic of saadet and suleyman! they had to be the courteous guests of honor, waiting while everyone is buzzing to get stuff done around them. here they steal a moment on the couch in Enez...just after getting dressed up again and hair done for the wedding party.


we drive in a wedding convoy that follows the bride and groom's car to the spot of the wedding party. the convoy stretches to about 40 cars, all honking loudly...we drive through the streets of Enez and the groom tosses out candy and money to the children on the streets...there is a turkish custom where they say if the children are happy on your wedding day, then you will have a fruitful successful marriage.


here we're all waiting in the pink room before saadet and suleyman must go receive and greet the guests. they look pooped! little do they know they'll be standing for about 4 hours and greeting about 400 guests!


here they are greeting guests. the families line up and give kisses on each cheek, for elders a kiss on the hand to the head, and money and gold coins and bracelets are pinned on the bride and groom. we got there early, but the whole town came out for the wedding party! busloads of people showed up, and they didn't stop coming!


a few hours later...and a few pounds heavier...


after the last guest was greeted, the dancing began! here are samet and serap (his other sister) doing some gypsy dancing. i can not do any turkish dancing for the life of me. lots of hip wiggling and belly dancing like...reminds me of a cross between belly dancing and indian bollywood films. but everyone looooooves to dance!!