Damon and Olcay's Wedding!
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2008
1
40
46
Trip End
Jul 22, 2009
Istanbul, Turkey
Friday, June 19, 2009
Sara joined Olcay (the bride) and her best friend, aunts, and mother, and Damon's mother and aunt for a Turkish bath. Defiantly a cultural experience. This was followed by being invited over to Olcay's parents' home for dinner. Steve and I both went shopping with two of the aunts in a vegetable market and then took a ride to the parents' home. We are able to see the highest point in Istanbul. Absolutely beautiful!!
We had tea directly from herbs and flowers they picked from their garden and the food was all home made. We had manti (Turkish ravioli) and huge salad, and another meat dish. Amazing! We love Turkish food. Olcay's aunt, Perry, who speaks good English, took us back to the hotel and we fell to sleep.
The next morning we had breakfast and met Travis and Bob (Damon's brother and Dad) and then got ready for the wedding! Sara got to be girly and Steve looked incredibly handsome! So much fun. We were picked up by some friends of theirs and taken to the courthouse type place. There are two general ways people get married in Turkey. They either go to the mosque or this courthouse-type setting. They reserve a room for 45 minutes. The room we were in was quite large and could sit about 200 people. As we came in we kissed a lot of cheeks and oil was given to clean our hands and candy. We sat down and shortly after that Olcay and Damon came in wearing wedding clothes. They sat down at a desk on a stage in front of all the seating. Next to them were two witnesses, the official, and a translator. They went through basic questions - Your name, father's name, mother's name, birth place...for each of them. Next to you take this person by your own free will. Yes. Yes. Everyone at the desk signs some papers and you are married. They usher people around the corner and picture were taken.
Traditional gifts are either a gold coin that is pinned to a sash around the bride and groom's necks or a gold bracelet that the bride wears. A bit more cultural understanding isn't a bad thing before we move here. (or so we are hoping) We were then taken back to the hotel where we changed before the reception which started at the hotel a few hours later. Again I got to dress up. I can't remember the last time I have gotten to wear two dress in one day like this. I love it!
The reception was a lovely dinner and LOTS of dancing. Travis, Damon's brother, does ballroom so I got to dance with him for about three dances. It was great! A lot the of the others were gypsy dances and I also danced with Damon and Steve. What we had wasn't quite the tradtional reception. More often it is a solumn situation especially when the bride is taken away to another place to live. Olcay and D didn't want that, so this was the reception that they had. It was so much fun!
