Big Fat Turkish Wedding!

After our Easter service, we headed right out to attend our first-ever Turkish wedding. We have been invited in a general way to Turkish weddings before, but since we did not know the bride and groom personally, we declined. However, this wedding was for someone who is very special to us, our school security guard, Ferhat. He's been with our school ever since Sweet Cheeks was born. In fact, when I worked at the school and she was 2, she used to sit and eat olives and cheese with him daily. She used to call him her best friend. He is the best security guard we've ever had, and we were happy to share in his special day.

The wedding was just about as opposite of an American wedding as you can imagine! It was not held in a place of worship, rather a "Wedding Hall," a room rented for weddings. Just before the bride and groom arrived, people lit up sparklers. Then torches surrounded the happy couple as they walked in.

Emine, the bride, was beautiful. Turkish brides wear a white dress, but also a red sash, which symbolizes purity.

After their first dance, they sat on thrones! And then, for HOURS, we danced. We danced and danced and danced. The Turkish songs don't really end after 3-4 minutes, like ours. They go on for 20-30 minutes. We all did the traditional Turkish dance in different variations. It's called the Halay. I'd love you to see it on video...I'll work on posting that! It was not quiet or calm!

The really adorable thing to me was that all our neighborhood 'folks' came. This is our neighborhood simitci. He sells the school kids little round breads each morning.

It was really fun! At the end, you are to go and present your gift (money or gold) to the bride and groom, and it is then pinned on a sash they wore. Then the gift is announced! Yes, very different than America.

It was a great experience!