Eda-Orhan Wedding

The major event of our holiday was my cousin's wedding in Istanbul. Despite being a bit nervous about my inflated tummy, skin like feta cheese and me missing the heavenly hands of a beautician, it all went well. Actually, it could not have been better!

Sure it's not all about the positive feedback about my pictures from the wedding:) It's been a while since we have a wedding within the family. As we could not make it to the two engagement parties last year, it was almost the first big family gathering since our wedding. And as my hubby said all through the night, the best wedding is the one which you are not getting married!! It's not that we did not enjoy our wedding (it was the most fun btw:)) but you just go, relax and entertain yourself. No to-do lists, no worries for the cake or the music, you simply enjoy the moment and share the happiness of the newly weds.

As most of the family members are not living in Istanbul, we all stayed in a hotel in Taksim which made it very convenient to move around and get together easily. By all means of chance the weather was gorgeous mostly above 25 C with the sun shining most of the time. If you think that it's early October and the city was flooded just a couple of weeks ago, you will really call it a good luck. Although our hotel was less than 10 minutes away from the wedding venue, we had to leave about an hour earlier to get there. Thanks God it's Friday(!?)

The wedding was at Ciragan Palace, a 5 star hotel converted from a real Ottoman Palace. As we were led to the wrong section of the palace (thanks to my dear cousin), we were guided to the correct location by a bellboy all through the way. It took us only 2-3 minutes to get there, but we were not just given the directions, we were given a personal assistant! This was only the first sign about the style and the level of care throughout the night.

We were met by my uncle and their in-laws at the gate and was led to outside to join the coctail party. Going down the stairs, stunned by the spectacular Bosphorus, I was glad that I did not have very high heels and a long dress! Grabbing a juice (rewards of pregnancy), we mingled with the crowd. Exchanging compliments (mine mostly about the little bunny), posing and smiling; finally came the bride and the groom. Greeting the guests from the top of the stairs with the charm of a prince and a princess, they took their place for the official ceremony.

It's not traditional to make a speech during the wedding ceremonies in Turkey. You simply confirm your identity and say yes or no unless the wedding officer is a good presenter and adds some fancy talk mostly a cliche. This one was no exception. The only remarkable incident was my cousin's sound check before saying Yes:)

Immediately after tying the knot, fireworks went off. Cool, huh?

It's all in little details: Service napkins, carpets and many other things I can't remember now embroidered with the first letters of the couple, laser show of the couple's name, exquisite dinner (perfecto!), celebrity singer (Ferhat Gocer) with a band, belly dancers, an after party provided with amusing accessories (colourful wigs, feathery scarves and false moustaches etc.)

Oh, it is taking longer than I expected! So you must have realised I'm stopping at this point.

Wishing the best of all to Eda and Orhan!