Turkish
Wedding Culture and Traditions
There are different kinds of wedding ceremonies in Turkey. The forms
of ceremonies depend on the social and economic status of couples
and their families. In the rural areas, they are different from
the wedding ceremonies of urban areas. In the villages, the wedding
ceremonies continue for two days. There are two separate wedding
ceremonies, one in the home of the bride's family and one in the
home of the groom's family.
The ceremonies start Friday evening and finish Sunday noon when
the groom's relatives take the bride from the home of the bride's
family and bring her to the groom's home. After that, the groom's
relatives and the bride's relatives have lunch together, and the
bride and groom are left alone in their new home.
When a couple decides to marry, the son's family
makes an appointment with the daughter's family to get permission
for the couple to marry. If the daughter's family accepts this wedding,
the engaged couple decides the date of the wedding ceremony together
with their families. The bride's family buys some gifts and furniture
for their son-in-law, and the groom's family buys some gifts and
furniture for their daughter-in-law before the wedding ceremony.
Both the bride's family and the groom's family invite
their relatives to the wedding ceremony which is held in a hotel
ballroom at dinner time. At the beginning of the ceremony, when
the couple enters the ceremony hall, the wedding march is played
and the ladies of the court accompany them.
The bride and groom sit together at the table. Their
witnesses sit at their right side, and a government officer who
does the wedding paperwork sits at the left side of the couple.
The government officer talks about the wedding and asks both the
couple and their witness about the wedding. After the couple their
witnesses and the government officer sign the wedding certificate,
the government officer announces that the couple
is officially married.
And then, the bride and groom kiss each other and
dance the first dance. After that, their relatives offer some gifts.
At the end of the ceremony, the wedding cake is cut by the bride
and groom and pictures are taken of the relatives as a group. Then,
the newly married couple stays in that hotel their first night.
The next day, they go on a honeymoon trip.
If the couple can't afford to have the wedding
ceremony in a hotel ballroom with a dinner, they can have a small
ceremony in one of the government sedding ceremony halls without
a dinner or something like a party.
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