Turkish Wedding Traditions

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