The Story of a Wedding

Stories that bring different cultures together are always a bit more extraordinary, a bit more colorful. The bride is Romanian, the groom is Turkish.

By “the groom,” I mean Kerem, the son of Meltem and Kaan… I’ve known him since he was a year and a half old. He grew up right before my eyes with hundreds of sweet memories, built a life in the Netherlands after his successful education there, and lost his heart to a true fairy-tale princess, Iulia. Writing this story is both deeply familiar to me and a sweet challenge that slaps me in the face with how fast time flies :).

With two families bound to their traditions and two different countries involved, a double wedding was held so as not to deprive anyone of this joy.

Round one was in Istanbul. A fabulous hotel, tuxedos, evening gowns, tears, and laughter… The 20-person group from Romania adapted to our culture at lightning speed; they danced to our music, joined our halay lines, and belly-danced alongside us. It was an unforgettable wave of emotion where old friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time clinked glasses.

But the real surprise was waiting in Romania.

As the groom’s core crew of 20 people, we traveled to Bucharest and then moved on to Corabia, the town where Iulia was born. We had only one lingering question: when Kerem told us the wedding would last until 6:00 in the morning, we thought it was an urban legend. We kept saying, “Can a wedding really start in the evening and end the next morning?”

Turns out, it can! In fact, let me raise the bar: the wedding, which started at 5:00 PM, wrapped up at 6:00 AM the next morning.

The wedding began with the veil ceremony, attended only by the closest family members. A small table, a chair, and a mirror in the hall… To the accompaniment of an endless local folk song sung by a regional singer, the bride took her seat at the table, her veil was placed, and she was embraced and warmly kissed by the groom. Then, boutonnieres and corsages were pinned on the groom, mothers, and fathers. And all the while, that song never stopped.

Immediately after came the first Hora!

Hora is the Romanian version of halay. Since we were in an authentic town, the traditions and rituals were very vibrant, but most impressive of all was the endless Hora with its infinite variety of steps. Instead of dancing solo or as couples, people hold hands and form a circle with a collective consciousness. I’m not exaggerating—there were people who danced Hora non-stop for 12 hours! Our Turkish crew learned the simplest steps and jumped into the circle as long as their legs allowed.

That this dance is a serious workout was evident both from the aching in our legs the next day and from the physiques of the women who perform this dance almost professionally.

Between open-bar cocktails, occasional food service, and resting tired feet by the pool, the main course was served at 2:00 AM. The bride and groom were right in the middle of every dance, every Hora.

In our high heels and evening gowns, we tried to hold our heads high without sitting down for almost 11 hours. Yet everyone had such a genuine joy on their face that, despite all our exhaustion, we returned to our hotel with huge smiles on our faces.

We needed a good sleep to gather energy for the next day’s after-party.

As if everyone hadn’t gone to bed around 5:00 in the morning, almost everyone was up by 10:00 AM. After a wonderful breakfast all together, we spent time as the Turkish crew by the hotel pool. Or rather, we partied. A portion of the group preferred to rest.

By the evening, we were ready for the After-Party. Expectations were high. They had said “BBQ.” The dress code: as comfortable as possible.

We arrived at the venue: delicious aromas, exquisite food, unlimited drinks, music, and HORA 🙂

Everyone had gotten to know each other on the wedding night, so the atmosphere here was even warmer and more intimate. The Turkish crew was practically considered professional at the Hora by now.

As the night flowed by with dancing, hugs, kisses, glasses held high in the air, music, and laughter, I witnessed how the love two people hold for each other radiated across an entire town and wrapped its arms around our 20-guest crew.

I realized once again that you don’t need to speak the same language to love and to meet on common ground—the language of love is the most powerful language of all. I believe all my friends feel the same.

Iulia and Kerem, I wish you immense happiness! Thank you for adding such a wonderful memory to our lives.

With love,

Nazan

If These Piece had a Color : It would be ”White’.