When our nephew Skye and his fiancée Işil announced they would celebrate their marriage in her home town of Istanbul, it bumped Turkey to the top of our list! Hooray! I had looked forward to this event all year, and it was hard to believe the day had finally arrived.
The wedding venue was the Rahmi Koç Museum, on the shore of the Golden Horn. Koç is a Turkish billionaire, and, inspired by the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, founded his own museum to display his vast collections of cars and other transport. Cocktail hour had been perfectly timed for us to enjoy the sunset over the Golden Horn.
Suddenly, music swelled, and the bride and groom processed together to the waterfront stage. Işil looked radiant, and Skye was all smiles. Işil’s longtime friend officiated in Turkish and English. Skye had mounted his phone on a stand, and the event was live-streamed to his grandparents (Steve’s parents) in Florida. The ceremony was short and sweet. I don’t know if it was typical for a Turkish wedding, but I enjoyed it very much.
The tables were lavishly decorated with fresh flowers, and we feasted on an assortment of mezes and a rich, tender beef shoulder with morel sauce. The wedding guest favors were beautiful “evil eye” glass amulets for warding off curses and negativity.
We had a great view of the dance floor, and the couple’s charming first dance.
After that, the evening was all about dancing. The DJ kept the crowd hopping with Turkish dance music, with a few western songs for good measure. Işil spent most of the evening dancing in the center of a circle of adoring friends and family. She was beautiful, and tireless. My favorite song was Gloria Gaynor’s classic, I Will Survive, sung in Turkish!
I suddenly realized I hadn't really looked at the artifacts in the museum, so I ducked out from the dancing for a few minutes, to admire the fancy cars, unusual planes, and vintage Apple computers.
The reception was scheduled to go until midnight, with an afterparty from midnight to 2:00am! We had no qualms about leaving around 11:00pm. We braced ourselves for a long, circuitous drive, but our Uber driver unabashedly went the wrong way up a one-way street to get us back to our hotel more quickly. It had been a marvelous, memorable wedding. Congratulations, Işil and Skye!
