Metehan contacted me a little less than two weeks before his wedding. He and his fiance, Seher, were looking for an officiant who was familiar with Turkish weddings, and Google had led them to me (via Nicole & Sinan’s wedding, in October). Together, we created a sweet, simple ceremony. And I got to do something I had never done during a wedding ceremony before – I sat down! In Turkish weddings, the officiant, bride, groom, and witnesses sit at a lavishly decorated table at the front of the room during the ceremony!
I included this reading from Rumi that the bride and groom choose, and I think it set the tone for not only the ceremony, but their relationship, their romance, and the love that they share with each other:
From the beginning of my life I have been looking for your face, but today I have seen it. Today I have seen the charm, the beauty, the unfathomable grace of the face that I was looking for. Today I have found you, and those who laughed and scorned me yesterday are sorry that they were not looking as I did. I am bewildered by the magnificence of your beauty, and wish to see you with a hundred eyes.
My heart has burned with passion and has searched forever for this wondrous beauty that I now behold. I am ashamed to call this love human, and afraid of God to call it divine. Your fragrant breath, like the morning breeze, has come to the stillness of the garden. You have breathed new life into me. I have become your sunshine, and also your shadow. My soul is screaming in ecstasy. Every fiber of my being is in love with you. Your effulgence has lit a fire in my heart, and you have made radiant for me the earth and sky. My arrow of love has arrived at the target. I am in the house of mercy, and my heart is a place of prayer.
It was a snowy Saturday evening in December, but, thankfully, the weather held out until after the ceremony. It did make for some beautiful photos!
Metehan and Seher, thank you again for letting me be a part of your civil wedding, and I hope your ceremony in Turkey is wonderful!
See more reviews of Eclectic Unions – Custom Wedding Ceremonies by Celebrant Jessie Blum on Project Wedding.
