Gran Melia, Don Pepe – Marbella

Bahareh and Gustav´s Special Day

Gran Melia, Don Pepe, Marbella was the the chosen venue of Bahareh and Gustav for their special Persian ceremony. This was my first Persian ceremony and after researching the customs for this type of wedding and chatting with Bahareh about the customs and traditions they were going to include in their ceremony I was excited to see the set up.

A tradition of the Persian Wedding ceremony is the Sofreh Aghd, this is a spread of symbolic items placed at the altar where the vows are to be exchanged. Their altar looked amazing and was carefully arranged by close friends and family. The Persian Ceremony is also different to many other culture ceremonies in that the bride and groom face their guests. They sit facing the `Sofreh´and as the ceremony officiant begins the ceremony and reads the marriage values close female relatives hold the traditional lace veil over the couple. The bride is asked three times for hand before she answers yes. Guests in the audience pretend the bride is absent, saying such things as she is not here, she wet to pick flowers. The bride and groom then exchange rings and then feed each other honey with their fingers and then the ceremony officiant encourages them to kiss. The closet family members congratulate and bless the couple.

Below are a few of my favorites and the story of their day.