PERSIAN WEDDINGS

A Persian wedding, held in Istanbul

The ceremony your family expects, in a city everyone can actually reach, planned end to end by a studio that lives here.

Why families choose Istanbul for the aghd

Istanbul is a short flight from Tehran, from the Gulf and from most of Europe, which is usually the real reason a family lands on it. Relatives who would never manage a long journey can be in the same room, and the ones travelling further are landing somewhere they actually want to spend a few days.

That convenience changes the plan rather than simplifying it. Guests arrive in waves across three or four days, the ceremony has to be recognisable to the oldest people present, and the party is expected to run late. All three are planning problems, and they are the ones we take off you.

The parts that have to be right

A Persian wedding is not a Western wedding with different flowers. These are the points where the day either works or visibly does not.

The sofreh aghd designed as part of the room, not assembled against a back wall on the morning
Aghd first and jashn after, with the gap between them planned rather than improvised
The mirror and the candelabra placed where the photographs are actually taken from
Music and a dance floor timed to survive a long dinner service
A run sheet the venue team will follow, written in the language they work in
Arrivals spread over several days handled as their own schedule, not as an afterthought

Where it fits in this city

A Bosphorus yalı gives you water on one side and a curfew on the other. A palace or an old mansion carries the ceremony beautifully and asks harder questions about kitchens and access. A hotel ballroom is the safest answer when half the guest list is sleeping upstairs.

We walk the rooms with you, ask about noise limits, kitchens and curfews before you fall in love with a photograph, and read the contract line by line. The full comparison is in Bosphorus Yali, Hotel Ballroom or Island Mansion.

Guests, paperwork and the days on either side

The guests

Most of your list is arriving in a foreign city with a wedding to attend and a few free days around it. Transfers, hotel blocks, a welcome dinner and something to do between the aghd and the jashn are all part of what we plan. How we host guests travelling in.

The civil ceremony

Whether you register the marriage in Türkiye or keep the legal step at home is your decision, and it changes what has to happen before the day. We keep an outline of the paperwork foreign couples deal with. The details change with your nationality, so confirm the final requirements with your own consulate and the marriage office that will register you.

Tell us the date and who is flying in

A rough date is enough to start. Every enquiry is read by a planner within 24 hours, and there is no obligation.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Questions we get first

Can you plan the sofreh aghd as well as the reception?

Yes. We treat the sofreh as a design element from the first sketch rather than something assembled on the morning, with your family pieces where you have them and sourced pieces where you do not, and it is approved by you before anything is bought.

Our guests are flying in from several countries. Is that a problem?

It is the normal case here rather than the exception. Travel, transfers and rooms are part of what we handle for destination weddings, and arrivals spread over several days are planned as their own schedule.

Can the aghd and the jashn happen at the same venue?

Often yes, and where they do the gap between them is the part that needs planning: the room has to be turned around, the guests need somewhere to be, and the photographs usually happen in that window.

How late can a wedding run in Istanbul?

That depends on the venue and its street, not on the city, which is why we ask about noise limits and curfews before you fall in love with a photograph rather than after the contract is signed.

Do we have to register the marriage in Türkiye?

No, and many couples keep the legal step at home and hold the ceremony here. Either way, confirm the requirements with your own consulate and the marriage office that would register you, because they change with nationality.