In this wedding story, I shall be telling you about Becky Rauf's and Hilvan Alpay's happiest day of their lives. They married on February 14th, 1998, eight months after they met. About 200 people attended the Alpay wedding and friends and family came (I didn't go, because I was busy that day, with not being born and all). They got married by a registrar. My parents got married in a mosque registrar. My mum and dad chose that place because it was the only religious AND official mosque registrar. They got married inside a very ornate mosque, with a very Ottoman style. It was a small, beige building, right in the middle of old North Nicosia.
The bride (my mum) wore a beautiful, creamy white, Victorian styled, lacy wedding dress with a violet flower tiara and a veil, her hair flowing lazily down. She also wore clear with silver and diamante, Cinderella style shoes. My dad wore the same thing (just kidding). He wore a dark, crisp, navy-blue Armani suit with a blue tie. There were no special colors used. Nobody else participated in the wedding apart from one flower girl dressed in a white Alice in Wonderland sort of dress. The room was filled with vases full of dainty white lilies. It was also filled with the echo of modern music. There was no dancing due to the fact that it was a more cocktail type wedding. There were mounds of finger foods piling up in the room, along with a special chocolate mousse wedding cake.
A tradition was that the one who steps on the partner's foot first (after being pronounced man and wife) will lead the family. They also cut the cake together and the guests threw rice as my parents walked out of the mosque. They handed out small Godiva chocolates to the guests. My mum wore borrowed earrings, a blue “evil eye” bracelet, a brooch, given to my mum by her grandma, and a new pair of shoes. She also threw a bouquet of flowers.
My parents' special memories of the day was that it was very windy at the cocktail party and every time a guest came into the restaurant (at the harbor) the wind blew out most of the candles that filled the room, so there was a person relighting most of them all night. My mum most enjoyed everything and she would change nothing, it was perfect.
Apparently my mum was really nervous about whether the wedding would go smoothly, if the guests were happy and if there was enough food and drinks. Her wedding was full of personal things.
“At the cocktail party, I filled the restaurant with burning candles, it was beautiful” she said, I could tell by her face that she was remembering it. My parents specially chose February 14th, because it's said to be the most romantic day of the year. They loved their wedding at the mosque because it was magical. There was no Maid Of Honor or a Best man because it is not in the religion. There was a variety of music playing too. Also, they loved their gifts. My parents' favorite gift was the Scenic car that my mum's parents got for my my parents.
“It really helped us settle into Cyprus more comfortably” my father says. They sent out their simple invitations with silver writing and after two months their big day arrived!!
What I most enjoyed was having candles everywhere, it sounds really cozy! I would have done nothing differently except, even though it's not tradition, I'd have a Maid of Honor. I could imagine having a pearly, white wedding in a mosque, with music and a chocolate fountain dribbling sauce. Guests would be laughing and having a wonderful time.
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