Istanbul Turkey, More Wedding Day

After the wedding we worked (walked) our way over to a dinner club on the Sea of Marmara for a very nice dinner with a few family members.  We stopped for wine and appetizers on the way to the club at another very nice sidewalk eatery.

Grabbing the bull by the horns.....literally!

Picture taken through the window at the club......very interesting I think!

So nice to relax after the excitement

Here comes dessert!

Look at the sparks fly!

Mmmmmmm good!

Istanbul Turkey, Allie on St. Patricks Day

I am going to switch every other day to Allie pictures for a while as I have a few I want to show off.  So here is Allie as she was dressed on/for St. Patricks Day and her new purple chair:

Istanbul Turkey, Wedding Day!!!

Here are photos of the day that many, OK, all of us never thought would happen with Paul.......that's what we get for thinking!:)  We wish Paul and Pnar a very happy future together!!!

A bit of background though.  You will not see an exchange of rings during the very short ceremony as the happy couple in Turkey traditionally exchanges rings during the engagement at a family event prior to the wedding day...Paul and Pnar skipped that ceremony and just exchanged rings and then told her family.

The civil ceremony is about the same length of time as in the US.  The couple walks into the room after all the audience is seated and sits facing the audience with the judge off to the right at the same table.  They sign the marriage book but no verbal vows are exchanged....just a simple "I do" or "evet" marks the end of the ceremony.  Then they greet everyone who attended in a receiving line.

Here is the beautiful couples happy moment:

The blushing bride to be

Any notable nervousness??

Everyone is just about seated.....

Here they come!

Talk about being put on the spot:)

Witnesses, Serhat and Ozlem, on left...

Judge on the right.....

They each sign the book and say "evet".....

...and are now man and wife!

Come here wife and let me plant a wet one!

congrats, congrats

Myself, Keyna, on left and Ozlem, good friend, on right

Aunt "Ulfet" on the left and mother "Sema" on the right 

We were so happy to have been able to make this momentous occasion!

now back to the happy couple

.....and they will live happily ever after

Istanbul, Turkey(yep, thats what I said!)

Hi everyone from Istanbul, Turkey!  It was a long flight but we are here safe and sound and looking forward to tomorrow, the day my brother actually gets married!!! Bonus, it is not supposed to rain. Yay!   Will put on some pics of the event for sure!

In the mean time, here are pics from the Desert Zoo outside of Tucson, AZ taken March 2nd:

An unusual desert bat......mmmmm

Mountain lion

havalena

Harris hawk

Quite the tongue, heh?

Look at the baby hummingbirds!