The party reception for Joseph and Hannah was held in a greenhouse on the Orchid Farm property. The greenhouse was transformed with many Turkish touches. Joseph and Hannah became interested in each other during Joe’s second semester in Istanbul as a leader and Hannah’s first semester in Istanbul as a student. I’m adding the long description of the course from Westmont College just to give you context into why Joe and Hannah embraced these Turkish touches on their marriage. (warning…photo overload in this post!)

During this semester you will live in Istanbul, aka Constantinople, a city that is of the past and of the future, of grace and grit, of culture and politics, of faith and skepticism. It is Eastern and Western, a modern megalopolis of 20 million people and one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is both cultural capital of a developing Asian country and was chosen as Europe’s “city of culture” in 2010. Istanbul’s skyline is punctuated by medieval mosques and minarets while swish modern cafes and bars dominate its street life.

You will be encouraged to experience another culture from the inside, studying Turkish, navigating your way around the city and interacting with Turks on a daily basis. You will develop relationships with your neighbors and Turkish university students while also engaging with the city’s various minority and refugee communities.You will for a season become an urban person, and learn to be comfortable negotiating a foreign metropolitan landscape.

You will also experience what it means to live in community in a new way. Removed from familiar social, relational and religious support systems, all the while being confronted with some of the most challenging issues facing the world today, you will need to rely on each other.

There was assigned seating with place cards tied to a stalk of rosemary and sections of the long tables were assigned names of cities from around the United States and the World. You found your name under a city on the large board outside the greenhouse and then traveled about the tables to find your city and then find your name on the place card. We sat in the Seattle area next to Nuevo and Jerusalem. The head table and Joseph and Hannah’s spot was draped with a Turkish cloth below.

The most traditional, and most often consumed beverage in Turkey, Çay (black tea) is a staple upon which the Turkish societal system functions.

These traditional Turkish tea cups and saucers were chosen by Joe and Hannah for the wedding guests to enjoy tea in and then to take  home as a wedding favor. The card in the glass explained, “In Turkey, Çay (tea) is offered when entering a home, after a meal, and over conversations. We wanted to extend this symbol of hospitality to you as you share in our celebration!”

Joseph and Hannah’s reception and wedding came about with many helping hands working together and now it was time to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening with good food, very good encouragement and glorious acknowledgement on what God has done for them and all of us.

My brother Steve, nephew Levi, and brother Leonard.

Kelly (mother of the groom) and our son Dan.

My dear old pop managed to walk the quarter mile from the wedding ceremony to the reception area with his cane and we sat him down at his spot at the head of the table with a large mason jar of lemonade. What a trooper he was this day.

Dear and my pop having good conversation.

Our niece Michelle with Jamie and Dan. (Dan is our second born son and Jamie is our DIL)

Our niece Debbee with Laura and Josh (Laura is our DIL and Josh is our first born son)

My brother (the father of the groom) and our niece Kristin.

Kelly, my brother Leonard and my sister Lana.

Obligatory selfie of the cousins! (not my photo I nabbed it) Several of the photos following were taken by others.

Niece Melissa, Michelle and our DIL Laura.

My sisters Kathy and Vera with my dear old Pop.

Family, upper right wacky sister with nieces shot, lower left is our Katie and Andrew, lower right niece Hope and grand niece Avery.

This Magnolia tree was such a beautiful backdrop for the celebration.

Cousins…

My dear old Pop and his descendants. The sisters are holding our tea glasses and saucers.

My siblings with our Pop.

Dzeda, my pop, with his grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Pop saying his goodbyes to the bride, his newest granddaughter.

The bride, groom with Josh and Laura.

The cake was gluten free and so delicious. After cake we took our leave and the party continued into the night. There were other desserts made by friends for the party, too. This next photo was taken by Joseph’s cousin Kyle Nessen who is an amazing photographer. It was a sparkling send off for the newlyweds!

May this marriage have a fair face and a good name,
an omen as welcomes the moon in a clear blue sky.
I am out of words to describe
how spirit mingles in this marriage.

And I am our of words to describe what a glorious day this was from the weather to the location, the food, the dancing and all the beautiful thought out details. May God bless you both with many good years on this earth Joseph and Hannah!