Wedding Bells

So much has happened in the first month we've been here that we haven't even gotten a chance to tell you about everything we've experienced.  We had only been in the country for 3 days when Matin was invited to a wedding!  The brother of one of the employees was getting married that night, so Matin went with a group of  other guys from the office to check out the first wedding.  In this country, the actual ceremony is a private affair - only the immediate family and the mullah are present to sign the marriage contract.  Afterwards, the family travels to the reception in a train of cars decorated with flowers and strings of lights, where all the guests wait for them to arrive.  Wedding receptions are HUGE here, and not that different from weddings in the US...except with many more people.

Here is a picture from Matin's table at the reception hall.  In the background, you can see a partition dividing the room in half:  the men and the women sit separately and do not mix for the entire reception.  The only man that ventures to the women's side is the groom, who walks with the bride to EVERY table to greet the guests.  The bride, however, does not do the same on the mens' side.  This of course means that the dancing is uni-gender, but that doesn't stop these guys from getting jiggy with it on the dance floor (notice the group of guys near the partition).  Also take a look at the guy in the foreground:  electricity is so sparse in this city that many guests brought their cell phone chargers to the wedding to charge their phones!

The table was so full of different dishes that all of the food didn't even fit on the table.  And notice that Matin is drinking Fanta - soft drinks are expensive enough here that they are considered appropriate for weddings.  He was very careful not to eat any of the uncooked food, and thankfully he did not get sick.  But he did manage to meet many people - including the older gentleman who first gave him his Persian name!