A traditional Persian Ceremony for a Wedding in Puglia

We are pleased to to tell you about a very special wedding we recently planned in Salento area, near Lecce city in Puglia. As you know Puglia is a new trendy wedding destination. We can confirm this is just stunning, a wonderful location to choose for a wonderful warm and romantic wedding in Italy!

Our lovely couple decided to plan two wedding ceremonies. The first one was a civil ceremony. We planned it in the garden of an ancient castle. The second one was a traditional Persian Persian ceremony indoor. A wonderful indoor ceremony everybody loved.

Ghzaleh was the name of our Iranian bride and Pasquale the name of our handsome Italian groom. They together live in London UK.
Wedding planning was very peculiar and it incorporated many different traditions that we would love to share with you.
Bride and groom chose the elegant atmosphere and romantic mood of one of the most wonderful wedding venues in Puglia.

Ghzaleh and Pasquale decided to get married in October, very romantic Puglia! They chose an ancient castle in Salento region. Guests come from London, America, Bermuda Islands and Italy to celebrate this special day in the heel of Italy. The group including bride and her family decided to get ready in the wonderful suites of the castle while the groom got ready in an lovely hotel in Lecce city.

Ghzaleh is Persian and she wanted a traditional Persian ceremony in a special Apulian setting. The final result was amazing!
She had very clear ideas in her mind to start. She wanted a colorful themed wedding and we were pleased to make her dreams come true.
Professional hairdresser and a make-up artist made Ghazaleh even more beautiful than she was already, radiant with happiness.
Ghzaleh was simply beautiful in her romantic dress. Have a look to the two bridesmaids too in their coral dress, very pretty indeed! The dresses matched perfectly the color of wedding flowers .
If you are dreaming of a romantic Italian wedding far from the crowded cities, the castle is the perfect wedding venue for you. It is located 20 minutes from the city of Lecce. Very easy to reach.

If you prefer a civil wedding ceremony, we can plan it directly at the castle. What a great opportunity!! It will have full legal value. You can do as Ghzaleh and Pasquale did: a romantic outdoor legal civil ceremony in the lush garden. Wonderful personalized floral decorations ,sound of good classical music as a background will do the rest to create an unforgettable experience.
After legal civil ceremony in the garden of the castle, Iranian wedding ceremony has been performed in a large hall inside the castle with a fireplace.

The Iranian wedding ceremony called Aghd evolved from ancient cultural history and tradition was performed in Fars by the aunt of the bride.
The bride and groom walked down the aisle together and each lit a candle symbolizing light and fire, two elements representing the brightness in the future of the bride and groom. We loved it!
In front of the couple was the sofreh aghd, a decorated spread of symbolic items in Persian culture.
Throughout this ceremony female members of the family hold a veil above the bride and groom’s heads, Married women in attendance will in turn grind two sugar cones over the veil to sweeten the couples married life and future together.

Married women of the bride’s family then sew the veil above the bride and grooms head with the needle and thread, symbolizing a binding of their lives together.
The ceremony begun with advices regarding respect, love and sanctity of marriage.
It is a Persian tradition that it should take three requests for the bride to consent – after each request other ladies will have an excuse for the bride not to answer, like she is in the garden picking flowers,etc.. After the third request, the bride replies ‘Baleh’! This means yes.

After this special moment all guests have been invited to take delicious arabic sweets, almonds and walnuts.
A great dinner and dance to followed the ceremony inside the main hall of the castle.
Wedding reception was even more special thanks to precious details decorating wedding reception venue: colorful cascades of colored flowers, grapes, ears of corn and decorations matching bride’s vibrant bouquet.

At the moment of the speeches all guests were very excited they all had a great time.
After many toast and a great wedding reception served with delicious food and wines it was the time of the wonderful wedding cake by the fountain.

A special thanks to Antonio Manzone photographer of Fotograficamente Lecce who kindly provided these lovely shots for our post.