Celebrating Dara & Leah

Over the weekend, Corey and I had the opportunity to celebrate the recent nuptials of my co-worker Dara, and his wife Leah. They got married last week in Victoria but invited all of us over to her parents' house in Maple Valley to celebrate this major milestone in their lives.

With Dara being Persian, we were able to experience an abbreviated version of a Persian ceremony, which was incredibly interesting. It centers around a Sofreh, which is an elaborate spread of amazing food, which each symbolize something that is wished upon the new couple (happiness, prosperity, energy, love, fertility, etc). Presiding over the ceremony was one of Dara's uncles, who did a great job keeping those of us new to Persian wedding ceremonies up-to-speed with what was happening, as well as keeping it light and fun.

Like traditional wedding ceremonies, the woman is asked if she will accept the man's hand in marriage; however, the key difference is that the woman will typically require the officiant to ask three times to signify that the groom is anxious to have her and not the other way around. Leah made Dara squirm by following along with this portion of the ceremony, which drew a lot of laughs from the audience. The man only needs to be asked once.

Following the ceremony, everyone enjoyed fabulous food from Gorgeous George's Mediterranean Kitchen. They are #14 on Urban Spoon and have been featured in The Stranger and just last week in Seattle Weekly. We will be planning a trip to this restaurant soon - the food was to die for! (Corey, our resident "foodie" even said it was the best food he's "had all year".)

The evening was topped off with dancing to a perfect mix of top hits and fun, upbeat Persian tunes. It was amazing to look out on the dance floor and see people of all ages crowding the dance floor at all times. I think everyone truly had a blast, but no more so than my boss, Tony, who was quite the dancer.

Here are a few photos of our fun evening.

The happy couple.

The Sofreh

The ceremony

Part of the Channel Management team - Stacy, Dara, Tony and I.

Axiously awaiting our yummy dinner.

Some of the delicious food!

Tony taking his turn with the bride.

Chef George taking his turn on the dance floor.