The wedding combined a Western ceremony with the customs of aghd, a traditional Persian ceremony. After they exchanged vows and rings, the pair kissed and said “I do” before taking a seat at the traditional Persian ceremonial table, the sofreyé aghd. “While we were taking our seats at the table and I was lowering my veil, the entire audience serenaded us by singing ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,’” Iman recalls. “It was so special. My mother read a poem that was read aloud at her own aghd, and then my father led the ceremony.”
The sofreyé aghd holds items that symbolize the life the newlyweds will share: a mirror representing eternity, candlesticks representing a burning passion, and fresh fruit representing their joyous and fruitful life together. Once the ceremony began, female family members were invited to hold the piece of fabric, known as a sofreh, over the couple’s heads and add stitching and sugar grinds into the fabric. “It was so hot the day we were married that my husband had to fan me while this was going on, because I was melting beneath my veil,” Iman says.
And when the officiant asked Iman if she would take this man to be her husband, she refused twice before finally saying yes. (Don’t worry: This is also a Persian tradition.) “The goal of this practice is to make guests, and the groom, a bit nervous by making them wait. It definitely worked: I saw some of our Western guests looking a wee bit concerned!” Iman admits. Once the bride finally accepted, guests rejoiced by loudly clicking their tongues in celebration. “Semi-terrifying to the virgin ear—I once again saw some freaked-out Americans and Englishmen!” Imans laughs. The bride’s veil was removed and they exchanged honey as a symbol of a life of sweetness together. Guests were then invited up to share gifts and sign the aghd nameh. “We now have ours framed in our apartment,” Iman says. “It has over 200 signatures.”
After the ceremony, attendees were ushered to a sunset cocktail hour overlooking the mountains while they enjoyed craft cocktails and marveled at custom matchbooks that read, “The Most Famous Wedding in the World”—a cheeky reference to the bride’s sophomore novel The Most Famous Girl in the World that was published the following month. After a tearful speech from the newlyweds, guests were led through to the vineyard to where the reception dinner took place. Everyone gathered around one long table lined with a pink and red striped tablecloth, colorful ceramics from local Portuguese artisans, and towering wildflower arrangements from the very gardens they sat in. “The best part? The dinner menus were modeled after the structure of a book, complete with a ‘table of contents’ and courses broken into chapters,” Iman says.
