An American-Iranian Wedding

So this is my American friend Chrisie and her new husband Ali, who's from a believer from Iran. They got married two weeks ago (I hope she doesn't mind me blogging about her wedding), but I find myself so fascinated with this wedding, one because it's a blend of cultures and traditions, but also it's the this thought that rolls around in every single girl "m"s mind-- could I marry a national? Could I do it? Live here potentially forever and dive headlong into their culture, language, traditions, ideas... and commit to it, forever, til death do me part. Could I marry a man who's not from my culture and we don't speak the same native language.

For Chrissie that answer was yes. She wed Ali like two weeks ago, they had a Kurdish wedding party and an American style wedding party. These pics are the from the American style wedding, which was really fun in a rented hall in the Hawler.

And by the way, I tend to think that any girl who is called to a place could easily marry a guy from the culture, of course, as long as he is a believer. I think if you are a strong enough woman to leave home and go the another country, single, and then fall in love with the people, then it's really easy to take the next step to marry a native guy.

Could I?

Yeah, I think so. There's some really cute guys here! haha, don't freak out, Dad.
They exchanged bites of cake, the typical American wedding tradition.

And then, of course, it was smeared all over each other's faces! I was standing next to a British girl when they did this and she kind of gasped and said "do they always do that at American weddings??". I guess they don't do that in Brittan. It's amazing... what you think is so normal, isn't!

Then guest to Iraq and visiting for a few day, Juan, gave all the wedding guests dance lessons. He's a dance instructor.... this is the.... cha cha? I don't remember. I'm still figuring out American dancing... I wish we had ONE style dance that everyone knew how to do, then no one would feel awkward and feel like they don't know how to dance!!
Dawn and Billy, toooo cute. They are one of my favorite couples in Iraq and I get to spend some time with them this weekend in Hawler, yea!