subscribe to style file blog via RSSchristiaan’s turkey diary
July 9, 2008 3:57 pm
When you get invited to a wedding in Turkey, you go. So when Selin Ertürk, the daughter of Yakin Ertürk, the U.N. rapporteur on violence against women, invited me to her wedding there recently, I packed my bags.
Everyone met in Istanbul, where we stayed at the cutest little hotel, the Empress Zoe, a stone’s throw away from the Topkapi palace. The first night was a blast. We went to the opening of a Mert and Marcus photo exhibition at the Galerist. The after-party was at an old burned-out mansion that’s been spectacularly encased in glass, right on the Bosporus. A scantily clad Kate Moss was the sparkle of the night.
The next night was soccer madness. Turkey won, and it looked like Istanbul was going up in flames, fireworks everywhere, streets packed, no traffic possible. The following night there was, at last, a complete group sit-down dinner at a perfect seafood place down the hill called, simply, Fish. On day four, all the wedding guests got on a bus for the ten-hour drive to the Istanbul Hamptons in Bodrum. We took up residence in the Ada Hotel (above), which is a gem. It’s set in the hills away from the waterfront but has its own beach club on the water.
More big dinners, a henna party, rehearsals, dress talk, hair talk. And then the wedding. The bride was splendid in cream Vera Wang, with jasmine flowers in her hair, while the groom was decent in a tame Paul Smith suit. The party carried on until dawn.
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