One of our friends and colleagues got married last Sunday and we were super excited to attend our first Turkish wedding!  We made a whole weekend of it and made the trek into Istanbul via minibus on Saturday morning.  I’m ready for the school shuttle service to start up again!

We chose to stay in our favorite neighborhood:  Moda.  Seriously…the Asian side of Istanbul is so underrated.  I find it to have much more of a local city feel than the tourist traps of Sultanahmet and the food is spectacular.

We stopped for lunch at one of our favorites, Tahin.  They have a whole page on their menu dedicated to different kinds of hummus (the olive one is the best!) and everything they serve is fresh and fabulous.

After stuffing our faces, we did a little good old fashioned wandering.  Moda is a bit of a- for lack of a better term- hipster haven.  There are a ton of unique and amazing shops, restaurants, and cafes that you simply wouldn’t find anywhere else in Istanbul.  We did a good bit of shopping, which I regretted the next day when I had to walk with it all in heels.

We scored a really nice hotel on the water and got upgraded to a suite, where we had easy access to a roof terrace and sea view.  Also, I wanted to take the bed home with me.

It was the perfect spot to sip on wine under the stars.  So relaxing!

The next morning, we discovered our new favorite breakfast joint, Böcek, and feasted like crazy.  Dakota went for the English breakfast, which included REAL bacon and sausage and I went for the classic kahvalti plate.  I had no idea what we were in for.  The plates were HUGE, but so, so good.

After breakfast (more like brunch), it was time to get into wedding mode!!  We went through lots of metro stops (in heels…with luggage…), but we finally made it to Boğaziçi University, where they were having the celebration.  I wish I’d taken more photos of the campus because it was so beautiful, but we were running late and our hands were full, so we’ll have to visit again!

The weather was absolutely perfect, as was the setting.  It was a very elegant ceremony and I was surprised at how similar it was to an American wedding!

It was a great night full of fun, friends, dancing, laughing, and a little too much wine.

Our brunch meeting for work the next day came a little too soon, but it was totally worth it because you can’t beat free food by the sea…especially breakfast food.  It was a crazy, busy, and awesome weekend.  I’m soaking it up before school starts and the real work begins!