destination indian wedding part 1

sanjana and karan’s story intersects in beautiful istanbul as a mid destination of their love journey between california and india. this intimate, colorful, modern also full of indian traditions wedding was such a great experience for me to go through too! one of the most energetic and full of love wedding i have ever captured. started with a henna day, later with a dreamy welcome cocktail rooftop party at soho hotel with a gorgeous historic istanbul view, ended with a classic and stylish bosphorus wedding celebration party at good old astonishing çırağan palace.

below is the first part of their whole weekend celebration; the welcome dinner at soho house terrace istanbul. the colorful fun wedding will be on the part 2! enjoy the joy!

santorini , oia travel guide

probably one of the most visited island of greece, santorini provides the infinite feeling of the beautiful mediterranean. on a very hot june weekend, while visiting for a wedding, i get to discover the colorful northern part of the island, oia. this small island welcomes so many tourists that it is very hard to find empty spots to enjoy. but yet i have managed to find my way into this cute town and manage to experience both the hot morning and the breezy afternoon with great sunset view. being a volcanic island, the dark texture of nature meets beautifully with the neat pearl like man made architecture. the one and only pedestrian street of oia is enough to discover the iconic view of the island. blue domed churches, rustic bells, the colorful cliff view and the sunset.. 

because it is a very popular island i highly recommend you to do all your reservations way earlier than usual. the airline fees are very high, hotels are relatively expensive compared to what they offer and restaurants are always packed during dinner time. so plan very ahead. i stayed at family own the flower pension at the very entrance of oia which was walking distance to the main street with a parking lot! which is a lifesaver! i have always liked greek food and the restaurants we have been were also very nice to dine at. candouni, a very small restaurant with live music and nice atmosphere, is in the inner side of oia streets but if you wanna have the view and dine strogili was also a good choice to dine with the sunset. santorini is a destination for everyone. a bit harder with kids with strolling reasons but it can be romantic, adventurous, calming, artsy... you name it. if you give at least of 2 days you'll get to see plenty. but i highly recommend to stay 3 days to see the most of it. 

i hope you'll enjoy the photos as much as i did while taking them! more of the greek island photos to come soon too! and also big thank you to dilara&gokalp from puciwed for taking my portraits too! <3

bodrum in september..

damla and alex got married in a beautiful september day in bodrum.. i believe september is the best month to get married especially in bodrum. it is such a beautiful season in which the weather serves you perfect! damla caught a bouquet on 2013's göcek wedding, and this past year i got to shoot her colorful wedding! it took a while for me to prepare this blog post but before i did they were already on other blogs like flyaway bride and germany's amazing hochzeitswahn exclusive magazine! which made me very proud of! 

damla's liveliness was reflected on her wedding details and every little detail turned out great with the beautiful nature of the venue Flamm. they all wanted to have a sincere wedding even though it wasn't a small one with more than 200 guests all over the world. damla and alex met in london and bodrum was the place to get everyone together. she arranged every single details and worked with nilyum wedding for the organization. blue and orange were the main colors of this costal wedding which reflected the mood of the area. even her gorgeous louboutin's were orange and alex designed his suit to fit the theme and made it tailored to the amazing la misura. damla's wedding gown was a very stylish monique lhuillier. her orange blossomed bouquet was done by her long lasting florist friend ege soley. one of the best details were the names engraved mint&orange nike id sneakers for the comfort of their feet through out the day. their legal ceremony was done in the states in the spring that their beloved friends held the ceremony part with laughters. it was really good experience to witness that joy. 

you can watch this whole joyful day from dugme film's video at the very end! i am so grateful that i got to capture this amazing day and witness the love of these two amazing people along with their loved one! dear damla and alex, i hope to witness more of your joyful days and still waiting to meet in london soon!

i hope you enjoy it as much as we did! have fun!

 

purple and blue my love is forever for you..

it was a beautiful june day and tugçe and gökçe got married with such a great celebration in istanbul! 

it was a blue purple neatly arranged wedding at hekim basi yalisi, one of my favorite venues in istanbul to get marry! as a talented and creative bride, tugçe designed their invitations and did the guest give aways by her self. which in my opinion added an extra dose of sincerity to their wedding. getting ready in beautiful sumahan hotel, travel to the venue by boat on the bosphorus was magical. honestly, tugçe's hair and make up has been one of my favorites of this past year's weddings. her hair was done by talented zamir kabak and her make up was by yasin sefik. they are both mostly in fashion but they are really great artists! zamir even created a different hair style with a spare veil for tugçe and we got to photograph her in with her special zeynep erdogan design dress. we had a great time both during getting ready and before the ceremony for the couple shot. i cannot say enough for the staff of the hekim basi yalisi and how they do great job on each wedding! and the food that is served. everything was sincere and neat and very beautiful! you can relive those moments with the video of lovely dugme film at the end of the post as usual! we later even had the chance to do an after wedding session at beautiful alaçatı, çesme, which is my favorite among my sessions. tugçe's natural beauty and their energy as a couple made that session even better than ever. the californian like golden light, beautiful beach, colorful streets of alaçatı.. everything was magical.. 

dear tugçe and gökçe, thank you so very much for choosing to work with me! it was really an honor to be a part of your special day! you guys are incredibly great together and i am so so happy to get to meet you! i hope to meet in the future projects too! 

hope you all like it! don't forget to leave <3's in the end ;)

it was always you..

it was i guess more than a year ago when i had a facebook message from this lovely woman, also a colleague,, which has changed my life! she has become a sister..

and i was soo thrilled when she asked me whether i would photograph their 10th year wedding anniversary. it was so flattering to be asked to photograph colleagues but i admit it also made me nervous to take such a responsibility; them trusting my work! 

so it was a beautiful july day in kumlubük, marmaris. i suggested them this amazing boutique hotel, villa florya, to have the session. thanks to the lovely stuff and especially alp bey they generously helped us from the very first moment with every single detail! big thank you to them for this special day to happen! 

carina and david have 2 beautiful boys from their 10 year marriage and they are really a great family with full of love. which i really admire. knowing each other more than 10 years and still be in love like in the first day, raising kids, doing a business together, going through everything in life together i believe is really a rare thing to find.  and i really feel lucky to have such friends in my life. i hope i have done a good job capturing their love to each other after 10 years too. you can also watch the amazing video of this special occasion shot by beyond talented emre of iek films which made me cry each time i watch it! i also admit that i cried during the shooting but photos still turned out ok for such emotional moments. it was just such a special session for me in so many ways! besides the fact that i worked my hair dresser skills and did carina's hair as well with the beautiful hair piece gift that our lovely friend katie gave her that turned her into a beautiful frozen princess! carina's gift for her younger sister that was the locket with their recently passed away father's photo in which was full of meaning.. when their little one got so tired and cranky before the ceremony and fell asleep until the dinner time.. so many little details still make me smile and feel good about.. 

it was a very good day full of love in beautiful marmaris and i hope you all feel that beauty and love as you go through this post. 

dear carina and david, thank you again so much for trusting me on my work and being great friends at the same time! i know we will have more sessions together through the years and all be filled with love! love you guys.. 

gorgeous coral and blue destination wedding in sarıgerme

damla and volkan are such lovely people and a great couple that i really do not have the right words to describe them precisely.  i published their e-session previously here and wrote how gorgeous they were! so you all know how excited i was about this wedding. not only because my couple is amazing people but also because it was taking place at one of my favorite places in this world..  it was a very lovely april day at sarıgerme, mugla at club magic life, where damla's childhood was spent. i love the nature of sarıgerme and the golden sandy beach that goes for kilometers.. you can easily get lost in the peacefulness of the area.. here is damla's words for sarıgerme: 

"Sarigerme had always been a special place for me. I was 3 years old when my mother first took my brother and I there, to start the construction of a holiday resort. Back in the 80s, Sarigerme was so deserted that my mother had to set up tents on the beach for us to sleep in since there weren’t even any inns to stay at… I started going there to spend every summer vacation. I brought along my closest friends from elementary school through college, and together we created our fondest memories. I have a deep connection to that place, and I absolutely love the beauty of its nature and of its people.  These close friends ended up being my bridesmaids, and we were all aware of how much more special Sarigerme had just become. Our wedding was a big reunion and a celebration of not just love, but friendship. I knew this was the perfect place to connect my past to my future; my very best friend, dearest husband Volkan. Growing up makes you yearn for the innocence and simplicity of your childhood. As we created so many of our own memories with my fiancé there, we knew Sarigerme would be the best place for us to cherish these innocent memories as we say " I do " in front of our family and friends. The one thing which we favor the most was the extraordinary beauty of the nature, especially the white sanded long beach of Sarigerme.."

i also got lost within the details of the wedding too! damla and volkan and both their families basically planned everything themselves and the result was just wonderful! turquoise center piece vases, colorful peonies, orange nutmegs, lace table runners and the amazing diy altar made up of real sea shells, starfish and sponges that damla's mom specially got from mexico. she did an amazing job with the decoration details!  

damla wore a gorgeous yolan cris gown specially tailored for her, and her veil was just beyond beautiful! just like the way i love on a bride! volkan was looking amazing in his hugo boss attire who is my favorite designer when it comes to tuxedos! and damla's amazing bouquet, in which i am still in love with, was done by talented deniz kulacoglu,, of lisan-i ezhar, who's also damla's good friend. i still cannot get enough of that bouquet which reflected the theme perfectly and lasted great deal even though it travel to sarıgerme from istanbul. the big wedding cake was done by talented le firin and small one serving ones from lovely five o'clock. everything was planned according to the theme.. another great detail was beach totes that they give to each guest that has their message and dates on! plus the special room cards that were printed with their photo on was also a great little gesture! well i think they planned every little detail very personally and the result was great! dügme film was also with me as usual and we had great time capturing these great moments! you can find the video at the end of the post. 

damla and volkan, thank you very much for making me a part of your special day which inspired me tons! your love keeps inspiring me each day! you guys are wonderful together and i am hoping to witness more of this wonderfulness in the future! may your love blossom each and every single day more and more!

i hope you all enjoy this great wedding as much as i did while capturing it!