InquireIstanbul, Turkiye · 2025
Iman & Momin
Three days, four venues across Istanbul, with the Bosphorus running through every one of them.
Covered: Mobile Content, Film Photography
The scene
Four events. Three days. Istanbul as the backdrop, and a traditional Pakistani wedding as the heartbeat. The welcome party at Swissôtel Bosphorus: kaftans, Turkish dancers, belly dancing, a night of speeches to welcome everyone into the city. The nikkah at Dolmabahçe Mosque, on the water, morning light coming through a space that has held that kind of weight for a long time, followed by a lunch on the Bosphorus for the full guest list.
The mehndi that evening: outdoor, full color, chandeliers, coordinated decor, and a dance floor that didn't clear once. The reception at the Mandarin Oriental, with the Bosphorus behind the terrace, speeches woven through the night in a format that kept the whole room in from first word to last, and the groom sailing in by boat from the strait. Istanbul doesn't give you one backdrop. It gave them four.
Golden morning light through Dolmabahçe Mosque. The quietest hour of the whole weekend.
Choreographed dances and a same-day reel on the projectors. Full from the first song to the last.
The groom sailed in from the Bosphorus. The bride came down the stairs from her own room.
Behind the lens
I shot their engagement in the spring of 2024, then their pre-wedding events in Dallas. By the time we landed in Istanbul, I'd been following their story for over a year.
Reception day I spent with Iman start to finish: getting ready, hair and makeup, the last quiet hours before she walked into her own wedding. Her dress had a cape that started at her shoulders and followed her everywhere she went. When she came down the stairs into the reception, through the door of the bridal suite that connected directly to the space, not a single person looked anywhere else.
The groom came in from the water. The qawwali followed. A year of knowing them, and this was their new beginning.
Rijaa Khan
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