Real wedding

Yeşim and Haldun: from Istanbul to Madrid for a wedding

Yeşim and Haldun live in Istanbul and chose Madrid for their wedding day. We photographed it from the consulate in the morning to the dance floor at night, and at no point did anyone need a translator.

From Istanbul to Madrid

Getting married in another country means a lot of messages before the day itself. Dates, documents, the order of the day, where to meet, what matters most to you. Yeşim and Haldun wrote to us from Istanbul, and from the first message every one of those conversations happened in Turkish, because Tarık is a native Turkish speaker.

That sounds like a small thing. On the day it is not. Nobody had to stop and translate, nobody had to guess what the photographer meant, and when something needed to be said quickly it was said in the language the couple think in. From the first message to the last dance, the wedding stayed in their own words.

A morning at the consulate

The legal part came first. On 18 September 2026 Yeşim and Haldun were married at the Turkish consulate in Madrid, and they came out holding the red family booklet, the aile cüzdanı that every Turkish couple recognises.

We photographed them outside with the booklet, then walked to the quiet streets nearby for the first portraits of the day. Yeşim carried calla lilies. There was time to walk, to stop, and to be a little playful before the afternoon.

The bride and the groom smiling outside the consulate with the red family booklet

Black and white: the bride kisses the groom's cheek holding calla lilies outside the consulate

Black and white: the groom kisses the bride on the cheek while she holds the family booklet

The bride and the groom walking hand in hand down a quiet Madrid street

Close portrait of the bride and the groom smiling on a Madrid street

The groom dips the bride playfully on a Madrid street

The courtyard at La Favorita

The rest of the day happened at La Favorita, a palacete from the 1920s on Calle Covarrubias in Chamberí, a house with a garden in the centre of the city. The courtyard gave us a wrought iron staircase over a tiled fountain, a dark carved wooden door and a balcony, and we used all three for the afternoon portraits.

The bride raising her bouquet in front of a dark carved wooden door

The bride at the top of a wrought iron staircase above a tiled fountain

Black and white: the bride and the groom looking at each other in the courtyard

The bride and the groom kissing on the balcony of La Favorita

The ceremony in the garden

In the garden, with friends and family gathered, there was a short symbolic ceremony. Afterwards Yeşim and Haldun stepped onto the balcony and confetti came down over them, and then there was a champagne toast with everyone together in the garden.

Black and white: the bride and the groom waving from the balcony to the garden

Confetti falling over the bride and the groom on the balcony with friends

The bride and the groom raising their glasses with guests behind them in the garden

Dinner, speeches and a duet

Dinner was inside. There were speeches with a microphone and champagne, and live music with piano, guitar and a singer. The waiters at La Favorita are voice students, known for singing opera between courses.

Then the bride and groom took the microphone and sang a duet together. That is not something we see at every wedding.

Champagne glasses clinking at the dinner table

The bride and the groom singing a duet together at the microphone

The bride and the groom laughing during a speech at dinner

The singer laughing with the guitarist during the live music

A singer in a red dress performing beside the pianist

Until late

The first dance came after dinner, and after that the floor filled and stayed full. We stayed with them until late, because the last part of a wedding night is often where the most honest pictures are.

Black and white: the first dance of the bride and the groom

The groom twirling the bride on the dance floor

The bride and the groom dancing among their guests

Wide view of the full dance floor late in the night

Next step

Planning a wedding in Madrid from abroad?

We are a photographer couple based in Madrid. Tarık works with couples in Turkish, Srđana in Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian, and both of us in English. Our wedding packages are on the wedding page, and you can write to us through the contact page in whichever of those languages you prefer.

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