Everything starts from the marriage proposal ceremony, and leads to engagement, meeting to discuss marriage details, pre-nuptial celebration and finally the wedding.
Procedures for holding the wedding ceremony differ in rural and urban areas. However, some of them have been neglected and wedding ceremonies have been restricted to a ceremony for marriage proposal, registration of marriage in Public Notary Office and the wedding party.
Iranian communities still observe a variety of wedding ceremonies and customs, which share certain commonalities.
In olden times, a person was dispatched to the girl's house to convey the marriage proposal. At times, the mother or older sister of the boy would go as a suitor (on behalf of the boy) to the girl's house.
In the western Kurdestan province, the positive response of the girl and her family is not enough. They should also convince her uncle.
In the southwestern province of Khuzestan, the girl's family write their conditions on paper and send it with cookies to the boy's family after a mediator conveys the marriage proposal. When the boy's family approves the conditions, they go to the girl's house for making the official marriage proposal.
If they don't agree with the conditions, they write their own conditions and send it to the girl's house to reach understanding and agreement.
Then, a ceremony is held to publicly announce the two families' intention to undertake marriage. Both families, along with their senior relatives, then get-together at the bride's home to discuss dowry and marriage expenses and specify the time for reciting the marriage vows and hold the wedding.
The dowry pertains to gold coins, cash, cattle or property the groom agrees to pay the bride whenever she demands them.
*culled from www.iran-daily.com
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