Real Wedding

Check out some exam­ples of real wed­ding flow­ers. We were so pleased to pro­vide the flow­ers for a recent wed­ding at a favorite local his­tor­i­cal venue, The Palos Verdes Golf Club. The bride was of Per­sian descent, so in addi­tion to the cen­ter­pieces, arch décor, bou­quets, and boun­tonières, we also pro­vid­ed sofreh wed­ding flowers.

What is a Sofreh?

A sofreh is a Per­sian wed­ding tra­di­tion where a spe­cial­ist designs the cer­e­mo­ny area with a table or stage filled with dec­o­ra­tive items and food. The items have sym­bol­ic mean­ings relat­ed to the mar­riage. The word sofreh is Far­si for “spread”. The “Sofreh Aghd” is a spe­cif­ic type of sofreh that includes a cer­e­mo­ni­al table cov­ered with sym­bol­ic items. 

Sofreh

The Sofreh for the wed­ding. Pho­to by Figlewicz Photography

The cou­ple hired a pro­fes­sion­al to han­dle the stage and set­ting for the sofreh, but we made all the florals.

What’s included in a Sofreh?

Many cou­ples dec­o­rate their Sofreh dis­plays with sev­er­al kinds of food and dec­o­ra­tions. They will be sure to inlude include herbs, pas­tries and flow­ers. Here are some more exam­ples of what is includ­ed in a display:
  • The Herbs: Khashkhash (pop­py seeds), Berenj (rice), Sabzi Khoshk (Angel­i­ca), salt, Raziyane (Nigel­la seeds), Cha’i (black tea leaves) and Kon­dor (Frank­in­cense).
  • The Pas­tries: Noghl, Bakla­va, Toot (Iran­ian marzi­pan), Naan‑e Berene­ji (rice cook­ies), Naan‑e Bada­mi (almond cook­ies) and Naan-Nokhod­chi (chick­pea cook­ie) are placed on the spread and tra­di­tion­al­ly served to the guests after the ceremony.
  • Mir­ror of Fate and two can­de­labras, sym­bols of light and fire.
  • The Blessed Bread: A spe­cial­ly baked bread with cal­lig­ra­phy writ­ten on it.
  • •Naan‑o Paneer‑o Sabzi”: Bread, feta cheese, and greens are also placed on the spread to sym­bol­ize the basic food that is need­ed to sus­tain life.
  • Sym­bols of Fer­til­i­ty: dec­o­rat­ed eggs, almonds, wal­nuts and hazelnuts.
  • The Heav­en­ly Fruits: pome­gran­ates, grapes, apples.
  • Coins: A bowl of gold or sil­ver coins rep­re­sent­ing wealth and prosperity.
  • The Sacred Text: The Aves­ta, Qur’an, Bible, or Torah is placed in front of the cou­ple on the spread.
  • Prayer Rug: A prayer rug (Jaa-ye Namaaz) or a tra­di­tion­al Iran­ian Ter­meh is placed in the cen­ter of the wed­ding spread.

Fabric is a Star, Too!

A scarf or shawl made out of silk or any oth­er fine fab­ric is held over the bride and bride­groom’s heads (who are sit­ting by the Sofreh) by a few unmar­ried female rel­a­tives (brides­maids).
Two sug­ar cones made out of hard­ened sug­ar are used dur­ing the cer­e­mo­ny. These sug­ar cones are soft­ly ground togeth­er above the bride and bride­groom’s heads by a hap­pi­ly mar­ried female rel­a­tive (and/or maid of hon­or) through­out the cer­e­mo­ny to show­er them in sweet­ness. The sug­ar drops in the held fab­ric, not on their heads.

Here is the Insta­gram post from the pho­tog­ra­phers (who we love to work with always!) Figlewicz Pho­tog­ra­phy.

More Real Weddings

This isn’t the first wed­ding where we designed for a Per­sian wed­ding. Here is anoth­er exam­ple of sofreh wed­ding flow­ers by Flower Duet.