Alpacas Made the Guest List for This Wedding at Early Mountain Vineyards in Madison, Virginia

When Tugce Menguc (32 and a strategy director) and Tareq Tahboub (35 and CEO of a cybersecurity firm) met, they instantly connected over their shared immigrant backgrounds—Turkish and Palestinian respectively— and Southern upbringing. Years later, their love for their cultural history took center stage at their Blue Ridge Mountains wedding celebration. Invitations reminiscent of Turkish textiles set the tone for a day filled with thoughtful details, like ceramic door numbers from Istanbul that marked each table and a Palestinian almond tart for dessert. Tugce carried a neutral bouquet filled with café au lait dahlias, jasmine vine and tulips, Turkey’s national flower. A runner from Istanbul and anemones, Palestine’s national flower, decorated the head table. Tugce and Tareq’s boho-chic style leaned on the color blue, a common shade in traditional Turkish designs, plus pops of red and gold. Tugce even wore a blue and white floral dress for the ceremony. “The name of the style was “the Aegean,” which is the sea off the coast of Turkey that I grew up swimming in,” she says. Her dad gifted her gold earrings and a bracelet made from antique Ottoman coins. Tareq sported sleek leather shoes and playful Pomeranian-patterned socks for the couple’s Pomeranian pup, Foxcat, who joined them down the aisle with a leash wrapped in festive baby’s breath and carnations. Guests sipped on jalepeno-infused margaritas and mint pomegranate vodka spritzers before a Palestinian dabke group led everyone to dinner. “They started by banging a drum, which grew into a full song and dance, with all our guests clapping and dancing along with them,” Tugce says. “We loved feeling the energy and seeing everyone’s reactions.”