Minutes before finding out that the church would not conduct her wedding ceremony, bride Janine Demirci enters the courtyard under a rain of rose petals.
Janine and Arman Demirci’s uncle, Canik Çapar, delivers an apologetic and resentful speech to the guests explaining why there would not be a marriage ceremony in the church. Despite Canik’s phone calls to Archbishop Aram Ateşyan, the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul would not authorize the priest to conduct the ceremony because of a lack of required paperwork. Janine and Arman, however, were legally married in Canada and had official Canadian documentation. They came to Vakıflı to have an additional ceremony at the village church to please their grandparents and extended family. The Patriarchate’s red tape and refusal not only broke the couple’s spirits but also those of the villagers. There has not been a village wedding in Vakıflı in the 16 years since Talin and Ohannes Kartun wed.
Canik talks to Arman as they, along with Janine and Dilek Demirci, Arman’s aunt, leave the church for a reception.