“I never really understood what people meant when they said ‘when you know you know’, but it all suddenly clicked when I met Babak,” says Aylar Farrokhzad, founder of Persian iced tea brand, Yalda Iced Tea, who tied the knot in the English countryside in the Cotswolds. Their story began in the most modern of ways – on a dating app – but what followed was a romance that was anything but ordinary. A series of memorable dates followed their first meeting, but it was their third that cemented Aylar’s feelings. “In the middle of all the chaos and laughter, I remember looking at him and thinking, this is it,” she shares.
Their story found its fullest meaning in a three-day wedding that gracefully intertwined centuries of Persian and English traditions. The couple knew from the beginning that their wedding would honour both of their cultural identities. “It was imperative,” Aylar explains. “Our relationship is rooted in love, but also in a deep respect for where we come from. I wanted us to honour both sides of our story – the English countryside that feels like home, and the Persian traditions that carry generations of meaning.”
At the stunning Euridge Manor in the Cotswolds, their wedding unfolded across the sprawling estate in two acts. It began with the English ceremony on a sunlit balcony overlooking the boathouse. Upstairs in the orangery, Aylar prepared with her bridesmaids and her mother, who played an especially poignant role in the day. “Being walked down by my mother was a very special moment,” she says. She walked to the aisle to the sound of a Persian song that had played the night Babak proposed, with the ceremony officiated by a reading of Rumi’s poetry.
“Hearing the vows Babak and I had written for each other – words we’ll carry for the rest of our lives – was a moment of pure stillness,” she adds. “When I looked across at him during the vows, I felt the world quiet around us. It was as if all the noise,…
