Flowers for a Turkish Engagement (Nişan): A Short Guide for Foreign Family

A Turkish engagement, a nişan, is a proper celebration in its own right, closer in scale to a small wedding than a quiet dinner announcement, which surprises foreign family who assume "engagement party" means something more casual. If you're a partner's family member abroad and want to send flowers to mark the occasion, it helps to know what role they play here.

For a nişan in Istanbul you cannot attend, flowers can be sent to the family's home through our send flowers to Istanbul page.

The ring ceremony itself

The rings are tied together with a red ribbon, cut by an elder family member or witness once both rings are on, and the couple's families formally exchange the couple between them. Flowers aren't part of this specific ritual, so sending an arrangement to arrive at the family home before or on the day works better than expecting it to feature in the ceremony itself.

What to send

Soft, celebratory tones work well, blush pink roses, white and cream arrangements, or a mixed spring bouquet if timed right. This is a joyful, forward-looking occasion, closer in tone to a wedding than a birthday, so the arrangement can be a genuinely large, generous gesture without reading as excessive. See our price guide for a sense of typical sizes and cost.

Whose home to send it to

If you're unsure whether to send flowers to your own family member or to their partner's family, sending to whichever household is hosting the nişan itself is the safer default, it reads as a gesture to the occasion rather than to one side of the new couple over the other.

We deliver engagement-appropriate arrangements same-day, timed to arrive exactly when the celebration begins.

Read next: choosing anniversary flowers, year by year.

After the nişan usually comes the henna night just before the wedding, see flowers for a kına gecesi.