May 11, 2025

White River Landing

Wedding and Reception Location

Spring

Our Wedding

Fun fact: Talha and Deniz have traveled to countless countries together, escaped a tornado, been chased by elephants, and even survived food poisoning on a remote island. And that just scratches the surface of their never-ending escapades! 

Talha Yildirim

Fun Fact: Julia and Christina have been friends ever since they bonded over free food almost 10 years ago. For a couple years, Christina and Julia wore a matching grey t-shirt every Wednesday and referred to it as their 'Wednesday Shirt.'

Julia Hodges

Fun fact: Ben and Deniz both enjoy music and dancing and have spent many nights battling for the title of 'Best Dancer.' They have decided to resolve the matter once and for all at the wedding! 

Ben Christiansen

Fun fact: Abi took her older sister duties very seriously when she vetoed her parent's chosen name for Christina and chose the name 'Christina Joy.' Her oldest daughter now shares Christina's middle name.

Abigail Reyna

Fun fact: Richard and Deniz have walked around Sloan's Lake in Denver around 300 times and eaten around 300 dinners together in one year! 

Richard Haight 

Fun fact: On one of her many visits to Arkansas to visit Christina, Lauren brought a laundry basket full of wet clothes so that she would still arrive when she said she would (she then dried her clothes in Christina's dryer). 

Lauren Miljas

Fun fact: Mario and Deniz were grad school roommates who turned their kitchen into a culinary museum - never used, always spotless. One a diehard Fenerbahçe fan, the other a diehard Arsenal fan, they now pledge allegiance to both teams. They have also granted each other honorary citizenships of their respective homelands.

Mehari Tesfay

Fun fact: Diana and Christina's friendship truly began when Christina learned that Diana had signed up for a triathlon without knowing how to swim freestyle - she immediately volunteered to be her swim coach. Diana successfully completed her triathlon! 

Diana Cascante 

Wedding Party

Deniz and Christina's story began with&nbsp;a few casual conversations at their company's Denver&nbsp;office (Deniz works in CO, Christina in AR). About a year after their initial meeting, things really started to get interesting. Christina came to the main office for a week-long visit, and Deniz decided to invite her to lunch (just to be nice, of course). To keep things friendly and uncomplicated, he also invited his friend Zoe so there could be absolutely no misconstrued notions of it being a ‘date.’ During lunch, they discovered a shared interest in pickleball. They decided to play the following morning and exchanged phone numbers to coordinate. Deniz was surprised when Christina won the first two games and he offered to buy her coffee if she won the next game. Even though he ended up winning the next two games, he still bought her coffee afterwards (just to be nice, of course). This marked the beginning of their connection, though neither of them would have believed where things were headed,&nbsp; After Christina returned to Arkansas, they stayed in touch - first through texts, and then through long phone calls. When their conversations grew longer and more meaningful, Deniz didn’t hesitate to book a flight to Arkansas to visit Christina in person. At this point, no intentions or feelings had been discussed between them so Christina told herself ‘Well, maybe we’re just friends?’ She also informed him that since he was coming on the Fourth of July there would be a family gathering that day, and asked if he would be willing to go - he agreed. July 4th arrived and Christina picked Deniz up from the airport. After all their conversations, as soon as he saw Christina in person, Deniz realized he had fallen in love. And they hadn’t even told each other “I like you” yet! They had just a couple of hours before Christina’s family gathering so they stopped at a café, where they discovered (surprise) they liked each other! Christina may have said she didn’t want to date long distance, and Deniz may have said that he wasn’t going to date for a while, but… you know what they say, when you know you know! They then joined in the family gathering where Deniz was heartily welcomed into the family, despite no one yet knowing that they were now, officially, dating. Just one week later, Deniz flew Christina out to Colorado to celebrate her birthday. And that's how their beautiful journey began.

Our Beginning 

Our First Date 

Our Story

Photos

Reserve by April 5th Approx 45 minutes from wedding venue - lodging for this weekend may be difficult to find as it is the University of Arkansas graduation weekend! You may be able to find something closer, but this was the closest room block available :)

Hampton Inn Siloam Springs

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Christina & Deniz

Christina & Deniz

Travel

Hampton Inn Siloam Springs

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