A Beautiful Iranian Wedding Ceremony in Long Beach

By the time Ghazal Ghaysar and Payam Doostzadeh tied the knot, the pair had been together for nearly 15 years. You read that right—they first met as young teenagers! "Our cousins were best friends, so we met through them," says Ghazal. "We were immediately drawn to one another and started dating shortly after. Fast forward to July 3, 2016, when Payam and Ghazal were on a trip to Big Sur, one of their favorite destinations to visit. As they wandered a flower-covered hill overlooking the ocean and Pixby Bridge, Payam got down on one knee‚ and Ghazal said yes!

The couple gave themselves over a year to plan their wedding, setting the date for November 4th, 2017. "We wanted to really enjoy the process, and keep it pretty mellow," says Ghazal of the 16-month engagement. They selected Ebell Long Beach, a Spanish-Revival building built as a women's club in 1924, as the setting for their celebration and invited 184 guests to join them. "We both come from big families, so while it was definitely a larger guest list than we'd intended to have, neither of us would change a thing," says the bride. The venue's historic aesthetic didn't need much decorating, making it easy for Ghazal and Payam to dress up the space just enough while still letting the innate details shine. They hosted a traditional Iranian ceremony, followed by a modern reception that was right at home in Long Beach. Photographer Faith Wright of Winsome and Wright captured the carefully selected details of this simple celebration, so keep reading for more!

The invitation embraced the evening's simplicity, with geometric shapes hinting at the Art Deco venue and pops of white and emerald green tying perfectly into the couple's palette.

Payam and his groomsmen arrived in Cali style, pulling up to Ebell Long Beach in a striking blue convertible.

The groom donned a classic tux from Suit Supply, pairing it with a soft bowtie and a textured boutonniere. The littlest flower girl wore a cozy white jacket over her dress.

Ghazal went high-fashion with her bridal ensemble, pairing a lace Yolan Cris gown with dramatic cut-outs and a pair of emerald Aquazzura boots. "I tried on so many dresses and nothing felt like me, until I slipped into this one," she says. "My mother's reaction helped too!"

She asked her bridesmaids to choose their own emerald green dresses, ranging from short and lacy to long, wrapped silhouettes.

Payam and Ghazal took a moment before the ceremony to take it all in and exchange gifts.

The couple wed in a traditional Iranian ceremony, which included a sofreh aghd (a spread of symbolic items) set on Lucite tables with palm accents. The older flower girls led the way down the aisle in white dresses and crowns of greenery.

The ceremony included honored rituals featuring coins to represent prosperity, candles to symbolize energy and clarity, and a sugar cloth and cones, Happily married women in the family are invited to rub cones of sugar over a lace fabric held above the couple's head to "shower them with sweetness."

Payam and Ghazal wrapped the ceremony up with personal vows they wrote to one another. "That was absolutely one of the most special moments," says the bride.

Inside the venue, tables were draped in white linens and topped with tall vases holding vibrant palm leaves. No one missed flowers with such striking displays throughout the room!

Payam's band, Young the Giant, took to the stage to play a few songs before toasts were made, then the couple took to the dance floor to John Legend's "Each Day Gets Better" for their first dance.

Looking back, the bride has this advice: "Don't be afraid to keep things simple," she says. "All that matters is the love you share with your partner!"

Time may not be on new-look Cleveland Cavaliers' side, but LeBron James is

A generation ago, Larry Nance, Sr., was a key part of a great Cleveland Cavaliers team -- one that Magic Johnson famously dubbed “The Team of the ’90s” in the late ’80s. Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls snuffed that out. Now, almost 30 years later, his son, Larry Nance, Jr., has the league’s and the team’s permission to take his father’s jersey out of the rafters, where it was retired in 1995, and wear it again.

This time, though, the odds are more in Cleveland’s favor. The Cavs have this generation’s Magic, and there’s no Jordan to be found. There are assorted Kevin Durants and Stephen Currys; James Hardens and Chris Pauls, to be sure. But the Cavaliers, after shocking the NBA world at the trade deadline two weeks ago with three major deals that blew up the old, tired roster and revitalized it in one morning, have the only thing that matters: an engaged LeBron James, again bouncing on his toes. No one else on earth can bring in anyone as impactful.

Nance, Jr., and Jordan Clarkson came from the Los Angeles Lakers. Rodney Hood came from the Utah Jazz. George Hill came from the Sacramento Kings. Out went Isaiah Thomas and Dwyane Wade; Jae Crowder and Iman Shumpert; Derrick Rose and Channing Frye. Three huge cuts for first-year general manager Koby Altman, who also held onto the unprotected first-round pick the Cavs got from Boston (via Brooklyn) in the Kyrie Irving deal last summer.

Hill is the only newcomer who was put in the starting lineup. The others have revitalized Cleveland’s bench, giving Korver more room to operate as defenses suddenly have to stay attached to Clarkson’s attacks -- he’s sixth in the league in bench scoring, behind Lou Williams, Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon, Nikola Mirotic and Hood -- Hood’s spot-ups and Nance’s rim runs.

The small things that they don’t know -- the plays, the directions to practice (Clarkson got horribly lost the first day), where to live -- will have to be incorporated on the fly. There’s no time. There’s six weeks left in the regular season, and Kevin Love is still not back in the lineup, and there are some hungry teams right on Cleveland’s haunches in the East who’d love to surpass the Cavs for third in the conference.

Hill chased titles before in Indiana, against James’ Miami Heat teams, when the Pacers had a young Paul George and a tall Roy Hibbert and a tough David West and a crazy Lance Stephenson. Hood made the playoffs last year with the Jazz. But Nance and Clarkson were on Lakers teams with no expectations. Cleveland, of course, has the ultimate expectation, with James’ free agency looming.

LeBron James is youngest ever to join NBA's exclusive 30,000-point club

James became the seventh player with 30,000 career points when he hit a jumper with one second left in the first quarter of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ game against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.

James was recognized by the arena before the second quarter and got a standing ovation from Spurs fans. James patted his head and said “thank you so much.”

James needed seven points on Tuesday to get there. He missed his first two midrange jumpers before making two driving layups and a 20-footer. He hit the milestone jumper over Danny Green from 19 feet out.

The 33-year-old James joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points), Karl Malone (36,928), Kobe Bryant (33,643), Michael Jordan (32,292), Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) and Dirk Nowitzki (30,808) on the list.

At 33 years and 24 days, James is the youngest to reach the mark. Bryant was 34 years and 104 days when he got there. The 14-time All-Star has averaged 27.1 points since breaking into the league as an 18-year-old in 2003.

James’s achievement comes at a difficult time for the Cavaliers, with the team enduring a terrible run of form. They held an emotional pre-practice meeting on Monday in hopes of clearing the air.

We aired any grievances we had and we’re going to move forward,” said center Kevin Love, who is believed to have been the target of some of his team-mates’ ire after he left a game with an illness. “Hopefully we’ll be better for it, we have been in the past.”

Derrick Rose Explains Why He Decided Not to Retire From the NBA

About a month ago, Derrick Rose took a leave of absence from the Cavaliersto contemplate his future in the NBA. At the time, there were rumors swirling around about how he was considering retiring from the league as a result of the slew of injuries he has been forced to deal with throughout the course of his career.

Since then, Rose has returned to the Cavaliers, but he hasn’t offered up a whole lot of clarity as far as why he chose to leave the team in the first place. That changed this week, though, when Rose sat down for a lengthy interview with The Undefeated about his decision to step away from basketball for a bit.

During the interview, Rose assured NBA fans that he is "not depressed," which was one of the reasons some people initially thought he decided to distance himself from the Cavaliers. He also promised that he will be back on the court at some point this season, even though he still can’t say when that will be. And Rose explained why he wants to continue playing in the NBA for the foreseeable future. As it turns out, it’s the injuries he’s sustained—and maybe more importantly, the effort he’s put into each and every rehab stint—that continue to motivate him.

"People forget that my first injury was my ACL. A lot of guys would have walked away after that," he said. "I already had my contract and all that taken care of, so a lot of guys would have walked away after that. I’ve had five surgeries, and I had an eye [socket] fracture. I’m too far in to just walk away."

Rose also told The Undefeated that, despite all the heartbreak he’s suffered in the NBA due to his injuries, he still loves playing basketball today just as much as he did when he first entered the league.

"I’m in love with the game," he said. "The love of the game. I still am a winner. I still love learning the game. Where else can you learn more than from Golden State or [Cleveland]? LeBron has been to eight Finals eight times and seven straight years. I played against him a lot of times. I’ve learned so much from him and the whole team. It’s just a fun experience being around this team."

Chris Bosh: 'I plan to keep my options open as a player'

Last summer, the Miami Heat officially parted ways with former All-Star big man Chris Bosh. He was waived on July 4, weeks after he and the team came to a final agreement on how to part ways and more than a year since his last NBA appearance because of blood-clot issues. His departure gave the Heat access to $26.8 million in salary-cap space for next season.

Bosh, who is expected to have his No. 1 retired by the Heat at some point, was on NBA TV's Players Only last night and made it clear he wants to stay around the game in some form.

"I'm always going to be around the game of basketball," Bosh said. "I plan to keep my options open as a player moving forward, but that's not coaching. Maybe front office work, working with teams and spreading the game, maybe teaching the game to young people, that's something that's a very big passion."

Bosh has a desire to pass along how to play without the ball and would ideally like to work with players who may not be the top option on their team.

"I would want to work with guys that maybe aren't starters, guys that are the fourth or fifth option," Bosh said. "To be honest, I'm looking at today’s game and I put myself in that position and how I would benefit from the faster basketball, more threes, catch-and-go opportunities, attacking the paint with more space, that's what kind of gets me juiced up and riled up when I watch today's game. I would really want to teach someone how to function without having to have plays called for you."

Back in 2014, Bosh signed a five-year deal to stay with the Heat -- shortly after LeBron James left Miami for a return to Cleveland. James, Bosh and Dwyane Wade went to the NBA Finals in all four of their seasons together in Miami, winning titles in 2012 and 2013.

Bosh's last Miami deal was worth $118 million. For that, he was only able to play in 97 games.

He appeared in 44 games in 2014-15, his season ending at the All-Star break when the first known clot episode started. A year later, he played in 53 games and - in an eerie similarity - his season again ended at All-Star weekend, when another clot was found shortly after he landed in Toronto for the 2016 All-Star Game.


Bosh hasn't played since, missing Miami's last 125 games. Overall, he played 13 NBA seasons, seven with Toronto and then six with Miami. He was part of Miami's massive free-agent haul in 2010, where the Heat not only kept Wade but landed James to form something that team president Pat Riley felt could turn into something dynastic. He averaged 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds in his career.