Russian wedding traditions are quite different from western engagement,

 wedding ceremony and reception. Nevertheless, Russian weddings are amazingly interesting and peculiar, joyful and extravagant.

First of all, Russian church weddings are not considered official and when the bride and groom get married in church they become wife and husband only in the face of God. What makes them wife and husband in the face of country and society is civil ceremony, when they exchange wedding rings and sign official marriage registration certificate.

Sometimes, the bride and groom get married both in the church and in the department of registration of civil statuses, but civil marriage is still the most preferable. Well, lets start with the engagement process as not to distort the traditional order.

However, what can be said about engagement is that there is no engagement at all. It is not common to Russians to exchange engagement rings before marriage as well as organize engagement reception. A man simply asks a woman to marry him and if she agrees, they inform their parents about the fact and start wedding planning and preparations.

They apply in writing to the department of marriage registrations and the department fixes the date of their marriage. The date of civil registration is also the date of wedding reception, which is usually a two-day celebration with music, dancing, gifts, practical jokes, competitions, as well as with a plenty of food and drink.

In most cases, families of both bride and groom share the expenses involved in wedding ceremony and reception. These, as elsewhere, include groom’s attire, wedding dress and accessories, flowers, photographer, hiring several cars and their decoration, restaurant, food and drink.

What happens during two (and sometimes more) wedding days is of special interest! Frankly speaking, Russian wedding is such an event that makes parents, friends and relatives remember it for years.

The first wedding day

Early in the morning, the groom’s relatives and friends meet in the groom’s place and the bride’s friends and relatives wait for them in the bride’s place. The matter is that before civil ceremony, the groom and his company must undergo several trials as to “get the right” to marry the bride.

These trials test groom’s will and strength, courage and quick wits; generally, they are aimed to entertain guests and relatives. Although maid of honor and best man share responsibilities in preparing the contests, they are unexpected for the groom and his guests; hence, arouse a plenty of surprise, fun and laughter.

In fact, the major difference between Russian and Western marriage, is that the first one means impetuous revelry, while the second implies official boredom. This is not said to offend our western friends, this is simply the difference that must be mentioned here.

The contests and trial are numerous, there are even ready scripts to be used but best friends of the bride and groom as well as master of ceremonies review them all and create their individual plan. Hence, many weddings are unrepeatable and unique in their scenario.

Most often, before meeting his bride, the groom must ascend the stairs with a question awaiting him at each stair and allowing him to make a step up or down. He must take out the kea to the door from the huge pitcher filled with juice or some other drink. He must choose his bride’s photo from several pictures of baby girls. The groom’s friends must help him guess the riddles and answer the questions, while wrong answers are paid in cash. These are just some contests, which can accompany the ritual of “bride’s ransom” taking place before the official ceremony of registration.

As the groom finally meets his bride, the wedding train of cars takes them and their closest friends and relatives to the department of registrations, where they become a husband and wife. This is a stylish and lofty ceremony accompanied with Mendelssohn’s wedding waltz, sumptuous speeches and cordial congratulations.

After the ceremony, the wedding train of cars drives around the city, with stops at major sights and memorials to make photos, and finally arrives at the reception place, whether it is a restaurant or café.

Here, the bride and groom are greeted with bread and salt as well as sprinkled with millet and coins, the ritual symbolizing wealth, happiness and prosperity. The reception may last until morning and is a full bunch of jokes, toasts, contests, gifts giving, music, dance and congratulations.

Perhaps, bride’ or groom’s stealing is the most widespread tradition. As the bride is stolen, the groom must pay a ransom to have her back. The bride may be stolen several times during the wedding reception. Other entertainment ranges from karaoke singing to the striptease danced by the groom’s friends.

Of course, many guests leave the wedding reception being drunk as cobblers and the first day of wedding celebration fluently proceeds to the strong morning hangover. Not too bad, the second wedding day is a remedy for any headache.

Well, the second wedding day

The second wedding day starts in the morning and the celebration usually takes place in the parents’ place. One of the aims of the second-day celebration is to partly justify wedding expenses and supply the newlyweds with money. Thus, everything, from tickets for the event and knives to forks and spoons, is sold to the guests, and the money from the sale goes to the newlyweds.

In addition, the second day is a kind of testing of newlyweds’ household skills such as cleaning the house, dressing up the doll, some joiner’s work, peeling onions, etc. The guests throw about dry grass, millet, coins and paper money to test the newlyweds’ skills to clean the house. Lotteries, aimed at financial assistance, also take place.

Excellent food is served in abundance for the wedding occasion during two days. As for liquor, its amount is unlimited.

Well, novels can be written about some Russian weddings due to their extraordinary character and event-trigger richness, while this description is general, aimed to show you things as they are. Some international couples have two weddings, one in their own country and another in Russia; would you take a risk?