Russian Wedding

Originally Posted August 12, 2012

I went to a Russian wedding today. It was not a traditional Russian wedding per se. However, it was amazing. You are going to have to forgive me. I have transformed from one of those guys that dislocates his shoulder, grimaces, and continues playing; into one of those guys that can shed a tear at the smallest thing. The Ukrainian girl who got married was a very dear friend of mine.

We have known each other from the first day I arrived in Ukraine, and has been both a stern figure over me, as well as a willing student under me. That is a rare combination. We have had many, many conversations about her man, her relationships, and her goals in life. I was truly humbled and honored to be a part of this wedding. I was the only native speaking English person there. No, I am not from England, I am from the United States, but I am still a native speaker.

The bride and groom were actually socializing when I got there. I was a little late, fashionably of course. Then, after about 20 minutes, the ceremony started. The wedding was on the grounds of a local museum. It was really cool. The Ukrainian girl who planned and set the whole wedding up did an amazing job. The main colors were white, lavender, and well, more lavender.

After the ceremony, there was food and alcohol, and more food, and more food. The Ukrainian bride's father, who cannot speak a lick of English by the way, was attracted to me like a moth to flame for some reason. His sister is married to an Englishman and lives in England. So, for the first 90 minutes he was under the impression that I was from England. Then, when he found out that I was from America, he changed tunes, but he was speaking to me in Russian as if I understood. I understood about half the words, and when I would get someone to help me translate, they didn't really know what the heck this guy was talking about. He wanted to take me to Crimea and have a vacation with me, drinking cognac, and sitting by the sea talking. While that would be fun, I don't think it would be that much fun with him as I still cannot understand enough Russian language to truly make the experience fun.

The Russian wedding ceremony was short. The groom had been married before, and the bride is very practical, however, I have to say that she looked insanely beautiful! Her dress was just stunning. After that, Russian men have this habit of getting in front of the microphone and waxing poetic. It was funny as one guy got up there three different times, and just talked, and talked, and talked. Too funny.

Then, three traditional Ukrainian girls came dressed in traditional Ukrainian dancing outfits and danced for us.  That was cool to watch. After that, we proceeded into an art gallery where there was a live pianist. There were a ridiculous amount of cool Russian photos of old communist Russia as well as well as a lot of relatively, post modern photos of Gorbachov, Reagan, Brezhnev, and many others. It was cool to see how Russian girls wore old fashioned bathing suits in the 50s.

I got to talk to a cool Ukrainian girl who lives in England and is almost completely fluent. She couldn't really tell me how to say, ""it's good that you can admit that" in Russian language. It is not something that is normally said in the Russian language. However, she figured it out. I wish I could remember the exact way to say it, but that is part of the process for me, remembering the way to speak Russian.

Overall, I was in awe. I met a couple of great girls I would happily go out with. The photographer was long, lean, brunetka, and pretty, but she has a boyfriend. So, it wasn't meant to be. I enjoyed my first Russian wedding. I went to one other Russian wedding about a year ago, but that was not traditional either. That Russian wedding was a short ceremony at the courthouse with a cool reception at a cool restaurant afterward.