Tuesday, November 9, 2004
Our wedding
The day of our wedding was a nice Siberian early winter day. It had been snowing at night and the thermometer read about 5 degrees (Celsius) below zero.
First thing in the morning, we received 4 telegrams. They were from the maternity home, the stork, the police and the society of beekeepers. They all contained messages that urged us to start making children as soon as possible. It was a very nice and original surprise. Thanks to Dima and Julia (best man and maid of honour).
I left at 9:30 am to have my car washed, because it was pretty dirty and we wanted it to look nice with all the decorations Olga had made. At about 11:10 am, my car was finally clean. I headed home head over heals, because we were supposed to pick up Olga's relatives from Kiselevsk at the station around noon and we still had to decorate our car.
When I got home, Olga had washed her hair and was putting on make-up. I decided to shave in the meantime.
We arrived at the station at about 12:10 pm and found Olga's uncle waiting for us. Apparently, Olga's mother and aunt had gone to buy flowers. After a nerve-wrecking wait of about 30 minutes, they finally showed up and we left for home. By now, we were getting pretty nervous, because we still hadn't decorated the car and also we had to book rooms for our guests in the hotel across the road. Anyway, while some of our guests were at the hotel, Olga and I decorated the car (which was by now pretty dirty again because of all the slushy snow in the roads).
At about 1:15 pm, we went up to our appartment to get dressed and ready to go.
At 1:45 pm, some more relatives turned up, who were to take my mother-in-law-to-be, aunt and uncle to the registration office, because we were taking the best man and the maid of honour.
I think it was 1:50 pm when the maid of honour arrived and 2:00 pm when the best man finally showed up (late as usual).
We were supposed to be at the registration office at 2:15 pm. Luckily, it is not far from our home, so we arrived on time.
At 2:30 pm, we were asked to follow a lady upstairs to where the ceremony would be taking place.
The ceremony was short, but nice. The lady performing the ceremony played her part with enthusiasm and vigour. Unfortunately, she spoke a little too softly, so at one point I said 'yes' when only Olga was supposed to.
At 2:45 pm, the ceremony was over and we had our pictures taken by the professional (plus amateur) photograph in the lobby downstairs.
Afterwards, we had a sip of champagne and started off on our tour of the city.
We got out of the car in one spot, but since it was rather cold, we didn't really bother to get out and have a drink at every place we passed. By Russian tradition, you should pass 7 bridges, but I think we got only about 5. On the way to the cafe where we were to celebrate, we stopped at the Botanical Gardens. Most of us didn't even know such a thing existed in Kemerovo. I wasn't really impressed, but the pictures turned out quite nicely, so it's a good thing we did stop there.
By now, it was time to drive to the café and start celebrating. We dropped off our passengers, left our cars at a parking lot and headed back to the café. The café, which belongs to Sergey Rybkin, a friend of ours who was also present, is called 'Zapretnaya Zona' - prohibited area. Thanks for letting us use the place, Sergey!
The celebration itself was very nice. There were 19 of us. Mostly friends and some relatives.
Our best man and maid of honour had come up with a number of toasts and poetry. Every couple had something nice to say. Our friends Zhenya, who works at the Russian Radio radio station, and Angela, Sergey Rybkin's wife and a very close friend of Olga's, had organized a number of games and contests. Also, Zhenya had brought some CDs with good dancing music.
The toasts were all very nice. We didn't manage to say everything we had hoped to say, but still, everyone seemed to have good time.
The party was over at about midnight. Olga's relatives spent the night at Kostya's (another relative who lives in Kemerovo). The next day we took them to our datcha, where we showed them around and had a drink by the fireplace. By the way, the scenery was beautiful there because of all the snow. Afterwards, Kostya took us to his mansion on the edge of town. He's still building it and there's a whole lot of work left to be done, but no doubt it will be pretty once it's finished.
Finally, we took Olga's relatives to the station and waved them off. We were fined 50 RUB for parking our car where we weren't supposed to (there's nowhere you can leave your car near the station).
That's how we spent our wedding day. Thanks to Sergey Shachnev for taking pictures (I will put them online soon) and to all the people who filmed for us (unfortunately, there is no footage of the wedding itself and the personal messages Alena filmed aren't on tape either). Thanks to everyone for the wonderful presents, warm words and for making it an unforgettable day!!
First thing in the morning, we received 4 telegrams. They were from the maternity home, the stork, the police and the society of beekeepers. They all contained messages that urged us to start making children as soon as possible. It was a very nice and original surprise. Thanks to Dima and Julia (best man and maid of honour).
I left at 9:30 am to have my car washed, because it was pretty dirty and we wanted it to look nice with all the decorations Olga had made. At about 11:10 am, my car was finally clean. I headed home head over heals, because we were supposed to pick up Olga's relatives from Kiselevsk at the station around noon and we still had to decorate our car.
When I got home, Olga had washed her hair and was putting on make-up. I decided to shave in the meantime.
We arrived at the station at about 12:10 pm and found Olga's uncle waiting for us. Apparently, Olga's mother and aunt had gone to buy flowers. After a nerve-wrecking wait of about 30 minutes, they finally showed up and we left for home. By now, we were getting pretty nervous, because we still hadn't decorated the car and also we had to book rooms for our guests in the hotel across the road. Anyway, while some of our guests were at the hotel, Olga and I decorated the car (which was by now pretty dirty again because of all the slushy snow in the roads).
At about 1:15 pm, we went up to our appartment to get dressed and ready to go.
At 1:45 pm, some more relatives turned up, who were to take my mother-in-law-to-be, aunt and uncle to the registration office, because we were taking the best man and the maid of honour.
I think it was 1:50 pm when the maid of honour arrived and 2:00 pm when the best man finally showed up (late as usual).
We were supposed to be at the registration office at 2:15 pm. Luckily, it is not far from our home, so we arrived on time.
At 2:30 pm, we were asked to follow a lady upstairs to where the ceremony would be taking place.
The ceremony was short, but nice. The lady performing the ceremony played her part with enthusiasm and vigour. Unfortunately, she spoke a little too softly, so at one point I said 'yes' when only Olga was supposed to.
At 2:45 pm, the ceremony was over and we had our pictures taken by the professional (plus amateur) photograph in the lobby downstairs.
Afterwards, we had a sip of champagne and started off on our tour of the city.
We got out of the car in one spot, but since it was rather cold, we didn't really bother to get out and have a drink at every place we passed. By Russian tradition, you should pass 7 bridges, but I think we got only about 5. On the way to the cafe where we were to celebrate, we stopped at the Botanical Gardens. Most of us didn't even know such a thing existed in Kemerovo. I wasn't really impressed, but the pictures turned out quite nicely, so it's a good thing we did stop there.
By now, it was time to drive to the café and start celebrating. We dropped off our passengers, left our cars at a parking lot and headed back to the café. The café, which belongs to Sergey Rybkin, a friend of ours who was also present, is called 'Zapretnaya Zona' - prohibited area. Thanks for letting us use the place, Sergey!
The celebration itself was very nice. There were 19 of us. Mostly friends and some relatives.
Our best man and maid of honour had come up with a number of toasts and poetry. Every couple had something nice to say. Our friends Zhenya, who works at the Russian Radio radio station, and Angela, Sergey Rybkin's wife and a very close friend of Olga's, had organized a number of games and contests. Also, Zhenya had brought some CDs with good dancing music.
The toasts were all very nice. We didn't manage to say everything we had hoped to say, but still, everyone seemed to have good time.
The party was over at about midnight. Olga's relatives spent the night at Kostya's (another relative who lives in Kemerovo). The next day we took them to our datcha, where we showed them around and had a drink by the fireplace. By the way, the scenery was beautiful there because of all the snow. Afterwards, Kostya took us to his mansion on the edge of town. He's still building it and there's a whole lot of work left to be done, but no doubt it will be pretty once it's finished.
Finally, we took Olga's relatives to the station and waved them off. We were fined 50 RUB for parking our car where we weren't supposed to (there's nowhere you can leave your car near the station).
That's how we spent our wedding day. Thanks to Sergey Shachnev for taking pictures (I will put them online soon) and to all the people who filmed for us (unfortunately, there is no footage of the wedding itself and the personal messages Alena filmed aren't on tape either). Thanks to everyone for the wonderful presents, warm words and for making it an unforgettable day!!
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