Features of the design and conduct of a wedding in the Russian style

A modern wedding is no longer a family holiday, but a celebration akin to a real show, the preparation of which lasts several months, or even a whole year. Some of the young people prefer to hold an elegant wedding ceremony in the European style, while others pay tribute to the rich traditions of their native country and organize a Russian wedding in grand style.

It is useful to study old Russian traditions before organizing a wedding in the Russian style. Some rituals have now been forgotten, but nothing prevents them from reviving, at least within the framework of their own celebration in the Russian folk style, thereby allowing the guests to plunge into the history of their people.

Holding a Russian wedding, even in a stylized version, presupposes the observance of the basic canons of the Old Russian celebration. A celebration in the Old Church Slavonic style should begin and end with a parental blessing. There are no strong alcoholic drinks in the festive menu; during the celebration, the use of obscene language and dancing until you drop is not allowed. Essential attributes of a Russian wedding:

• riot of bright colors;
• matchmaking;
• ransom of the bride;
• refraction of a loaf;

• fun festivities;
• round dances;
• comic contests;
• playing the accordion;
• generous table;
• gifts for guests.

The venue for the wedding ceremony can be:

• restaurant hall, stylized in Russian style;
• a real log house;
• an open area next to a forest or a lake (typical for a wedding in a noble style).

The choice of venue for the event directly depends on the time of year.In summer, for a wedding ceremony, you can prefer open spaces next to a pine forest or birch grove, near a beautiful reservoir. Nature will become an organic background for a Russian-style wedding and will provide an invisible connection between generations. By the way, the nearby wheat field will be an ideal place for a photo zone. What could be more Russian than endless fields?

If there are a lot of guests at the event, you can rent houses at the camp site. Then the holiday can last for several days. The first day is the official events according to the script, which will take place in the banquet hall, and the second is an informal holiday, where swimming in the lake, a bathhouse, barbecue, songs with a guitar and other delights of a summer vacation are allowed. If you want a chic wedding in Russian, it is recommended to choose a suburban wooden estate with a large park area for the celebration.

Winter weddings are more difficult to arrange outdoors due to the vagaries of the weather. Of course, in winter wedding dresses, tea drinking with bagels, sledding look even more spectacular, but it is better to prefer closed rooms for the main part of the holiday. This can be a restaurant with a wood-like decor, a tower, a wooden hut or a theater room. It is desirable that the interior be made in a folk style. But if this is not provided for in the design of the room, it is easy to bring it in with the help of a homemade decor.

A Russian wedding will not be exactly like that if the invited guests are not dressed in old costumes. Opponents of such themed celebrations can only use an element of the traditional outfit. For example, girls can decorate their heads with a wreath of wildflowers, braid braids with a scarlet satin ribbon, tie a beautiful scarf, and put on red shoes. The male half of the guests can use a red tie or insert a scarf with a traditional Russian pattern into the buttonhole. To make it easier for guests to prepare for a Russian-style wedding, the bride and groom can rent all the necessary accessories for them themselves.

Ideally, the bride's outfit meets all the canons of such a wedding: a red dress, a kokoshnik, a blouse with embroidery. Modern girls can replace this outfit with a simple white dress, decorated with elements of folk style: embroidery on a corset, a scarf, a belt. For a hairstyle, it is better to choose a traditional braid or braiding. The longer the hair, the prettier the hairstyle will be. You can decorate braids with fresh flowers or wreaths made of them, scarlet satin ribbons.

Bright shadows and arrows for the image of a Russian girl will not work. To create a "correct" face, you need a rich red lipstick, blush, dark eyebrows (sable), long and voluminous eyelashes. Recommended shoes for creating a folk wedding look are red flat shoes. Today, you can move away from this trend a little and buy not only shoes, but also boots with heels. Alternatively, you can use white shoes.

The basis of the bride's bouquet can be chamomile, ranunculus, cornflowers, stockrose or other meadow plants. To give "nationality" it is permissible to add a branch of viburnum, apple trees, wheat ears to the composition. Bouquets made entirely of lilies, phalaenopsis or roses will be out of place at a traditional Russian wedding.

When decorating a wedding in the Russian style, it is necessary to choose all the decorative elements correctly, since the general atmosphere of the event will depend on their competent choice and location. Mandatory attributes at a wedding in Russian:

• Khokhloma painting;
• kokoshniks;
• beautiful towels;
• canonical outfits (sheepskin coat and felt boots for the winter celebration);

• bast shoes;
• wreaths of meadow flowers;
• dried flowers;
• viburnum and rowan berries;

• team with horses;
• samovar;
• wooden spoons;
• Red caviar;

• bagels, drying, crumpets;
• linen tablecloths with embroidery;
• accordion or balalaika;
• Russian stove (if possible);

• rocker arms and buckets;
• wooden benches with carvings;
• braids of onions and garlic.

The general theme in the Russian style should be reflected in the invitations as well. It is desirable that the dominant color in the cards be red, paper - "antique" with a traditional pattern, the text of the invitations - in the Old Church Slavonic dialect. You can shade red with ink and gold. It is possible to use white, light blue, blue, ash pink and cherry colors. The menu should also be in the traditional Russian style. All guests will be able to taste well-known and very tasty dishes, as well as new interesting recipes for treats. The wedding cake is also made in a general style, for example, under Khokhloma.

The decoration of the hall for the holiday involves the use of painted wooden dishes, skillfully embroidered tablecloths, meadow flowers. It is better that all the decorative elements that are planned to be used in the design of the room are made of natural materials. Reshaping some traditions in a modern way can destroy the whole atmosphere of the old Russian rite. Tables can be arranged in different ways. In the past, it was considered most convenient to place tables in a long row or in the form of the letter "P". A place for the young was allocated in the middle of the table, or they were completely seated at a separate table.

An important part of the wedding celebration is the design of the photo zone. Here the decor will be the same at any time of the year. All elements of the photo zone are deeply rooted in history, and are also reflected in your favorite Russian fairy tales. These attributes include:

• nesting dolls;
• sleighs, team with horses (in winter);
• felt boots;
• traditional musical instruments;
• embroidered napkins, towels;
• painted background with traditional ornament.

A wedding in Russia is a fairly long-term action that can be divided into the following stages.

• Collusion. At this stage, the parents of the young couple agree on the wedding. It is they who decide to unite the fates of their children, set a date, agree on the costs of organizing the celebration on both sides and on the dowry. It so happened that the young people saw each other for the first time only on their wedding day.

• Matchmaking. The future groom, with the support of parents or friends, came to the house of the future wife for matchmaking. According to tradition, the first time the groom always suffered a fiasco, receiving a negative answer. The parties came to an agreement only for the second or third time. After that, a grand celebration began in the bride's house with lavish feasts, songs and dances.

• Hen-party. It took place on the eve of an important event. The bride and her bridesmaids locked themselves in a bath for divination in wax for their future. The girls also sang sad tunes, loosened the braids for the bride and combed them, and she cried.

• Bachelor party. The groom went to wash himself in the bath alone. After that, he went to bed and did not have to utter a single word before meeting his soul mate. Today, parting with an unmarried and bachelor life has taken on a completely different scale. Events take place in clubs or outdoors, and can be organized as part of a theme party.

• Ransom. According to old Russian wedding traditions, the duties of the future spouse before the wedding included the ransom of the bride. The girl's relatives arranged all kinds of tests for the young man to test the sharpness of his mind, kindness, strength, generosity. After the ransom was paid, the trials did not end. The groom needed to find the bride herself, who could be hidden in the courtyard buildings or in the neighboring house.A father or an older brother was assigned to the young man as a guard. Before giving the bride to the groom, they could demand a ransom from him again. When all the tests were passed, the parents blessed the newly-minted family and laid a small table in the bride's house.

• Wedding and registry office. The recognition of the creation of a new unit of society always took place in the church, and only then in the registry office. Registration could take place either in nature, or in the very premises of an official institution, or in a restaurant, where the celebration then continued.

• Celebration. The Russian wedding is generous with food, round dances, traditional songs, dances and playing on national instruments. Among the most interesting contests held during the celebration, it is worth highlighting the running in sacks, tug-of-war, collecting bagels on a tree. Noisy and merrily there were horse carriage rides or dog sledding. All this was complemented by cheerful songs, loud laughter and the ringing of bells.

• Wedding night. The sleeping place for the young was prepared very carefully. As a rule, it was set up in a bathhouse or closet in the groom's house. The mattress and bed linen were taken from the bride's dowry. Amulets were laid out on the bed. A juniper, a poker, a frying pan, and a piece of wood were placed under the bed.

In the morning, a sheet was hung out for all the relatives to see, on which the young people rested. If doubts arose about the innocence of the bride, she was sent to her parents' house. A collar was put on the matchmaker's neck, and the father was given a leaky mug of wine. The family was disgraced.

• Bad wedding. This event takes place the day after the wedding. The main goal is the entertainment of the invitees. The main characters are the mummers of the bride and groom. Together with their retinue, they walk around the village and offer passers-by vodka and food in exchange for money.

For information on how to celebrate a wedding in the Russian style, see the next video.