To love, to care, to serve: the main values of participants of the All-Russian Wedding Festival

The wedding festival "Russia. Connecting Hearts" starts in less than two weeks. This event is very special due to its scale — more than 200 couples from all over the country will take part in the festival, and due to the life views of the future newlyweds. Many of them have devoted their lives to serving the fatherland and people: they defend the country, stand guard over the law, heal and raise children. Our article is about the young people who can rightfully be proud of, and for whom the family, the service and  the homeland are true values.

The 2nd All-Russian Wedding Festival will be held at the National Centre RUSSIA on July 8-10. During these days, more than 400 sweethearts from all over the country will start having families. Among those who will   get married are: military personnel, doctors-to-be, volunteers, teachers-to-be, and civil servants. these young people beautiful, the patriots — it is impossible not to be proud of them. For these young people, is important what kind of world they and their children will live in, and that is why they are changing the world for the better right now. 

From volunteerism to love

Alexander Dyachenko and Valeria Kravchenko from Kaliningrad are volunteers of the People's Front. Valeria always wanted to be useful to people, and one day she joined the People's Front to help the families of the Special Military Operation combatants. At the very first gathering with other volunteers, she met Alexander, a coordinator of the youth sector at the People's Front.

"From the first minute, he was very endearing. His sincerity, attention to details, and shining eyes when he talked about helping people, about developing the youth policy, and about the humanitarian missions, won me over," says Valeria. "Alexander is a truly dedicated person."

After a while, Valeria became a member of the People's Front team. Together with Alexander, they took part in volunteer events, and the two volunteers' friendship  gradually developed into a true love. At the All-Russian Wedding Festival, Alexander and Valeria will marry. Then they will keep on helping people, but in a different status — the status of spouses.

Let's help the kids 

Another story of serving the people is the story of Sergei Ryndin and Natalia Ovsyannikova. The couple met at the Starooskolsky District Children's Hospital. Sergey works here as a medical laboratory assistant, and Natalia is a nurse in the office of medical prevention. The husband and the wife-to-be constantly interacted at work, and definitely liked each other. A day before the New Year, Natalia suggested Sergei to play the roles of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden to please the little patients. Sergei agreed. Rehearsals, preparations for the holiday, and picking the gifts for children brought the young people closer together. That New Year marked the beginning of a new love story.

Two cultures, one family

The New Year became an important event for another couple, Maxim Musturov from Kalmykia and Emilia Makaryan from Adygea. The young people met in 2023 at the interregional meeting of talented youth called "Fisht". The event was held in the mountains of Adygea, and brought together activists from volunteer movements, patriotic associations, youth NGOs and student organizations. The mutual sympathy of Maxim and Emilia arose almost instantly. A week after they met, Maxim confessed his love to Emilia. In December of the same year, Maxim made a responsible decision, and signed a contract for military service, but time and distance only strengthened the feelings of the sweethearts. And a year later, on the New Year's Eve-2025, Maxim proposed to Emilia at her parents' house, where her loved ones gathered together. In May 2025, matchmaking according to the national traditions took place in Adygea. And in July there will be a long-awaited wedding. In the future, Emilia plans to move to her husband's military town, where she will work as a history teacher and pass on knowledge to children.

It did not happen by chance

The love story of Valery Morluzhokov and Evgenia Beletova from the Altai Republic is like a movie novel. He is a young soldier, a defender of the Fatherland, awarded with the Order of Courage. She is at service of the law, a clerk of the court session. Such different and such similar destinies. The young people first met in 2020, but passed each other by. Two years later, they collided. Valery saw Evgenia, his future wife, but did not dare to approach her. The young man thought: "If this is fate, we will meet again." And so it happened: a little later, Evgenia and Valery met in the company of mutual friends, and since then never parted. Today, young people live soul to soul, take care of each other and wait for the wedding day. 

To serve hand in hand

Another wonderful union of a military and a civil servant is the union of Fyodor Bykovsky and Irina Nagibina from Sevastopol. Fedor is a hereditary military man, an engineer of the Aviation Complex, serving in the 318th Independent Mixed Aviation Regiment. Irina is a civil servant, chief expert of Finance Department of the city of Sevastopol. Fyodor proposed to her in Galitsky Park in Krasnodar, right against the background of a lavender field. And of course, Irina said: "Yes!" Now the young residents of Sevastopol are preparing for the wedding ceremony in Moscow. After all, the bride and the groom have vivid memories of the Russian capital: Fyodor took part in the Victory Day Parade on the Red Square in 2021, and Irina represented Sevastopol at the International RUSSIA EXPO.

To live and to serve

Another interesting couple will take part in the festival — Dmitry Ragimov and Victoria Shemelina from the Trans-Baikal Territory. The young people met nine years ago, and their feelings have been truly tested by time and events. Dmitry is a military man, a junior sergeant of the Airborne Forces. He valiantly defended the country, was awarded with the Order of Courage, the medal "For Military Distinction," and with other awards. Victoria is alike. She studies nursing, and serving and helping people is just as important to her as to her husband-to-be.

For the first time, the All-Russian Wedding Festival was held in 2024 as part of the International RUSSIA EXPO. On the first day of the event, more than 300 people registered their union. This was included into the Russian Book of Records. And during the entire time of the International Russia EXPO, 564 sweethearts got married. This historic event will stay in memory of 282 families for the rest of their lives. Some of the families created at the First All-Russian Wedding Festival already have children.