The All-Russian Wedding Festival will be held at the RUSSIA EXPO

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The first All-Russian Wedding Festival will be held at the RUSSIA EXPO from May 12 to 19. The key event of the first day will be the largest mass wedding — more than 150 couples from all over the country will get married on the Main Street Stage of the Exposition. The hosts of the ceremony will be a married couple Alexei Chumakov and Yulia Kovalchuk, and the marriage will be officially registered by employees of the Moscow Registry Office Department.

"Moscow registry offices have been holding wedding ceremonies in the most beautiful places in the city since 2019 as part of the Moscow Mayor's project "New Addresses of Happiness". One of the unusual locations has also become the site of the RUSSIA EXPO," said Anastasia Rakova, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Social Development.

The Deputy Mayor added that the mass wedding will be held on May 12, on the Second Sunday of Easter (called Red Hill in Russia), which traditionally opens the wedding season.

The newlyweds will be handed over the fire of the All-Russian Family Hearth "Heart of Russia", which was lit as part of the solemn ceremony of the start of the Year of the Family with the participation of President Vladimir Putin.

"The festival will last more than a week — until May 19. All federal districts will bring couples who will also get married during the week at the RUSSIA EXPO. That is, more than 200 couples will join hearts during the festival," said Anastasia Zvyagina, Deputy Director General of the RUSSIA EXPO.

The Exposition management and the festival's general partner - the Moscow City Government — have prepared many surprises for future newlyweds. "We want the newlyweds and their relatives to remember this day for a lifetime, together with the Moscow Government we have prepared several surprises for them. The first dance will be performed to a song by Yulianna Karaulova, and later Irina Dubtsova and Polina Gagarina will sing for them and the guests of the Exposition," says Anastasia Zvyagina.

On the first day of the festival a large-scale wedding procession will take place on the Exposition territory, which will be attended by future spouses, invited artists, musical groups, including a gypsy theater ensemble, accordionists dressed as grooms, stilt walkers, circus artists and animators dressed as angels.

For a whole week from May 13 to 19 the Exposition will turn into a festival space, where marriages will be concluded, theatrical processions, masterclasses, concerts and performances will be held.

Each day of the All-Russian Wedding Festival, starting from May 13, will be dedicated to one of the stages of the wedding ceremony: matchmaking, engagement and betrothal, bachelorette party and stag party, bride price and wedding festivities, wedding feast. The interesting and rich program will show the Exposition guests that traditions can be modern and relevant, demonstrate how diverse and unique the culture is in different regions of the country.

An important element of the festival will be the activities of the Istok project, which popularizes Russian folk culture among young people. It will be possible to get acquainted with the elements of traditional wedding dresses at the exposition "Russian Wedding", and to learn more about preserving the cultural heritage of ancestors at the lecture of producer and actress Sofya Ernst "Synthesis of Folk Traditions and Modern Culture". Also, during the festival on May 18 and 19, there will be a dance and ditties tournament and a costumed procession "Wedding".

The festival could not leave out the gastronomic side of wedding traditions. You can try feast treats from all over the country in the House of Russian Cuisine. Besides, there will be a bachelorette party "Bride's Pancakes". Going to pancakes is an old pre-wedding tradition. On the stage of the House of Russian Cuisine young cooks will compete in the art of baking pancakes, tossing them on pans until they form tall stacks. Brides will also show their skills as future hostesses in the competition. The guests of the event will get acquainted with the “pancake” traditions of the peoples of Russia, music, jokes, photo shoots and the unique atmosphere of the country's only house of cuisine of the peoples of Russia.

The festival will end brightly — the culminating point will be a large-scale wedding flash mob, in which all the audience will take part.