III Wedding Festival participants: "Russian Student Teams is the organisation that brought us together"
Student life is a vibrant and romantic time for young people, and the love stories of Russian Student Teams members prove it. Many young people have found their other halves in teaching, construction and other student teams and will now say "I do" to each other at the III All-Russian Wedding Festival "Russia. Uniting Hearts". It will be held at the National Centre RUSSIA on 8 and 9 July and will bring together more than 100 couples from across the country.
Mikhail Kiselyov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Russian Student Teams, noted that student life is a time when strong families are formed.
"The All-Russian Wedding Festival is a vibrant event, and it is wonderful that it brings together young people from across the country. It is especially pleasing that among the hundred couples who will say 'I do' to each other are those whose stories began in student teams. My wife and I also went through the student team experience together, so I know what a remarkable environment it is and how strong relationships begin there. It is very important that supporting young families is now among the main priorities of youth policy. Our State Duma Committee on Youth Policy is working on specific measures, including providing dormitory accommodation for student families and introducing a one-off payment when students have a child. These are systemic steps that give young families confidence in the future. May the festival become the starting point of a happy family life for every couple, while we continue our work to support young families," Mikhail Kiselyov said.
The future newlyweds include Nikita Dovolnov and Polina Kotova from the Tomsk Region. The couple met six years ago at a student festival.
"Our story began at the Russian Student Spring festival. Nikita was taking part in the creative programme representing the Tomsk College of Municipal Services and Construction, while I was a support volunteer representing the Tomsk State Pedagogical College. During a break in the programme, Nikita sat down next to me and we started talking," the bride shared.
After the festival, the young people became friends and later began dating. In May 2025, Nikita proposed to Polina. The bride and groom regularly take part in student and volunteer events. For example, Nikita worked in the Achilles Student Construction Team in Tomsk, where he was initially a team member before becoming a foreman and commander. Polina headed the regional branch of the All-Russian public movement Victory Volunteers and served as the regional representative of the #WEARETOGETHER International Prize and the #WEARETOGETHER Headquarters. Both have received medals from the Molodost Student Teams Headquarters for their contribution to the development of student teams at vocational colleges in the Tomsk Region.
Andrei Privalov and Arina Potkalo from the Perm Territory will marry at the festival on the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. Their love story began five years ago when Andrei and Arina worked at a children’s camp on the Black Sea as members of Perm student teams and fell in love. They returned to their native Perm Territory as a couple and have been inseparable ever since. The young people were members of Russian Student Teams for many years, took part in summer work seasons and performed in KVN comedy shows.
"We want to marry at the III All-Russian Wedding Festival at the National Centre RUSSIA because we began dating in the south of our country, the marriage proposal took place in the Urals, and it would be wonderful to register our marriage in the capital of our Motherland," Andrei and Arina emphasised.
Anatoly Barinov and Yulia Serna from the Moscow Region will also start a family. They met through Russian Student Teams at classes held by the Moscow Student Teams School. Both attended youth gatherings and forums, performed at creative festivals, organised youth events and worked as counsellors at children’s camps. They are now active participants in the Russian Student Teams nationwide patriotic campaign "Snow Landing". Anatoly and Yulia have received the "Honorary Volunteer of Moscow Student Teams" badge. Yulia is a prize winner of the Russian National Student of the Year Award in Moscow in the Public Activist of the Year category and a winner of the "League of Camp Counsellors" All-Russian Professional Skills Contest.
The couple admit that their student years were exciting, productive and important for their future lives and careers. Anatoly now works to ensure the information security of socially important facilities, while Yulia works at VK.
"We want to become husband and wife at the III All-Russian Wedding Festival at the National Centre RUSSIA. We believe it is very important and valuable to be part of such a celebration on the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity, to create our union on this day and preserve the warmth of our family hearth together for many, many years," Anatoly and Yulia said.
Marat Abdulov and Maria Malakhova from Moscow will also marry at the festival. They met by chance at Orenburg Airport when Maria returned home for the summer holidays. They later often met at Russian Student Teams events, as both Marat and Maria were members of the organisation. One day, Marat invited Maria on a date, and a romantic relationship began between them. Two years later, he proposed to his beloved. Marat and Maria are certain that student teams played a crucial role in their lives.
"Russian Student Teams is the organisation that brought us together," Marat and Maria noted.
This year, the All-Russian Wedding Festival is expanding its horizons. Alongside couples from across the country, international and foreign couples will say "I do" to each other at the National Centre RUSSIA.
The main event on the first day of the programme, 8 July, will be a simultaneous wedding ceremony for couples from across the country. The celebration will also feature the passing of the flame from the All-Russian family hearth "Heart of Russia". Newlyweds will receive from couples who married at previous festivals a share of the flame brought from Murom, where the holy patrons of marriage, Peter and Fevronia, lived.
On the second day, 9 July, educational lectures, gastronomic and musical programmes, and tours of the National Centre RUSSIA expositions "Journey Across Russia" and "Geography Lessons" will be held for the newlyweds, their guests and everyone wishing to join the celebration of love. Anyone who shares family values and is interested in wedding traditions can register for the educational programme of the wedding festival on the National Centre RUSSIA website. One of the key events on the second day will be the musical and choreographic parable "Khorovod. Wedding", symbolising unity, strong bonds and a willingness to extend a helping hand to others. This dance, long cherished by Russians, will bring all participants in the event together.
The festival is organised by the National Centre RUSSIA jointly with the Moscow Government and the Moscow Civil Registry Office.
On the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity, representatives of Russia’s indigenous minority peoples will marry at the National Centre RUSSIA.
The survey was conducted from 3 to 8 June. A total of 1,712 women from across Russia took part.
