Network Russia || Wedding

Getting married can be nerve wracking at the best of times. Doing it in a foreign country in a language you don’t speak can be even worse. Add to that the hassle provided by a delayed flight, which means you may not make it in time and you have a wedding to remember. It all happened on 10^th. November 2001 when Howard made the journey to Russia to get married. The wedding took place in the Marriage Office in Volskii, which is like a suburb of Volgograd. The bride was Katya whom Howard met last year when we were at Volga 2000, she wore a white trouser suit flecked with silver. A good number of the guests were Scout Leaders and their wives that we had also met and camped with last year.

Howard was fortunately provided with an interpreter so we think he made the right responses in the right places! After the actual ceremony was over, a young couple entered the room and danced for us then everybody moved to the next room for photographs.

The reception was a meal for twenty-one people and like all Russian parties there were many toasts and a lot of vodka. Part of the reception involved Russian traditions such as taking it turn to choose their marital duties from prepared slips of paper, as they are written in Russian Howard is not sure whether he has to stick to them as he can’t read them.

A day, which had looked the night before like turning into a disaster, became a very happy day and certainly one to tell the children about.

Howard & Katya at the Volgograd Fire Camp, River Don Region, 2001 - see more pictures