In July we went to the Ukraine for a wedding - as most of you know who have been here for even a short time.

I have talked about some of the sights we saw, and the embroidery, but not the wedding/reception itself.

I thought it was time to do so.

We were in a non Orthodox wedding - I think they were Baptist, but maybe just a sort of nondenominational type of church. I couldn’t really read the signs anywhere since they were written in Cyrillic letters. In fact, the church was located in a village, so there wasn’t actually much of a sign anywhere that I could see. The bride’s side was from near Kiev, about an 11 hour car ride from there - the groom’s side was from this village.

This is what the inside of the building looked like:

The wedding ceremony lasted over an hour - probably more like an hour and a half.

Of course it didn’t help that I didn’t understand anything, and it looked like the bride was going to topple over (she had been sick). Finally a lady sitting in front of us went over, picked up a chair, and took it up to the platform for her to sit - she literally looked too pale and like she was swaying a bit. Then someone brought one for the groom as well. I thought because of that the speakers would shorten up a bit, but it didn’t seem to matter. (No doubt that is a cultural thing - ours was about 20 -25 minutes long.)

There was one bridesmaid and one groomsman. They had walked in together just like they do in the states. The difference with this one was that the groom walked in by himself in front of the bride with her dad.

Afterwards, they took some pictures and then we went to the reception area.

We got there before the couple - and this is where the rest of the day was spent.

Tradition in this part of the world is for a reception to be huge - and I mean - enormous! Food overflows the tables, and it is all in excess. We were with a group of people who didn’t drink alcohol, so no doubt, that kept the cost down somewhat, but the tables were heavy with food.

Here are the pictures. I suppose for most people this is the “highlight” of the wedding/reception. The picture above just shows the salad and appetizer courses and how it looked as we walked into the building. There was more. Much more, later.

It’s just hard because after eating for about half an hour you are full. After that, while it all still looks delicious, it doesn’t taste that way due to no room!

It was so pretty! Seriously beautifully laid out!

After you ate for a while, there were some games and such with an MC. Some people sang some songs dedicated to the couple. Then people went out and wandered around outside, took some pictures and stretched their legs and came back in and there was more singing, talking, games, memories, etc. (I didn’t understand most of it).

And more eating. Of course. Towards the end of the day they brought out some shish kabobs - more meat - which was off the grill and tasty - just not as tasty as it would have been had I had room!

There was a whole room full of dessert in a little alcove but I didn’t get a picture. It had various cakes and some fruit. Then there was this amazing display! I did get to sample the eclairs sitting at the bottom of the table.

Those eclairs were first rate!

Our hotel was a couple hours away from the place of the wedding/reception. At about 9 pm we got a ride with a couple going back to Lviv/Lvov and we left. I don’t know how long it went on. I know in Poland, if there is dancing and alcohol they can go all night. I don’t think this one was going to last that long, however, since it was a Saturday and at least two of the men were pastors (and people were about talked out - and there was no dancing/drinking involved in this one - it was all very calm).

And there you are. This is a little glimpse into a wedding that we went to in the Ukraine in July!

Hope you enjoyed that very short trip!

Have a great day!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!