Typical Russian Weddings

In a typical Russian wedding, the groom arrives at his bride's home with his closest friends and pays a 'ransom' for the bride. A ransom would typically include: honey, candy, reading a poem, dancing, singing, etc. but he would only have to do this if he answered a question wrong about his bride. After that is done, they all would ride down to the department of public services or "ZAGS" to register their marriage. Now marrying religiously is an option, but not required since Russia does not recognize it as official. Afterwards, it is customary for the newlyweds and their close friends to go see the sights and have a few drinks for about 2-3 hours then they go to the wedding reception. At the wedding reception it is all fun and games. Literally. There is tons of drinking, drinking games, and games I have no clue what they're called! In the video. There is this one game where someone walks as fast as they can around a plate with their finger on it and then when they lift their finger off of it, they keep on spinning and run into people or people try (and usually fail) to catch them. I think that that looks like so much fun!!! A wedding reception last about 2-3 days and it is full of fun, games, drinking, eating, and sleeping by everyone.