A Royal Wedding and Wedding Celebrations

The last sumptuous Russian state wedding took place over one hundred years ago – in 1894, when Nicholas II married the small-town German princess Alexandra. Shortly after their engagement, the reigning Tsar, Nicholas’s father Alexander III, unexpectedly died and thus, the bride-to-be came to Russia in the shadow of a hearse and the wedding took place one week after the funeral. A bad omen? 

In fact, the story of Nicholas and Alexandra is another roulettian tale that includes hemophilia (their fifth child and only son/heir was stricken with this rare, life-threatening disease in which the blood does not clot), a questionable Siberian mystic (the infamous Grigory Rasputin who despite wild nights on the town was the only one able to ease the young boy’s suffering) and murder (Rasputin’s, in a ghastly palace slaughter that sought to remove his influence over Alexandra, thought to be destabilizing the monarchy and the country) and again murder (this time that of the royal family themselves).

Rasputin, who has been credited with unusual psychic abilities, penned a predictive warning to the royal couple late in 1916:

I feel that I shall leave life before January 1st.... if you hear the sound of the bell which will tell you that Grigory has been killed, you must know this: if it was your relations who have wrought my death then no one of your family, that is to say, none of your children or relations will remain alive for more than two years. They will be killed by the Russian people...I shall be killed. I am no longer among the living.
Twenty-three days later his bullet-ridden, poisoned corpse turned up in an icy tributary of the Neva river. And forebodingly, among Rasputin's murderers were relatives of the Tsar.

Within three months of Rasputin's horrific demise revolution swept across the land and blood flowed in rivers. Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, Grand Duke of Finland, King of Poland, etc. etc., was now a humble prisoner stripped of all rank. Along with Alexandra and their five photogenic children he was transported to Siberia, where the whole family was ruthlessly shot by the Bolsheviks in July 1918 -- twenty months after Rasputin’s murder, much as the mysterious Siberian had predicted. This effectively ended the Romanov imperial dynasty which had enjoyed autocratic might for over 300 years. Yet the red jacket in which Nicholas was married can still be seen today in the Alexander Palace. It is inscribed with the words "To be preserved forever.“ 

Meanwhile, weddings in Russia are usually pretty lavish affairs and summer is wedding season.  Across Petersburg on any given day of the week you are apt to see luxurious white stretch limos gliding down main avenues and brides in ebullient dresses posing for photos at picturesque spots about town.  Church weddings are generally avoided.  As Golden Guy Pavel explains, "No one wants a church wedding. If you get married in the Orthodox Church, it’s almost impossible to get a divorce!“  The answer is the "wedding palace“ which works pretty much like an upscale justice of the peace. 

Petersburg's most desirable wedding palace is on the same street as the U.S. Consulate

The ceremony is short, under fifteen minutes, in which a charming (cloying) official reads a charming (cloying) statement wishing all the best to the truly charming couple

A stretch limo for the bridal party

Two golden rings often decorate the limos

A pleasant chat on the carefully groomed grass

A spritely romp along the edge of the Neva River

Splashing in the waves

Weddings don't have to break the bank as this couple demonstrates.  Why not enjoy a packaged ice cream cone instead of a fussy, elaborate cake? Nor, thankfully, must weddings prevent you from attending to important business on your handy cell phone. 

Gee, shucks!

Is there anything left to say?

Well, Nicholas and Alexandra have been accused of many things, including the demise of the Romanov dynasty, but no one has ever denied their enduring love which began at their first meeting (he was 17 and she was just 12) and continued until the day they were simultaneously shot.  With the divorce rate in Russia today at about 50%, one can only hope that these smiling brides will end up on the happy side of statistics.  

One might also ask, as does the sign on the left, where is Ludmila Putin?  Putin’s wife has virtually disappeared from public view, although she made a brief appearance at his inauguration back in May.  Rumors abound, but two receive the most attention.  Either she is with her two daughters who are studying abroad (although no one seems to know where) or, following in the good old Russian footsteps of such Tsars as Peter the Great, Putin has stashed the burdensome wife away in a monastery.