All this extravagance, as the bride admitted, cost the newlyweds and their parents a very “unsweetened” amount. When the light fog in my head from the drunken champagne dissipated, we decided to calculate: how much does the wedding cost today?
Like in Minsk
The wedding bill begins to grow as soon as you cross the threshold of civil status. When applying for marriage registration, you need to pay a state fee – 37 Belarusian rubles or 1300 Russian. In addition, newlyweds are constantly offered a photographer. Its services in the capital’s registry offices cost 4200 (hereinafter, prices are in Russian rubles).
Now we’re going to the jewelry store for the wedding bands. Although gold prices keep rising, it is still possible to save money. If for an ordinary gold ring they ask from 8700 rubles, then a not much different 925-carat gold-plated silver ring will “hang” only 1800. If you are lucky, you can take it at a discount .
A blow to the budget – a suit and a dress. And there is a huge price range. If the groom can get by with a new dress for nine thousand rubles (there are suits, by the way, for 90 thousand), then the bride will spend much more on the outfit. Prizes start at 17,000 and end…in space.
What is a wedding without a procession. We order: renting a limousine costs from 4800 rubles per hour, a decent BMW – at least 5200. If you want exoticism, some companies are ready to offer horse-drawn carriages. But, of course, only the newlyweds themselves will find their place there. A banquet in a cafe or restaurant is also not a cheap pleasure.
The smallest amount on the menu for one person, which we managed to find in Minsk, is 1600 rubles.
If you want to surprise your guests and money allows, you can rent an entire castle – Nesvizh, Kossovsky or Mirsky. Young people will be offered a theatrical ceremony with the participation of actors and musicians. In the Portrait Hall of the Mir Castle, for example, it will cost about 13,500 Russian rubles. Plus surcharge for registrar departure, transfer and incidentals. A wedding banquet in a local restaurant for one person costs 2,700 Russian rubles, and a night in a hotel – from 4,200. But the champions for punching holes in the barely formed family budget are estates. Saturday rent for up to 50 people in one of the most beautiful estates 70 kilometers from Minsk costs 68,000, food is paid separately. But public baths, boating, catamaran and bicycles are free.
You cannot do without a host at the wedding table. An artist with an average hand in Minsk will take from 30,000 rubles for work. Photographer – more modest: from 10 thousand. But the evening program is the most unpredictable part of the expenses. Its compilation, as well as the organization of the whole celebration as a whole, can be entrusted to an event manager, whose services cost more than 40 thousand. The same specialist will help you organize the show program, but you can choose it yourself. A good magician will ask for at least 10,000, the same amount – jugglers and fire show dancers. You can watch a Japanese show for 15,000 rubles, a program with trained dogs for only 12,000, drawing on the sand by an experienced artist will cost 17,000 rubles.
However, you can cook treats for guests yourself, as our mothers and grandmothers did 30 years ago, order performances by novice artists and simple competitions on the Internet – inexpensively and sincerely.
Like in Moscow
In Moscow, in recent years, many innovations have appeared for the bride and groom. Firstly, since 2019 you can apply for marriage registration a whole year before the event (previously – a month). You can apply in person at the registry office, through the MFC or online. More than 70% of couples applied this year via public service websites.
A new trend has noticeably gained momentum – for “beautiful” recording dates. Moscow registry offices open the wedding season on the eve of Krasnaya Gorka, this year it fell on April 23. But the peak of the festivities begins a little later and runs from May to September. At this time, 40% of all couples get married each year. And even here there are peak days. Thus, on the “mirror” date, and even containing the lucky seven, 07/23/2023, the civil status offices had to open 230 additional slots. One of the most desired dates will be this Saturday 08/07/2003, during the celebration of the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. Last year, 1,000 couples got married on this day. But how many marriages will be concluded on this day in 2023, civil status offices are still kept secret.
Exit registrations have become very fashionable among Muscovites – this way, quite officially, you can literally get married both in the sky and underground. For example, hold a ceremony on the observation deck of the 337-meter-high Ostankino Tower! And you can sign at night – from half past three to four in the morning, when passengers are not allowed to enter the metro, a wedding arch is installed at the Mayakovskaya station and solemn registrations take place. There are even more extreme proposals, for example a mobile cable car on Sparrow Hills. Field registrations are free, young people pay only a standard state fee – 350 rubles. Last year, a quarter of all solemn ceremonies took place “on the road”.
As for statistics, the average age of brides in Moscow is 25 years old, and that of grooms is 27 years old. About 50% of all men who marry are between 27 and 34 years old and women between 22 and 31 years old. According to a study by the Mosopros group, most Muscovites believe that marriage should be officially registered. More than 70% of Moscow residents supported this. Since the start of 2023, more than 26,000 Moscow couples have already said yes. It is not yet known whether this year will be able to beat the record of the previous year, 2022, when 100,613 couples were married in the capital (for comparison: 87,000 marriages were registered in 2021).
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