Learn all about getting married in Kyiv
Despite the fact that attitudes towards wedding ceremonies and marriage have changed over the last 30 or 40 years, you can see happy newlywed couples continuing the age-old tradition of posing for photos in Kyiv’s parks almost every day. Sometimes couples prefer to be married without any extravagant ceremonies, celebrating with a small circle of friends or without any guests at all. Yet in most cases, a beautiful wedding ceremony, accompanied by a wedding reception or feast with throngs of relatives and friends, remains the most popular option, and at least it gives the bride the chance to be a true princess for the day. When my friend Yulya decided to get married, a posh wedding ceremony was a must. Yet dreaming about a beautiful wedding, she had only imagined the sparkling result: herself in a white, airy gown, a bridegroom in a black tuxedo with a bow tie, and a big gathering of nicely clad guests standing with glasses of champagne around a huge, creamy wedding cake – in the best traditions of a Hollywood flick, in other words. However, when we started looking into details, like how to organize the event, the number of guests to invite and how to entertain them, the situation started to look pretty complicated.
It’s showtime
First we had to decide which type of wedding it would be – a classic, white wedding, a Ukrainian-style wedding, or an informal ceremony with a gangster, Hawaiian, retro, or hard rock theme. The wedding’s concept would have an effect on the style of the wedding gown, the attire worn by the guests, groomsmen, bridesmaids, and others taking part in the ceremony, the decoration of the wedding procession, and the reception itself. Yulya wanted it to be a classic white wedding, yet unusual celebrations are becoming more and more popular nowadays.
While phoning numerous wedding planners, we came to the conclusion that if a couple wants a big party there are two ways to do it: the first is to ask relatives or friends for help; the second is to leave all the planning to a professional. The latter will organize everything and leave you free from all the fuss – but for a small fortune, of course.
Wedding planners can help you arrange all aspects of your wedding, and also set you up with stylists, interior designers, transportation agencies, party hosts and deejays. The average price for their services varies from approximately $10,000-$60,000, depending on the number of guests, lavishness of the ceremony, and the type of entertainment hired. For example, a party host can be hired for $250-$800, whereas inviting a popular artist to perform at your wedding increases the expense considerably.
In fact, your every whim can be satisfied if you’re willing to pay for it. You can invite any number of actors, dancers, and singers, embellish your wedding with ice or chocolate sculptures, flying birds or butterflies, fireworks for the whole night, and transfer your guests in luxury, retro automobiles, but you will end up paying a high price for all the enjoyment. Actually, everything named above can be ordered separately and organized by you personally, which will be cheaper, but if you don’t have enough time, it’s better to rely on a wedding planner.
Even if you have chosen an agency to be responsible for the organization of the event, there are still things you will need to do on your own. The next important step is to decide on the registration and transportation to and from the ceremony. If start planning two months in advance, you will have plenty of time for everything – except for getting on registration lists. Summer and early autumn is the busiest time of the year for registration employees, and the whole black-and-white lines of brides, grooms and guests can be seen standing in front of the offices.
When my friend called to set up her registration date at ZAGS (the marriage registration office), she was advised to make an appointment for a working day, instead of a weekend, or to postpone the ceremony until the next open weekend, which would mean waiting for two months.
However, there is a way around this problem. You can register your marriage at any ZAGS office on any day and order a ceremony for Hr 800-1,100 if you are willing to hold the wedding in a different location. Note that if the bride or groom is a foreign citizen, the marriage can only be registered at the central ZAGS.
When I inquired about the list of documents needed for a foreigner getting married to a Ukrainian, the gloomy assistants refused to give me the information via telephone and insisted on meeting me in person – basically so they could be paid. When I presented myself as a journalist, I was curtly informed that the first thing I needed was a passport and documents proving marital status. It was also noted that different countries usually provide different marital status documents. This documentation also needs to be translated into Ukrainian and certified by a lawyer.
Arranging your transportation is much simpler, except for one thing: the cars should be rented ahead of time. You should probably do this three or four months in advance, to save yourself the hassle of calling every car rental agency in Kyiv. Rental prices vary depending on car make, but in general you’ll need to pay from $15 to $165 per hour. If you choose a limousine, which is the most popular car beside Mercedes for wedding ceremonies, you’ll surely have enough space for guests, bridesmaids, grooms, and your parents, but in this case you should be ready to pay a higher price.
Wedding gown stores:
Novias (Arena City, 4 floor (2A Besarabska), 390-33-18). www.novias.com.ua
Inessa (Zirka Pecherska shopping center (11B Sichnevogo Povstannya, 223 5495).
Cinderella (5 Kudri, room 104, 1 floor, 223-67-80). www.cinderella.org.ua
Flower shops:
Barvy (24 Kostyantynivska, 417-8771).
Kvitkova Vanil (15 Tolstogo, 288-2200;13/42 Saksaganskogo, 287-5243, e-mail: [email protected]).
The beautiful bride
When the main arrangements are done, it’s time to think about that may be most important to the bride: her wedding dress. For Yulya, finding the right dress was much easier than some of the other arrangements, since there are a lot of wedding dress boutiques in the city.
In Kyiv you can find wedding dresses ranging in price, and which vary in quality and design accordingly. If you are looking for a really beautiful dress you can visit some of the most prestigious stores, like Novias at Arena City shopping center. There a wedding gown can be bought for $1,500-$5,000 or rented for $700-$1,500. Considerably lower prices can be found at Medoviy Mesyats (Honeymoon), where gowns go for $450-$1,000 to purchase or $200 to rent. The lowest prices can be found at Amour, where dresses cost Hr 2,000-Hr 8,000 to purchase and Hr 40- Hr 1,500 to rent, but the quality is questionable.
In addition to wedding dresses the stores usually offer wedding accessories, like veils, tiaras, gloves, shoes, etc. The groom’s outfit is usually easier to find and the assortment is wide at any store that sells tuxedos. Having visited practically all the stores in Kyiv, Yulya liked Inessa the best, where she decided to rent a stylish creamy dress for $400.
To complete the image of the perfect bride, there is one final thing needed: a wedding bouquet. Practically every flower shop can arrange a bouquet that will complement the wedding gown. The bouquet could even be made from artificial flowers, yet natural ones look far better.
As an alternative, you could also order a compilation of natural and artificial flowers. Discussing the size, form and color of the flower arrangement at a flower shop, Yulya was advised to order the floral decoration for her rented car at the same store. After further discussions she found out that it’s better to order the decorations for the whole ceremony, including the banquet hall at the same place. Looking through the pricelists offered by floral designers on the Internet, I found that it’s now in fashion to decorate cars and halls not only with colored streamers and balloons, but also with floral compositions. Actually, you can have flowers decorating just the bumper or trunk, or all over automobile.
Let me entertain you
Another important element of the wedding celebration is the guest list and the special wedding invitations. When my friend decided she wanted to make it as original as possible, we had to search the Internet and choose between feather, silk, and straw embellishments for the invitations. We found out that at Sakvoyazh studio they create special hand-made invitations, decorated with pressed natural flowers, beads and pictures, accomplished in various colors and forms, which make them look really festive. In case the number of guests will be limited and you want to invite them more personally, you can design different invitations for each guest.
When we were thinking about how to add even more festivity to the wedding celebration, Yulya considered a fireworks show. The couple didn’t end up putting on a huge fireworks spectacle, but the effect was really magical and only cost about Hr 60. You could put on an even bigger show, paying as much as Hr 1,500 depending on the number of the fireworks.
Now that the main preparation work is done, you can start thinking about the entertainment program, which can be as diverse, as you like. You can find a good artist by listening to the recommendations of friends and relatives, but I suggest you consult a wedding planner, since they have a large database of actors, singers, emcees and deejays from which to choose.
Design studios:
Sakvoyazh(3 Surikova, building 3, 251-1179).
Koza (17 Sofiyivska, room 5, 240-0962). www.koza.com.ua
Feyeriya pyrotechnic company (17A Avtozavodska, 430-1301). www.pyro.com.ua
