Night marriages were officially registered for the first time in Moscow

Evening check-in

By evening here we mean a ceremony held partly before sunset, partly after . Thanks to changes in lighting, it is possible to start the holiday in daylight and continue with electric light and live fire.

In winter, “evening registration” actually begins during the day – at 15-16 hours. In the summer, when the sun sets at 21-22 (in the north of Russia in June - around midnight), the start of the holiday can be shifted to a later time.

Additionally : Read everything you need to know about field registration here .
Advantages of an evening celebration:

the duration of the event is reduced , the newlyweds and guests will be less tired;
convenient for working guests - there is no need to free up the whole day;
a lot of interesting ideas to “beat” the change in lighting and get spectacular shots at sunset and after it;
The coolness of the evening is more pleasant for a holiday than the summer heat.

Unfortunately, there are also disadvantages:

not all relatives and guests will be satisfied with this format of celebration - you may encounter misunderstanding and refusal to participate in the “non-traditional holiday”;
The evening coolness of summer in the cold season turns into frost and dampness . And even in summer, the coolness and insects can cause quite a lot of inconvenience. It is necessary to take care in advance about the comfort of the ceremony participants.

A disadvantage can also be considered the increase in costs for decorating venue :

Lighting;
Decor;
Blankets;
Heating appliances.

However, this drawback is common to all outdoor ceremonies; only the expense items differ.

The decor for the evening ceremony should be prepared so that it looks advantageous both in daylight and after dark (together with lighting fixtures and backlighting).

Used as decoration for celebrations:

arches and other structures made of flowers , balloons, ribbons, fabrics;
illumination of trees, structures, tables and podiums where painting takes place;
Originally designed seating or standing places for guests , newlyweds, and the registrar.

The wedding night

Every week, more than 100 ceremonies take place at Wedding Palace No. 1, and in the summer more than 30 marriages are registered per day. In total, more than 5,000 families leave here every year. It is not surprising that Muscovites strive to get married in this very place. What attracts lovers first of all is the appearance of the palace - Roerich’s majestic mansion, built at the beginning of the 20th century at 10 Maly Kharitonyevsky Lane. Guests are greeted by luxurious interiors. All rooms are decorated with large mirrors, carpets, upholstered furniture in the style of the last century, and the ceilings are decorated with stucco and crystal chandeliers. It was here that many outstanding people of our country registered strong and happy marriages - Yuri and Valentina Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova and Andriyan Nikolaev, Vladimir Vysotsky and Marina Vladi, Oleg Tabakov and Marina Zudina.

For the night ceremony on 02/02/2020, the lovers have already reserved all the places

“In the past, filing an application for marriage registration in this palace was accompanied by nightly queues at the registry office,” Elena Efremova, head of the Moscow registry office, told RG. — The situation began to change after the opportunity to submit an application online appeared on the unified government services portal. And from December 1, the palace switched to daily operation, and on previous weekends more than 100 applications were submitted for marriage registration.”

Now it has been decided to make the Griboyedov Wedding Palace the first in the country to operate around the clock on weekends. “We know that Moscow does not sleep, but actively lives its life at night. Now it will be more convenient for young people to choose a time to register at any time of the day. The palace will be open from 9:00 am on Saturday until 6:00 pm on Sunday. And from Monday to Friday it will continue to work as usual from 9.00 to 18.00,” added Elena Efremova.

Tatyana and Vadim Savinykh were among the first to become newlyweds last Saturday around 6 p.m. The place, date and time of the ceremony were discussed for a long time, the couple admitted to RG - they had been preparing for the wedding for more than a year: “We had been dating for many years, and when we decided to get married, we set a goal to make the registration day special and remember it for the rest of our lives. We chose Wedding Palace No. 1 because it is the main registry office of the capital, but they couldn’t decide on the time for a long time.” Their closest friends were invited to registration, and since most of them were fans of noisy parties, after the ceremony they immediately went to a nightclub. But it opened only from 21.00. “In order not to wait for the opening, we took the last registration time - 17.00, we didn’t know a year ago that the registry office would be open at night. If they had known, they wouldn’t have signed at midnight.” The Savin family believes that night registration will be popular among young people. This format will also be convenient for those who immediately go on a honeymoon after registration. In social networks, by the way, there are already proposals to organize a themed wedding in the dark, for example, while playing “Mafia”: the city falls asleep. The newlyweds are waking up!

The first applications for night registration have already been received. Beautiful dates, as always, are especially popular. The closest of them is 02/02/2020, which just falls on Sunday. “On the very first day of the opening of night registration for that day, literally in a few hours, all the places were occupied through the public services portal. It turned out to be eight couples who will follow each other from midnight to an hour-long ceremony,” said Elena Filina, head of Wedding Palace No. 1.

Previously, most couples came to apply in person on Saturday after 3 p.m. Often they lined up, so that employees had to go home not at 18.00, as all capital registry offices finish work, but an hour later. Now lovers can relax calmly after the work week and come back with a statement later.

Night ceremony

At its core, an event held at night is similar to an evening wedding . Moreover, the similarity is so great that often the terms “evening field registration” and “night field registration” are considered synonymous.

In fact, the night celebration takes place at a later time, under completely artificial lighting .

Since it gets dark late in the summer, the holiday begins at dusk . In other seasons, the start may be at 19-20 hours - depending on the time of sunset.

The pros and cons of the night celebration largely repeat the advantages and disadvantages of the evening celebration, but there are also differences:

the later the ceremony is scheduled to start, the more elderly and family guests may refuse to participate - their health status and employment do not always allow such nightly entertainment;
lack of lighting will not only “blur” the visual effect of the holiday, it can lead to problems with the orientation of participants in the territory allocated for the celebration, and can cause falls and bruises;
the costs of organizing mandatory and decorative lighting are increasing.

The advantages of a night celebration include romance, sophistication, and a fabulous atmosphere . Artificial lighting, especially live fire, creates the impression of mystery and magic.

For decoration and design of the night ceremony, LED, spotlight, and neon lighting is used .

Additionally : one of the Western traditions that came to us along with exit registration is the exchange of vows . How to prepare? What should be said in an oath? Read more at the link .

The choice of a specific set and/or combination of lighting elements depends on the wedding venue, style, and program features. However, the undisputed leader of “illumination” is considered to be live fire :

path for newlyweds, fenced with candles , torches, lamps with open fire;
decorative elements based on pyrotechnics - fireworks, firecrackers, sparklers, Roman candles, Chinese wheels, fire fountains;
“fire show” as part of the festive and entertainment program;
candles and lamps with live fire in the hands of the newlyweds and guests, as an element of the podium for painting. You can successfully combine this part of the decor with the ceremony of “passing on the family fire.”

Interesting : live fire at a wedding is a continuation of the traditions of the Slavs and other ancient peoples. It is considered a witness to the marriage being concluded, symbolizes the new fire of a new family, “burns out” possible evil and resentment, and serves as the dawn of married life.

Night marriage registration

After you have submitted an application to the registry office, you can safely begin to organize a truly romantic registration by choosing a non-standard time for it - night. Night field registration is most often carried out on the shore of the lake, with a huge number of candles placed around. After the ceremony, the newlyweds can launch fireworks or sky lanterns into the sky. You can invite only family and close friends to the night registration, and continue the festivities in the morning with all your relatives. On-site registration at night can also take place in a restaurant. After the ceremony, you can order a fire show, which will look great at night.

Approximate plan (timing)

Depending on the time and features of the holiday program, the approximate timing of an evening or night outdoor ceremony may look like this :

19.00 – meeting guests, placing them, introductory part. Here the host can briefly outline the history of the newlyweds, talk about the symbolism of the evening/night wedding;
19.30-20.30 – marriage, parting words and congratulations, presentation of gifts, photo shoot and video filming;
20.30 – first dance of the newlyweds, then general dances of the guests, filming;
21.00-21.30 - the beginning of the banquet.

After this, the holiday smoothly “flows” into a traditional feast with toasts, competitions, and entertainment. The end of the celebration is usually planned for midnight or a little earlier.

The first marriage registrations took place at night in the Griboyedovsky registry office - Wedding Palace No. 1, on the night from Saturday to Sunday. On the “beautiful” date, 02.02.2020, eight couples of newlyweds got married - the maximum number that the palace could accept, deputy mayor of the capital Anastasia Rakova told TASS on February 2.

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“This is the most popular registry office in Moscow with a rich history and traditions, which has always been popular with newlyweds. The transition to daily work and to night work on weekends will allow more couples to register their marriage in the legendary Wedding Palace,” the agency quotes Rakova as saying.

The first couple to get married at night were newlyweds Anton and Olesya. They told reporters that they planned to sign in February, but there were no free places for registration in Griboyedovsky. The only free “window” was found on the night of February 2, the day of “four deuces”. “This is an interesting experience for us, and we are glad to be the first newlyweds to get married at night,” says the bride.

Other newlyweds, Alexander and Tatyana, believe that night marriage registrations will be popular among young people who are accustomed to a nocturnal lifestyle. One of the grooms said after registration that after the official procedures, you can immediately go to a party in a nightclub, walk around Moscow at night, and “start a new day as husband and wife.”

Since the end of the year, Moscow Wedding Palaces No. 1 and No. 3 have switched to daily operation. From December 21, the Griboyedovsky registry office is open from 09:00 Saturday to 18:00 Sunday. This means that future newlyweds will now be able to apply and register their marriages at night. The remaining departments of the registry office are waiting for visitors from Tuesday to Saturday from 09:00 to 18:00.

The press service of the Moscow registry offices told TASS that in total, during the day of February 2, 2021, more than 160 couples will register their marriage in five Moscow registry offices. Especially for this purpose, Wedding Palace No. 5 and the Shipilovsky and Gagarinsky Civil Registry Office departments were opened on the weekend.

On Valentine’s Day, February 14, more than 400 couples plan to get married in the city, and on the day of “four twos” on February 20, 2020, more than 1 thousand couples.

As the press service of the Moscow Civil Registry Office reported, in 2021, more than 5.6 thousand marriages were registered at the Griboyedovsky Civil Registry Office. The top five in the ranking included the Shipilovsky, Kutuzovsky, Tagansky and Chertanovsky Civil Registry Office departments.