So here is the deal with a Belrussian wedding:
It starts the night before, meals and drinks are prepared at the home of the bride, the bride stays with her parents and the groom comes to their house the day of the wedding to "buy" his bride from her family. Nowadays, it is still a tradition, but more of a joke, and the bride's family just gives the groom and his friends a bad time and the brides' friends have them do a lot of silly tasks in order for him to be "allowed" his bride, if that makes sense. So, us girls had a bunch of numbers representing various things about Tonya (9=her dog's age, 3=house number of her mother, etc) he picked a number and when he got it wrong, he had to write on a piece of paper that he would never forget that number ever again. At the end, he signed the piece of paper. After much scrutany and agony on his part, Andrew eventually successfully bought his bride.

Then, the families came together over much food and drink. They toasted a lot (mind you, it is 10am) and ate food, then it was off in a line of cars to the place of the wedding. The location of the wedding is determined by where the groom lives. Andrew lives near the center of the town, so his wedding is located at a chapel in the center of town. People in Belarus do not get to chose their location, and on any given Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you can see many brides and grooms around the city.

Tradition is that everyone attending the wedding ride in a line-up of decorated, nice cars. Tonya and Andrew had about 8 cars all lined up and we drove 15 minutes to the church. We all enter the church together. They sign a book to officialize their nuptuals, the bride's friend and groom's
friend sign the book as witnesses, then the group of people take turns giving them flowers. We then say a few toasts, then go around to a few monuments, placing the flowers at the base of them. We stop at every monument, drink more and take pictures.

Belarus weddings, as far as I can tell, are a lot more informal. They involve a lot of drinking (e.g. I had 3 shots of vodka and 2 glasses of champagne by 11:30am), are a lot of fun and involve all the family members and friends. I think by the end of the weekend there had been about 100 toasts:)

Here are some pictures:

Tonya getting ready for her big day, the girls, Tonya and Andrew before they approached the alter.





There are a lot of different traditions surrounding a wedding in Belarus. Tonya had to rub a staue's penis, and family would not let them pass until Andrew gave them drinks. Andrew constantly had to bribe Tonya's family, so his best man had to carry a bag with money, alcohol, etc.




Tonya and Andrew did not have a traditional wedding party where all people who attended the wedding go and drink and eat together. They wanted it to be just close friends and family so Tonya's brother planned a trip to Vilnius, Lithuania. So a few of us headed to Lithuania right after the ceremony.

Some pictures of Vilnius, Lithuania.

Tonya and Andrew in Vilnuis, Lithuania. They were surprised with a hot air balloon ride over the city at sunset, and them cutting their cake when they returned from their balloon ride.

Trakai Castle in Lithuania!

The girls in the spa after a dip in the pool and sauna time. The group at lunch after the castle. Emilee on a yacht around the lake.