Global Voices Online

The summer months are the perfect time to get married. Kyrgyzstani couples are no exception to this and so, bloggers from the country are reporting both in photos and in text from their friends' weddings.

Azamat is realising a trend among his male friends:

Last Saturday marked the opening of the wedding season among my male friends (many female friends are already married), most of whom are in mid-20s. They all suddenly realized that it is time to get married.

Azamat is, however, resistant to peer pressure:

I am not getting married anytime soon. :)

Many wedding ceremonies in the mountainous country are very Western, including the one Tamara went to recently:

My friends got married yesterday, and the wedding was great. I didn't know that it is possible to organize such a ceremony in Kyrgyz conditions. The wedding took place in Kois Tash resort area, near the river, there were tennis courts and modern cottages.

Young couple had their registration next to the river, and the sound of violins made the whole picture even more romantic…

Only the weather cannot be influenced in Kyrgyzstan either, says Tamara:

Everything was great… except… it was raining, and cold.

The day of choice for many newly-weds was the 7th of July, 2007, thought to bring luck and happiness to the couples.

Notabene (one of the Kloop blogs) said (RU):

Today is 07/07/07. A lot of weddings. The central ZAGS [registration authority] had 63 just married couples, while the usual figure for a Saturday is around 40.

Elena Skochilo (LJ user morrire) took a lot of beautiful pictures while at the ZAGS on the same day, such as this one:

Elena says:

Some of them had to wait for three days, and some had to spend the night at the ZAGS to submit their application for the wedding. Some got married at that day easily. A pair of pigeon costs 200 soms, and it was a real mess and huge crowd in the bride-room! Most grooms were in light costumes, while one of the brides was in a red dress, which is unusual.

There were some comments on the ZAGS itself. For example:

le petit tank
What an awful ZAGS!

Morrire:
Our ZAGS is a really awful place to get married. Everything is in Soviet style, and at the entrance the poor couples can see nothing but ongoing construction and prostitutes!

So the Bishkek ZAGS is a place known for gathering of prostitutes. Insane, huh?

On the Diesel forum, there is also a thread on weddings taking place that very day:

Ainura Chanybaeva, head of the ZAGS says that it is good to see that the number of interethnic marriages has been growing for the past couple years.

Ravva jokes around:

Will it also bring luck if one gets a divorce on the this day?

Thanks to Asel for helping out with translations!