Saturday walk among wedding couples

You you take a walk in Almaty biggest parks and squares on Fridays or Saturdays you won't miss a caravan of wedding couples taking pictures and leaving flowers at historical sites. Here are some pictures from the Saturday walk in the Panfilov park of 28 heroes.

In 20 minutes we have seen 8 wedding couples. Can you see three of them?

The necessary part of the wedding ceremony in all post-soviet countries is a wedding train of several cars. Usually the couple rent limos (hummer limousines are very popular, the more the better ;)) for a tour around the city sights with the guests. The cars are decorated with ribbons and flowers.

In Almaty the couples lay flowers at the so-called "eternal fire" place in memory of people who died in the World War II.

Even if there are some couples who live together without being married it is not always accepted by the society, especially of they have children. So the average age of getting married in Kazakhstan is 24 for women and 26 for men.

The traditional Kazakh marriage usually takes three days with lots of different rites. There are three important aspects: marriage is forbidden to any couple related over the past seven generations. In addition, the male should be older than the female. Finally, the nomadic tradition of stealing a bride is still practiced, although rarely, by some Kazakhs.

The Snow Queen

There is no way back ;)