Passage of time in Armenia is on a different bend – the hours last much longer.  On Monday we were preoccupied with a wedding celebration.   I felt like everything that happened in that one day took place over a several day period.  I’ll explain our relation, or rather Lusine’s family’s relation, to the groom.  Ready?  The groom’s sister is married to Lusine’s parent’s Godchild.  In Armenian weddings, in addition to a best man and maid of honor, there’s a couple that serves as the newlyweds "Kavor" and "Kavorgin".  This couple usually also becomes the "Gnkahayr" and "Gnkamayr", the Godparents, for the couples future children.  So Lusine’s parents are Godparents to the couple that became Godparents for the newlyweds and their future offspring.  Make sense?  Okay I’ll move on.

Armenian weddings are a huge production.  I’m going to give you a very short and fast version.  First, early in the morning we dressed up and drove to the groom’s house.  His friends and family were gathered there along with a traditional Armenian band of ‘dhol, zurna, and clarinet’ musicians to lead the party in a dance procession out of the house and on their way to go pick up the bride.  The guests danced with trays of party favors and other goodies high up in the air.  The music and dancing continued out on the street and all the neighbors poured out of their homes to witness the celebration. 

The groom and guests dancing on the street outside of the groom’s house. 

On the road to the bride's house. 

We passed through suburban looking neighborhoods.

And cows grazing along the village road.

The bride lived in a village called Abaran about 45 minutes away from the city.  We got to the bride's house and her family and friends were waiting for our arrival.  At this point the bride was dressed but didn’t have her veil or shoes on.  The women chanted congratulatory messages as they twirled the veil over her head several times.  Then one of the men put her shoes on and the musicians started up again as soon as she stood up. 

The bride getting her veil fitted by the groom’s aunt.

We danced with the bride, put her in the groom’s car and headed towards the church. 

Before we got to church, on the way we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures with the letters of the Armenian alphabet carved out of stone.

Here’s Lusine followed by her sister Marine, making their way down towards the letters.

And here’s me posing next to the letters “S” and “V”, the initials of my first name and my brother’s first name.  They happen to be next to each other because in the Armenian alphabet they follow in that order.

This is a shot of Holy Trinity Church in Bangladesh (a section of Yerevan, closest to the grooms house) where the bride and groom were wed.

The bride and groom at the altar at the end of the wedding ceremony.  They are being congratulated by family and friends. 

After the marriage ceremony, we took a taxi ride home to change our clothes and get ready for the banquet hall reception while the bride and groom went to take pictures.  The rest of the night we ate, danced, and celebrated with the happy couple.  This is my short and fast version and I’m sticking to it :)

The bride and groom are lifted up in the air to dance together as king and queen for the day.

I hope the pictures convey the great time we had.  Next time I hope to share some pictures of the places we visited in Yerevan’s main square.