Cossack Kid

Me and Mrs Smith were invited to a wonderful wedding today.

Campbell from Edinburgh was marrying Olga from St Petersburg. So it was a fascinating clash of cultures.

The Russian tradition is not to have long winded speeches at the end of the wedding meal but rather to allow anyone from the floor to grab the microphone at regular intervals and make a toast at which point the entire party has to stand, raise a glass of vodka and neck it back. Also at the end of each toast the newly married couple have to start snogging whilst everyone claps their hands and counts aloud how many seconds they can kiss for before they have to emerge for air.

Because half the people in attendance were from Russia and the other half were from Scotland every toast had to be translated so the dinner took a long long time and each table had bottles of vodka encased in ice which were constantly replenished.

Campbell and Olga are a lovely couple and it was a great event.

This little fella was from St Petersburg and looked very cute marching around in his mini cossack outfit. I asked his Mum if I could take a photo and she nodded. As soon as he saw me with my camera he whipped out his dagger! Now at Scottish weddings we have plenty of Sgian Dubhs but this is in another league altogether!!

I avoided him for the rest of the day.