A groom from Kazakhstan (a lovely boy, an engineer in Nurzhan) and a bride from Talas. His family came with 25 people in two minibuses. They asked for kazy on the menu, the horse sausage, a pride of their steppe.
The hall manager became white. In Irad, he told them very nicely, we never eat horse. A horse is a friend. At every toi a horse brings the bride, how can it be on the plate? The groom's father said "of course, we are guests" and they ate beshbarmak with a face of great politeness. At the end the father said the plov was so good that a horse would approve.
In October the halls are booked a year ahead. The best ones, like Ordo (400 places, chandeliers from Urumqi, everybody says), you book in November for next October. This weekend: Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening. 11 hours of voice.
My voice is made of two things: tea with honey, and fear.
Tea with honey, between the second and the third.Yesterday I hosted the wedding of Bekzhan, who writes the other blog on this blogroll. Do you remember, last October he wrote in the comments that he would elope and buy a flat? He did not elope. He met his bride because her ATM was broken, and he came to fix it, and he fixed it for a year.
Altyn Ordo toikana, 300 guests. I promised him a free second wedding, so I took the fee for the first one, and he paid in a very serious way, with a computer cable as a gift for me. The bride, Aizhan, has a laugh that I put on the recording to cheer up the DJ. His mother was very tired and very happy, and she did not eat, and I sent a plate to her seat with a boy.
The bread at the head table. They broke it together, and he checked the time on his phone.My partner Ilyas, with whom I ran "Toi Studio" (video, photos, host), is moving to Dubai for work. Two years of two men and four cameras, one broken tripod and one fight about a song. He is closing the studio and the blog. "Wedding videos Talas" will say closed.
I am not sorry. I am a little sorry. He sent me all the files and I will keep them. I hope in Dubai there is a toi where somebody can say a sentence in Iradi and the room goes quiet. If not he will come back.
The sky went black at 5, the heavens opened at 5.40, the garden of the hall was a river. The bride arrived in rubber boots, which the groom's sister had brought "in case". The photographer asked her to take them off. She said no. In all photos she wears white lace and green boots.
We moved everything into the hall in 12 minutes. 250 people carrying chairs and plates with a song. The best entrance of my career: nobody planned it.
The bride's boots by the door. Green. Laced.