Sergei Sobyanin: Moscow gets four more marriage registration venues
Today is the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. For those entering the happy period of starting a family, Moscow offers approximately 200 wedding spots, including 11 wedding palaces, 135 government service centers, and more than 40 off-site venues, Sergei Sobyanin divulges on his MAX channel.
“Museums, old mansions, hotels, and even stadiums are accessible for taking an official wedding ceremony under the New Locations of Happiness project, as wished by newlyweds. The most popular spot is still the OKO Tower in the Moscow-City International Business Center — on the 84th floor with a panoramic view of the capital,” the Moscow Mayor writes.
Source: Sergei Sobyanin’s Max channel
In 2026, the authorities have added four more off-site marriage registration locations: in the restored Vorontsovo Estate, on Gogolevsky Boulevard as part of the Summer in Moscow initiative, and at two Theater Boulevard sites, namely, near the Polytechnic Museum and on Chistoprudny Boulevard.
Over the past years, more than 80,000 couples have chosen off-site wedding venues; approximately 6,000 have got married outside of the ordinary marriage registration offices since the beginning of 2026.
Popular hotspots
About 7,200 couples got married on the 84th floor of the OKO Tower in the Moscow-City International Business Center.
The runner-up trendy venue is the 19th-century Spiridonov Mansion at 9/1 Maly Gnezdnikovsky Pereulok, which has been chosen by over 6,000 newlywed couples. Meanwhile, more than 4,600 lovers joined themselves in wedlock at the Church of Matrona of Moscow (58/12 Taganskaya Street). The National Hotel (15/1, Bldg. 1 Mokhovaya Street), with approximately 4,300 newlywed couples, and the Opera House in Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve (1/5 Dolskaya Street) chosen by about 2,500 couples are à la mode, too.
Custom-tailored theme-specific wedding ceremonies
In particular, the New Locations of Happiness offers a range of custom-tailored theme-specific wedding ceremonies. Over the past seven years, Moscow registry offices have held 25 events of that kind, including ceremonies onboard a BCL metro train, underwater in the main aquarium of the Moskvarium Oceanography and Marine Biology Center, on horseback in the historic equestrian arena in VDNKh’s Center of National Equestrian Traditions, and against the backdrop of cherry blossoms in the Biryulyovsk Arboretum.
In particular, since the beginning of 2026, exclusive wedding parties have taken place at Luzhniki Ice Rink, the newlyweds and all the guests staying on skates, in the Garden of Gratitude, which was set in honor of medical workers on the grounds of Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine, at Sokolniki metro station (BCL), at the Chess Museum on Gogolevsky Boulevard, and on Tverskoy Boulevard in the presence of the couple’s favorite pet.
On July 8, the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity, Moscow registry offices will hold official marriage registration ceremonies at four Moscow-based universities under the National Family Diploma drive. They will also run a parallel marriage registration campaign for couples from across the country as part of the 3rd National Wedding Festival, the event to take place at the Russia National Center.
Meanwhile, on July 26 — one of the most popular dates of the year — they will hold a sweeping wedding ceremony on the Moscow Sun Ferris Wheel. A New Locations of Happiness hotspot since 2023, it is chosen by 26 couples to tie the knot at an altitude of 140 meters. The ceremonies will take place almost simultaneously.
Wedding ceremonies in Moscow
Today, Moscow offers almost 200 wedding venues in all, including 11 wedding palaces, more than 40 off-site wedding registration venues, and 135 government service centers.
Approximately six out of ten young couples choose a formal wedding ceremony, including 75 per cent of those who get married at wedding palaces and about 25 per cent doing so at a New Locations of Happiness venue.
Marriage registration applications can be submitted on the government service (Gosuslugi) web-portal, via mos.ru, or at a wedding palace; the registration duty is RUB 350.