Yevhenia Tymoshenko's wedding attracts press, celebrity watchers

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - It was as close to a celebrity wedding as it gets in Ukraine.

Yevhenia Tymoshenko, the only daughter of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, married British rock singer Sean Carr at the Church of the Transfiguration at the Vydubytskyi Monastery.

About 150 guests from Ukraine, Europe and beyond attended the simple 50-minute Orthodox ceremony conducted in Ukrainian at the modest Kyiv Patriarchate church. A Scottish bagpiper played as the guests arrived.

Mr. Carr said his marital vows in English, while his bride did so in Ukrainian.

Greeting the couple outside the monastery's gates was a sea of at least 75 reporters, cameramen and photographers, as well as 100 Ukrainian well-wishers eager to catch a glimpse of Ukraine's most popular couple.

Of course, they were also there to see the bride's mother.

"The sort of woman like Yulia Volodymyrivna comes around only once in 100 years," said Liudmyla Zaleska, 61. "Our government, our whole country should be proud of a woman like her."

About a dozen "babusi" (elderly women) gathered together shouted words of encouragement, such as "Bazhayemo schastia!," (We wish you good luck) and "Happy wedding!"

Star-struck Orthodox priests also were snapping photos.

Mr. Carr is the 36-year-old lead singer of an obscure rock band, the Death Valley Screamers, while the 24-year-old Ms. Tymoshenko graduated from the London School of Economics.

While voicing support for Yevhenia's decision, the choir of babusi had mixed feelings about the pony-tailed Mr. Carr, who bears a tattoo of an alien emerging from his stomach.

"From our mentality, he looks like the hero of Halloween," said Larysa Seredenko, 65, shrugging her shoulders. "But if she chose him..."

In fact, few Ukrainians could explain why a highly educated woman would marry a heavy metal singer from a marginal rock band who received two years' probation in Great Britain for assault.

In September, his ex-partner Emma Carr told the British tabloid, The Mail on Sunday, that Mr. Carr was an alcoholic and a cocaine abuser. She alleged that on Christmas day 2002 he flew into such a drunken rage that he broke her jaw and knocked out two of her teeth.

If Yulia Tymoshenko had reservations about her daughter's decision, she didn't reveal them. "He is a nice person and he adores my daughter," Mrs. Tymoshenko said. "That's the most important thing."

Church bells chimed at 1:15 p.m., announcing the arrival of the former prime minister in a black Mercedes car.

When she stepped out, many in the crowd gasped in admiration of her beauty. No longer wearing her braid, the 44-year-old's thick wavy locks draped down her bare back, revealing Mrs. Tymoshenko's feminine allure that's typically suppressed when she's toiling in politics.

It appeared she had dyed her hair blond, which matched her low-cut, copper-silver Louis Vuitton dress, which is Mrs. Tymoshenko's favorite clothing label and also extremely popular among Europe's elite.

Mr. Carr had already been waiting at the monastery when his future mother-in-law arrived, tensely puffing away at cigarettes. After all, Yevhenia was more than a half-hour late.

He and his groomsmen, all decked in tuxedos, hung out in a renovated black retro Chaika, the Soviet version of a 1950s Oldsmobile that was available only to the elite Communist Party members.

Renting Chaikas for weddings has become a tradition in Ukraine, similar to Americans renting limousines.

Yevhenia's bridesmaids packed themselves in a second black Chaika.

When Yulia Tymoshenko arrived, she approached Mr. Carr's Chaika. He emerged and they stood arm-in-arm, waiting for the bride to arrive, joking with each other.

As everyone waited for Yevhenia, Mr. Carr's eclectic group of guests filed into the monastery. They included women with their hair dyed pink, entertainment promoters with models on their arms, and other rockers, including a fellow whose shaved head was covered with tattoos.

Church bells chimed loudly 10 minutes later, announcing the bride's arrival in a white Chaika. She emerged in a long white Louis Vuitton dress with a lace top. Bridesmaids held up her dress and veil. Her hair was dark and straight, exactly like her mother's had once been.

Escorted from her Chaika by her father, Oleksander Tymoshenko, with whom she had lived with in London, Yevhenia greeted her mother and her future husband, all the while clutching a stuffed pink pig.

Oleksander and Yulia Tymoshenko are still married, but widely known not to be living with each other.

Mr. Carr took her Yevhenia by the arm and the wedding party entered the monastery.

Belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), the 11th-century Vydubytskyi Monastery was not the newlyweds' first choice by far.

The couple had originally planned to wed in the Ripley Castle in Mr. Carr's hometown of Yorkshire, but they scrapped such plans after the British tabloids exposed his dirty laundry.

Then the couple announced they were going to marry in the Kyivan Caves Monastery (Pecherska Lavra).

However, as soon as the media got wind of the news, Ms. Tymoshenko and her mother saw a potential public relations problem, said Father Abbott Yevstratyi Zoria, spokesman of the UOC-KP.

Ms. Tymoshenko and her mother became concerned that choosing the Caves Monastery would give the image of a luxurious wedding in which the couple wanted all of Ukraine's attention, Father Yevstratyi said. Ukraine's wealthy and elite often select the Caves Monastery for their wedding ceremonies.

Eventually, the Tymoshenkos chose the Church of the Transfiguration because it was located at the less-conspicuous Vydubytskyi Monastery, Father Yevstratyi said.

It's not unlikely that they chose the site because it is a Kyiv Patriarchate church, he said.

The Church of the Transfiguration is the smallest and most modest of the three churches at the monastery. Built between 1696 and 1701, the church's floor still consists of wooden boards. Depictions of Biblical events decorate the walls, which have a dark blue background.

Two simple floral arcs and a few bouquet stands decorated the church for the wedding. Ukrainians examining the church afterwards expressed surprise at the 30 chairs brought inside for the wedding. Few, if any, Orthodox churches in Ukraine have benches or chairs.

In another twist, the Tymoshenkos decided Mr. Carr would get baptized in a Moscow Patriarchate Church, Father Yevstratyi said. Several days before the wedding, Mr. Carr was baptized in St. Panteleimon Cathedral in Feofaniya, a village in the Kyiv Oblast, he said.

Mr. Carr and his wife did not comment on why this decision was made.

Some Ukrainian journalists suspected the inter-confessional ceremonies were done out of political correctness, or Yulia Tymoshenko's desire not to offend eastern or western Ukraine.

As an infant, Mr. Carr had been baptized in the Anglican Church. Given that the Kyiv Patriarchate is a non-canonical Church, meaning that no other Orthodox Church recognizes it, its leadership accepted Mr. Carr's baptism in a Moscow Patriarchate Church, as well as his claim that he was never before married, Father Yevstratyi said.

A Moscow Patriarchate church, however, would not have recognized a baptism in a Kyiv Patriarchate church because it doesn't acknowledge its legitimacy.

The couple emerged from the monastery each holding an embroidered ritual cloth and icon. They toasted with tall champagne flutes, then smashed them onto the ground as part of Ukrainian tradition.

Without commenting to the press, the newlyweds quickly dashed into their white Chaika, fleeing a stampede of a few dozen photographers.

Although the church ceremony was intentionally modest, a far more lavish reception took place at Kyiv's Krystal Palace, an exclusive new restaurant.

The couple didn't invite President Viktor Yushchenko to the wedding.

However, the Yushchenkos gave them an icon of the Virgin Mary and the Savior, an antique embroidered ritual cloth from their collection and a photo album.

Yevhenia Tymoshenko has changed her name to Yevhenia Carr, but the couple said they plan to live in Kyiv. Their first trip as a married couple will be to Mr. Carr's native Yorkshire, according to news reports.

The Carrs met at an Egyptian Red Sea resort bar in 2004. Apparently, it was Yevhenia who had asked for Mr. Carr's telephone number.

Will the marriage work out?

"We've wished them a happy marriage and a long life together," said one babusia. "Only God knows the rest."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 9, 2005, No. 41, Vol. LXXIII

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