Lana Discusses Her Traditional Bulgarian Wedding Ceremony

WWE.com has posted a new article detailing Lana and Rusev’s second wedding ceremony that occurred recently in Bulgaria. This was a more traditional Bulgarian ceremony, as opposed to their recent wedding in Malibu.

Lana spoke with WWE.com, and gave a detailed account of this wonderful event. Below are some highlights from the interview:

WWE.COM: For those who don’t know, what is the difference between this ceremony and the one you had at Malibu?

LANA: It was completely different. Specifically starting with the ceremony alone, the Malibu ceremony was on the beach. My dad, who is also a minister, led the ceremony, but it was not a traditional ceremony versus the Bulgarian one, which was in an Orthodox church and everything was very traditional. I also learned very quickly that Rusev doesn’t know all his traditions; it’s really his mother that knows all the traditions. So I quickly had to learn them if we wanted to carry them on. [Laughs]

WWE.COM: What are some of those traditions that you had to learn?

LANA: It’s tradition after tradition after tradition. It literally starts with Rusev going somewhere with his family singing in the streets. Next thing, they pick me up at my apartment, which was technically his apartment at the time, and there’s a whole orchestra with him. The whole city. Half his relatives are there, some of my relatives, drums, accordions, a bagpipe, singers. It was a crazy amount of people. They’re singing in the corridor of the apartment and then they start banging on the door trying to “buy” me, my sister and my bridesmaids. They’re called the negotiators, so they’re negotiating the amount and kept on going back and forth.

Eventually, they break through the door. I hid my shoe, which is another Bulgarian tradition, and he has to find my shoe. There’s 50, 60 people in this three-bedroom apartment. You can’t even move and there’s all this music. He finds my shoe and keeps on putting money in the shoe until it fits me. Then we all go outside and start dancing in the streets. In the Bulgarian culture, everyone can participate in the wedding. Literally, the whole neighborhood is out in the street taking pictures and joining in the dance. Rusev led the dance actually, with the Bulgarian flag. I didn’t know he could dance so well.

Then we get to the church — lots of Orthodox traditions. I had to wear the train and cover my shoulders in the church. I don’t fully understand everything because Russia and Bulgaria are kind of different. We get to the reception and it starts with the one who drinks the wine the quickest. Whoever drinks the wine the quickest is the boss of the home.

WWE.COM: What was your favorite part?

LANA: Beating Rusev both times in drinking the wine the fastest and breaking the bread. That makes me the leader, per the Bulgarian family traditions. We are both very competitive so that was probably my favorite part, knowing I’m in charge. But I’ll let Rusev think he is in charge. [Laughs]