Wedding Tourism in Russia as a Direction of Diversification of Tourist Flow

Wedding tourism is becoming an increasingly important part of the tourism industry today. The study is aimed at understanding the theoretical basis of weddings, outlining the various motives of wedding tourism and identifying venues for ceremonies. The authors provide classifications of wedding tours and ceremonies. The latter are di-vided into an off-site official registration of marriage, a wedding ceremony, a symbolic wedding and a honeymoon. But the tour itself can be classified as a beach tour, a cultural and historical tour, a ski tour, an extreme tour, etc. The sizes of groups for a honeymoon are given, these are either couples or groups of up to 20 people. The factors of choosing a destination are studied according to their importance for newlyweds. Tourism motiva-tion is an important aspect in understanding the behavior of tourists in choosing a des-tination, especially for the wedding market. Special attention is paid to food, as it reflects personal and cultural identity in life, creates boundaries and differences between cul-tures. The pros and cons of holding a wedding ceremony in Russia are highlighted. Out-standing venues and hotels for holding wedding events are identified. Among the desti-nations, it is worth highlighting St. Petersburg, Kazan, Karelia, Crimea, Sochi, Baikal, the Golden Ring and Moscow.