In Russia there are 10.5 million more women than men and the competition has led them to have the biggest mail order agency in the world. This documentary looks at what it is like to meet a mail order bride, to marry one and to live with one.
51 year old Dave has been dating Alexandra for 3 years since she contact him online and they are now engaged. Alexandra has just graduated with a degree in civil law and is a qualified nurse. While she has been studying Dave has been sending her £60 a week which is more than the average Russian wage. Dave has only met up with Alexandra 5 times in Russia and she has never come to Britain. But now, Alexandra is giving up her law career and coming to start a new life with Dave in Britain in a small village of 1200 people. After being rejected once and trying for months, Alexandra was granted a fiance visa which allows her to stay in Britain for 6 months to test the water before marrying Dave. Dave's daughter Anna is the same age as Alexandra. Anna is not very happy about her Dad sending Alexandra money. Alexandra cannot speak very much english and Anna says she doesnt understand how you can love someone who cant speak to. Dave had been single for 7 years before meeting Alexandra and spent their whole relationship lobbying for her to come and live with him.On her first day, Alexandra says that she is already certain she wont stay the full 6 months. The house is untidy, dirty, she doesnt like the colours of the walls and a lot needs fixing. She adds however tht "its important to see how Dave lives and learn the traditions here as the cuture seems so different. I'd like to see it." Taken on her first day out in Britain, she says the air smells like poo (the village is near to fields of cows) and while eating lunch in a pub, adds that the British cannot cook. She says she likes the atmosphere in the village and realised that Dave likes alcohol more than the Russians, saying 'this was a big surprise and not a pleasant one'. On Alexandras 3rd day in Britain she is starting to feel very homesick and becomes very angry when Dave goes for a pint when she is in the kicthen making him lunch. Alexandra has decided that she is going back to Russia. Although her visa is for 6 months, after 4 weeks she leaves. Alexandra and Dave haven split up but she is not going to return to the UK. Dave's daughter Anna has decided not to see him since Alexandra came to the UK.When Alexandra leaves, Dave is very upset, saying 'I love her so much, probably more than anyone before'.
Over 800 British men a year apply for visas for their Russian brides. 46 year old David hopes to become one of these men. He has been married twice before and has two sons. After his second divorce, he dated women from Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania until he heard about the Russian marriage websites. On one he met Liuda who is a 22 year old restaurant manager. After being in contact for 7 months, Liuda and David met up for the first time and on their 4th day together, they got engaged. Although they have only met once they planned to marry in 2 months. However Liuda's family disapprove of their engagement and in a week David will travel to Siberia to try and convince Luida's family to let them marry. Luida only broke the news of her engagement 6 weeks ago and her family are in shock. Luida's 16 year old sister says 'they only met for four days and they dont speak the same language, they cant understand each other'. David goes over for lunch, but David doesnt speak a word of Russian and the family do not speak english so they cannot communicate very well. The next day David agrees to sit down with Luida's parents to address their concerns about her going to England and this time they get the help of an interpreter. Afterwards, they give their blessing to the marriage. They will be getting married in Prague because Luida cannot come to the UK without a visa. Luida and Dave have known each other for a year, met twice and seen each other for 8 days.Dave has paid for a £700 wedding package and Luida has paid all of her travel expenses.After the wedding and asked how they feel, Dave says "fine, fine" and "when she speaks more english I think it will be better because we'll be able to understand each other more".
Rod is a 51 year old man from Texas who has come to St. Petersburg Russia on a find love tour. Rod wants to get married but his longest relationship was in his 30's for 4 years. He printed off the profiles of his 20 favourite girls from the website in preparation for his trip. He is on the tour with 15 other men who are all white, aged between 37-62 and all bar two are American. They will be going to specially organised parties where the ratio of men to women is 1 - 10. ONe evening Rod goes on a date with a woman he met on the dating website, Svetlana. After a 3 hour date, Rod went back to his hotel. He spent £240 on Svetlana, including a new mobile phone. Realising she only wanted his money, Rod didnt see her again. At the social, there are 150 women to 15 men, 75% of whom are graduates and 50% of whom are under 30. He meets a particular tall blonde woman called Irena and is instantly smitten but then she gets a better off and turns cold on Rod. 20 minutes later he leaves the social with 2 other girls. At the end of his trip, Rod leaves without having met anyone. He decides to return to St Petersburg in a few months to start his search afresh.
Luicda's visa was approved and she is now living in the UK with David.Rod returned to St. petersburg but remains single. Alexandra and Dave have split up. He has since found out that she had been receiving money from another foreign man.
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