In his youth, while working for the merchant Sharapov, Ivan Sytin went to the Nizhny Novgorod Fair several times. In 1872, in a letter to Ivan Sytin from his father, one can find a kind of parental advice,

Sharapov also agreed with this point. Therefore, when Ivan turned 24, the merchant personally found a bride for him. It was Yevdokiya Ivanovna Sokolova. The bride’s father was a pastry chef for wedding balls.

The girl was sixteen years old. She was pretty, modest, homely, and of all the entertainments she knew only going to the theater with her father and to church. Sharapov also went to the viewing with Ivan. At the end of the viewing, Ivan asked the girl out on a date in the Neskuchny Garden, and a couple of weeks later the young people sent out their wedding invitations that read,

The invitation card to the wedding of Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin and Yevdokiya Ivanovna Sokolova and to the ball in honor of this event is displayed in the museum. It is made on turquoise paper and its design is reminiscent of an antique oval mirror. The oval is bordered by gold embossing with a pattern stamped at the corners. The event was a traditional wedding typical of the merchant class, with music and dancing, very cheerful and crowded. At first, the newlyweds settled in two small rooms in Sharapov’s house, on the mezzanine. Unfortunately for them, the housekeeper Stepanidushka was in charge of the household and, according to Sytin, everyone “knew to follow and unquestioningly obey” her instructions, so the young family soon found the opportunity to move into their own house. They married in 1876 and lived together for almost half a century, raising ten children — six sons and four daughters.