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Two priests crown Helen and Girma as king and queen of their household in preparation for the nuptial rite., Katrina Thomas's notes: There are dozens of ethnic groups in Ethiopia, speaking over 80 languages, but historically its population has been considered Orthodox Christian. I photographed Coptic wedding traditions which, I'm told, have endured since 326 B.C. The couples wear crowns and robes, usually provided by the church. The language of the liturgy is classical Ethiopic, known as Ge'ez, and that of the service is Amharic, the modern language of Ethiopia. Their celebrations include the newlyweds and guests feeding one another the national dish, enjera watt, spicy meat wrapped in a moist pancake. During the feast, guests honor the newlyweds by dancing in front of them, clapping their hands while moving their shoulders with joyous energy.

When Marek arrives at Dominika's house, she runs out to greet him with a hug and a kiss, pinning a flower to his jacket. She wears native dress, white for a bride -- a skirt, a vest with sequins and gold embroidery, and a cotton blouse with cutwork sleeves. Before they proceed to church for the nuptial rite, the two will go inside her house and kneel to receive a parental blessing., Katrina Thomas's notes: These highlanders from the Tatra mountains, emigrating since WWII to a neighborhood in Chicago, have built there a community hall in mountain-style Gorale architecture. They are the only Poles in the U.S. who retain a wedding culture dress, customs, unique music, and songs in dialect preserved in the isolated region of their homeland. Historically shepherds, the men sing from deep in their chests and play stringed instruments, which they call fiddles, their voices and music echoing from mountainsides while their sheep grow fat. Traditions have not changed appreciably since the 19th century. The couple marrying is accompanied by fiddlers to the nuptial rite and into the church, to the wedding breakfast, and into the evening reception. Gypsy impersonators may bar the newlyweds from the wedding breakfast until given the fare they demand. During the reception, fiddlers play polkas, mazurkas, czardas, two-step, and even rock 'n roll for dancing. At the close of the celebration, an extensive farewell, lasting more than an hour, is the cepoviny, played out in music and song, releasing the bride to her husband, only after many warnings to her and jokes about married life.

In front of a rug portraying Mecca, Hanan and Naim sit side by side displaying henna designs on their palms with the initials of their names. By the end of the evening, added to the necklace and earrings Hanan wears, will be a quantity of gold put on her by Naim. Hanan's mother made her Palestinian thob with its colorful embroidery and insets of gold brocade., Katrina Thomas's notes: I photographed Arab Muslim celebrations billed as engagements, henna evenings and weddings in Brooklyn, NY and also in Dearborn, MI, which maintains the largest concentration of Arabs in the U.S. Couples may be matched; some meet at family weddings. Muslims make a distinction between marriage and a wedding. The marriage solemnizes a written or an oral agreement, al-mahr, money awarded to the bride by the bridegroom, and usually takes place privately in the home. It is not photographable because the bride and groom remain in separate rooms. Presumably, the marriage is not consummated until after the wedding, which announces the union of man and wife to the community. It takes place any time from a few hours after the marriage to a few years. A henna evening may be celebrated before either or both. The bridegroom's family pays for all festivities. What is distinctive besides the lack of alcohol, except clandestinely, and the sexes being divided so that women dance on one side of the hall and men dance -- dipping, hopping, stamping their feet -- on the other side, is that the bride and groom do not participate. They sit like royalty on a dais presiding over their jubilant guests.

In a crowded living room at the bridegroom's home, family members and guests witness the nuptials. The two mothers kneel on either side of Soodabeh and Shahram, while young women grind sugar for good luck onto the canopy over the heads of the bridal couple., Katrina Thomas's notes: Few Pakistanis emigrated until 1971 but half a million live in the U.S. today. In Pakistan most marriages are arranged, the Muslim men and women celebrating in separate rooms or tents. I photograph two weddings, but agree not to release photos of the arranged marriage because although the sexes celebrate together, the women of the Ahmadiyya movement, a strict Muslim sect, must not have their pictures published. The marriage illustrated was not arranged. The bride and bridegroom, schooled in both Pakistan and the West, fell in love. They are the children of international parents, each with a Pakistani father and a mother of mixed heritage. During a pre-wedding henna evening in a private apartment, they retain but reorder wedding traditions of the Sindh province. On the following day, they are married in a Muslim nuptial rite. Their wedding is celebrated at a diplomatic reception that evening.

At a wedding uniting two Anglo-Saxon cultures, Nancy and David combine their strength to cut a British groom's cake with a hard marzipan icing. Next to it is an American wedding cake which they will share., Katrina Thomas's notes: Wedding customs of the British do not differ much from the American standard. However, there is often a cake with a hard marzipan or royal icing. At the wedding reception of a British subject in New York City, the newlyweds, an American girl and her English bridegroom, cut this cake. Its hard icing proves a challenge.

Arthur pours arrhaes/arras, thirteen gold coins which were blessed by a priest, into Maria's hands as a token of his commitment to share his wealth and to care for all her needs. The couple must not drop a coin because, dropping even one, predicts coming misfortune in their new life together., Katrina Thomas's notes: Nearly three million Filipinos live in the U.S., bringing with them the Spanish, Mexican and American cultural mix of the islands. Most are Roman Catholics, who include the Spanish coin ceremony, the giving of arrhaes/arras, thirteen pieces of gold or silver by the groom to the bride as part of the marriage contract. During the nuptial mass, their sponsors place the bride's veil over the bridegroom's shoulders, adding a laso, a long silken cord or white string of flowers, which they entwine around the necks of the couple in the form of the mathematical symbol of infinity.

A mullah directs the nuptials for Shahram and Soodabeh, sitting under a white shawl with an open Koran on their laps. A marriage table-cloth, the sofraye aghd, fills the space of the living room with many traditional items placed on it for good luck., Katrina Thomas's notes: Few Pakistanis emigrated until 1971 but half a million live in the U.S. today. In Pakistan most marriages are arranged, the Muslim men and women celebrating in separate rooms or tents. I photograph two weddings, but agree not to release photos of the arranged marriage because although the sexes celebrate together, the women of the Ahmadiyya movement, a strict Muslim sect, must not have their pictures published. The marriage illustrated was not arranged. The bride and bridegroom, schooled in both Pakistan and the West, fell in love. They are the children of international parents, each with a Pakistani father and a mother of mixed heritage. During a pre-wedding henna evening in a private apartment, they retain but reorder wedding traditions of the Sindh province. On the following day, they are married in a Muslim nuptial rite. Their wedding is celebrated at a diplomatic reception that evening.

Wedding guests watch while See's messengers call out the names of every deceased or living relative of the bride. Each one is honored by Toua and his best man by falling to the floor and kowtowing twice., Katrina Thomas's notes: Originally inhabiting the mountainous regions of southern China and northern areas of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, a few Hmong began to emigrate from Laos starting in 1975. Due to devastation and loss during the Vietnam War, an estimated 145, 000 came to the U.S. The first wedding I photograph is Hmong Christian in Minneapolis in1986. Later weddings, photographed in Fresno, CA, retain their animist traditions, heeding the spirits and demons of nature, and honoring ancestors. The couple meet when playing a courtship game of pom pov during a festival held in late December and if a boy and girl like each other, he kidnaps her and sends a message to her family that he wants to marry. In preparing for every wedding four "messengers, two from each family, negotiate her bride price, which is preceded by a tie hand" rite, designed to facilitate a favorable outcome. The wedding itself is feasting and ritual drinking by men, according to many rules, while the bridegroom and best man genuflect constantly to honor living and dead members of both families. As the Hmong have become integrated into mainstream society, many of their marriage customs have disappeared.

Rita and Michael dance their "first dance" to a slow Syrian song, sung in a western style. A popular custom is the sticking of pins, shaped as three crucifixes, in the back of the bridegroom's tuxedo for good luck., Katrina Thomas's notes: Those who call themselves Assyrians claim descent from the ancient Assyrian empire, emigrating from any one of Middle Eastern states. They belong generally to the Church of the East or the Church of Antioch. I photographed two weddings and snapped one picture at the nuptial rite of a third. Nuptials are conducted in Aramaic, the first two in Chicago at St. George's Church; the other in Turlock, CA at Mar Addai Church of the East. The couple stand briefly under metal crowns with a twisted cord, symbol of the crowning, which is taken home. Before putting on their rings, the priest blesses them in a goblet of wine and water. At huge receptions, hundreds of richly dressed guests, some in traditional velvet, greet the newlyweds with clapping, dancing, and singing while waving scarves and canes.

Before Ikbal enters the gurdwara for the nuptial rite, his sisters attach to his red turban a "sehra, a headpiece, which is wedding jewelry for men, made of silver, gold strings and pearls., Katrina Thomas's notes: Sikh culture is based on a distinctive religion, founded more than 500 years ago by a mystic in the Punjab, a region of the northwest Indian subcontinent. It is a monotheistic creed which bridges the gap between Hinduism and Islam. In the 19th century many Sikhs emigrated, specifically to California, looking for work in lumbering and railroad construction. Their temples, known as gurdwaras, are centers of religious, communal, and political activities. Many couples are matched. They have faith in the wisdom of their families, who match them, and tend to stay together because of the parental support they receive in times of marital trouble. I photograph first in Richmond Hill, Queens, NY, where many Sikhs reside, and later in Yuba City, CA, where there are three gurdwaras. The course of a wedding includes the arrival of the barat/the groom's party, the milni/the greeting of the two families, the anand karaj/the nuptial rite which is followed by lunch and dancing in the bride's home or rented hall, and the doli, being the sad departure of the bride, leaving her family for her husband's home.