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After the ceremony, sitting in front of the Buddhist altar, Yong Soo and Hyun Joo bow to each other three times, he to her, and her to him, and then both together., Katrina Thomas's notes: Koreans emigrated to Hawaii first in 1903. Most came to the U.S. after 1965. Although Korean society is built on a complex of Confucian and Buddhist precepts, those here are largely Christian, but respect Confucian rules, which emphasize fealty to family and the authority of an elder or one of higher rank. Weddings are marked by much ceremonial bowing. A unique ceremony at the end, known as p'yebaek, officially accepts the bride into the bridegroom's family. Whereas formerly it was accomplished after the arrival of the newlyweds at the home of the bridegroom's parents, their conjugal home, today it is performed at the reception.

Birjis bargained with Sophia's brothers, who demanded a high price for her hand, but in the end he won his bride for love. After dinner, he dances with guests to recorded Pakistani music. Although traditionally danced only by women, everyone joins in., 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.

During the banquet, even though Jimmy and Anna were not matched but fell in love, their wedding guests are entertained by games for promoting intimacy. The master of ceremonies dangles a piece of chicken for the couple to take a first bite. The chicken pieces are head and tail, its significance being the beginning and the end., Katrina Thomas's notes: The precepts of a Chinese wedding, laid down in feudal times before the Christian era, stipulate a go-between, who seeks genealogical and horoscope data for matching the couple and for fixing the date for the bride's transfer to the groom's household. Upon her arrival in the conjugal home, the bride pays ceremonial respect to the bridegroom's family and ancestors before the marriage may be consummated. In the U.S. many customs have been abandoned for marriages of couples who fall in love. I photograph Chinese wedding customs three times: one in Chinatown, NYC where the bride's family is mostly absent because her father is dying; another, a mixed marriage in Massachusetts; and the last one in two locations, California and New York City because the couple fell in love while attending architectural school in NYC. Her family lives there; his family lives in St. Louis, MO. They fly to California for their banquet celebration so that her 84 year-old grandmother can be present.

Abdel and Dyane, who are black Muslims, are married by a judge in a unique ceremony created by Abdel, using traditional elements. The bride's hair has been braided into a lattice studded with gold beads, which she wears as a veil over her face. In Africa the beads would be cowrie shells, symbols of wealth. They marry during Kwanzaa, a seven-day African American holiday celebrated since 1966., Katrina Thomas's notes: African American celebrations keep assorted traditions, dating from the days of slavery, or improvised from tribal Africa. These include jumping a broom, wearing African cloth or dress, executing various ritual dances, eating special foods, and doing whatever else a couple thinks can be added to a western wedding that is important to their culture.

Anna and Jimmy's wedding party is posed by their hired photographer on the steps of the Presbyterian church in which they were married. He has instructed them to kiss. The newlyweds comply shyly. Showing affection in public is frowned on in many Asian cultures., Katrina Thomas's notes: The precepts of a Chinese wedding, laid down in feudal times before the Christian era, stipulate a go-between, who seeks genealogical and horoscope data for matching the couple and for fixing the date for the bride's transfer to the groom's household. Upon her arrival in the conjugal home, the bride pays ceremonial respect to the bridegroom's family and ancestors before the marriage may be consummated. In the U.S. many customs have been abandoned for marriages of couples who fall in love. I photograph Chinese wedding customs three times: one in Chinatown, NYC where the bride's family is mostly absent because her father is dying; another, a mixed marriage in Massachusetts; and the last one in two locations, California and New York City because the couple fell in love while attending architectural school in NYC. Her family lives there; his family lives in St. Louis, MO. They fly to California for their banquet celebration so that her 84 year-old grandmother can be present.

While in the old neighborhood, Kathy and Jack with the best man and maid of honor, celebrate their union, drinking beer in the street before returning to the Bronx. Wearing top hats for Irish weddings is a dying tradition., Katrina Thomas's notes: The Scotch-Irish, who arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries, were Protestant. But a significant Irish Catholic immigration had been increasing yearly, millions arriving after the potato famine, so that by the 1840's they comprised nearly half of all immigrants. If both bride and bridegroom are Catholic, they may be married in a nuptial mass. I found no distinctive Irish customs to photograph at the celebration of marriages.

The money dance, known as "baile de novies de alegria, translates to dance for the happiness of the newlyweds." Guests, lining up to dance with Carmen and Rafael, may pin a dollar, or a twenty-dollar bill, on each of them., Katrina Thomas's notes: Dominicans, emigrating to New York City from the Caribbean since the early 1960's, are now one of the largest Hispanic groups in the U.S. Most are Roman Catholic. During the nuptial rite the bridegroom gives his bride la monneta, or coins of love. Distinctive music is played at their receptions which, like those of other Hispanics, begin with formal pageantry, treating the bride and groom as royalty and the wedding party as a Court of Honor. I photographed two weddings and note that at one reception, each usher on entering, kisses the gloved hand of a bridesmaid.

In celebrating their Kashmiri and Sindh roots, Birjis and Sophia, both garlanded with yellow chrysanthemums, each hold a betel leaf in the left hand, onto which seven happily married women smear henna paste for good luck. Several young women musicians entertain the assembled guests with singing, while another thumps a drum., 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.

In the Eldridge St. Synagogue, an historic landmark, Renee and Jeffrey stand under a prayer shawl, serving as the chuppah. Jeffrey wears a kittel, a white linen robe worn by married men for religious ceremonies, and in which he will be buried., Katrina Thomas's notes: More than populate Israel, there are an estimated 5.7 million Jews in the U.S. In addition to two nationality backgrounds, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, they belong to four movements, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Hasidic. Jewish weddings today combine elements, dating back to biblical times when two separate rites were performed, perhaps months or years apart, known in Jewish law, as kiddushin and nissu'in. The first is betrothal, during which the ring is given, and the second, the actual marriage. Over a period of twenty-five years, I photographed a variety of weddings, some with hundreds of guests and some small, all of them essentially the same but different in regard to details. All couples are united under a chuppah, both rites performed at one time. In general, traditions are kept more reverently by Jews than are customs retained more casually by other religions and ethnic groups.

At her wedding, attended by several thousand guests, Gita is enthroned on a dais for the "besetzen, flanked by her mother and the bridegroom's mother. She is being congratulated by women, who crowd the platform, on which she sits., Katrina Thomas's notes: More than populate Israel, there are an estimated 5.7 million Jews in the U.S. In addition to two nationality backgrounds, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, they belong to four movements, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Hasidic. Jewish weddings today combine elements, dating back to biblical times when two separate rites were performed, perhaps months or years apart, known in Jewish law, as kiddushin and nissu'in. The first is betrothal, during which the ring is given, and the second, the actual marriage. Over a period of twenty-five years, I photographed a variety of weddings, some with hundreds of guests and some small, all of them essentially the same but different in regard to details. All couples are united under a chuppah, both rites performed at one time. In general, traditions are kept more reverently by Jews than are customs retained more casually by other religions and ethnic groups.