Search results

Wanting a simple wedding, Chris and Eddie sign the register before their civil marriage, conducted by the City Clerk in NYC's Municipal Building. After a short ceremony, they will receive the marriage certificate, being signed by her father who is their witness., Katrina Thomas's notes: Whether newly arrived in the U.S. or American citizens, resident for generations, the greatest number of marriages adheres to the Anglo-American model, promoted by a powerful wedding industry. Wedding coordinators and bride guides are consulted. With nothing left to chance, planning often takes months. The wedding can be officiated by anyone licensed to marry -- a member of the clergy, an interfaith minister, a civil marriage celebrant. The bride usually wears the most extravagant white dress she or her father can afford. Wedding party attire is color coordinated with the floral decorations -- bridesmaids in matching dresses, groomsmen in ties of the same color, even the two mothers often agreeing to something similar. The marriage may demand a fairy tale wedding, which seeks to be memorable and unusual in a climate of sameness, often incurring considerable wedding debt. In contrast, the procedure of an upper class Anglo-American wedding, held most often at the bride's home, recognizes family traditions. Most of my pictures depict the varied customs kept by this group, the sons and daughters of my WASP or Jewish friends and other couples to whom I have been recommended.

Sunday shoppers in lower Manhattan, seeing the bridal party, call out "Mazel Tov, which prompts a kiss from Renee and Jeffrey, during their walk from the synagogue to the reception., 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.

In nice weather, Central Park is a popular site for newlyweds to pose for photographs in a sylvan setting, whether taken by a professional photographer or by family amateurs with point-and-shoot cameras and Polaroids., Katrina Thomas's notes: A great many Puerto Ricans emigrated from the Commonwealth in the 1940's and 1950's to New York City where their culture is convenient to me because they live in East Harlem, known as El Barrio, close to my own apartment in Manhattan. Most of them are Catholics and keep no special customs. If bridal portraits are not taken in a picture studio, the newlyweds like to pose in the country setting of Central Park, which is not only handy but available at no cost, if the weather obliges.

Carmen and Rafael are dwarfed by their monumental wedding cake, which is largely inedible Styrofoam, except for two smaller side cakes., 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.

Returning to the bridegroom's house, Anna changes into a red "cheong sam" for ceremonies of religious obligation which pre-date Christianity. Honoring gods, ancestors and elders of the family, the couple bow to heaven and to earth three times, three times to the ancestors and three times to Jimmy's grandparents. Now they serve his grandparents tea with a lotus nut in the cup., 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.

The bride Hyun Joo wears a crown of black silk, decorated with semi-precious stones. Round red spots, yonji/konji, painted on her cheeks, protect her from evil spirits. Yong Soo wears traditional male wedding garb, a blue robe with red lining and a black hat., 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.

Now married, the delighted newlyweds, Renee and Jeffrey, leave the Eldridge Street Synagogue together. Upon arriving for the nuptials, they came down the aisle separately, each one flanked by parents., 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.

After their the nuptial mass in New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, Kathy and Jack return with their wedding party to the bridegroom's old neighborhood on East 93rd Street. At one time, settled by Irish and Italians, it is now Puerto Rican., 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.

See also Charles G. Drinker's of November 27, 1862.