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In seizing his bride, symbolic of marriage by capture, John loses his glasses during the "Rjadovyj Tanec, when every guest dances with Jackie, after which they form circles, considered to be walls protecting her, until the bridegroom breaks through and carries her out of the hall., Katrina Thomas's notes: The homeland of Carpatho-Rusyns is located on the slope of the Carpathian Mountains where the borders of Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland meet. Never having had their own state, they have lived since the sixth century as a national minority in kingdoms whose borders frequently change. And yet they manage to keep their traditional customs, marrying under gilt crowns in the tradition of Eastern Rite Christianity, accompanied by Carpathian plainchant. I photographed two weddings observing various traditions, the highlight of both being the Rjadovyj, during which everyone dances with the bride, ending with the bride's mother placing a silk matron's cap, a cepec, on her daughter's head, while guests line-dancing shoulder to shoulder close in around the new wife, forming walls through which the bridegroom must fight his way to capture her and carry her away.

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.

Dory and Badma visit a Tibetan monk for his blessing. They sit on a white sheet in which grains of rice, a fertility symbol, are enfolded. For the next three nights they will sleep on this sheet, insuring them a happy healthy life together., Katrina Thomas's notes: Kalmyks are the descendants of the Oirats, a semi-nomadic Asian Mongolian people, who lived in felt yurts, and adopted Tibetan Buddhism during their migration from Asia to the European part of Russia. They remained there for nearly 400 years. After World War II, despite America's stringent immigration laws, 571 were admitted in 1951 and 1952, as displaced persons, under a special dispensation of the US attorney general. Others soon followed. Their weddings observe rules and hours, set by an astrological priest, for specified events which incorporate their traditions of a white road. It is based on the fact that milk and milk products are essential to the culture of a herding people. I photographed one wedding in Philadelphia. All the others took place in their rural neighborhood of Freewood Acres that has taken root in Howell Township, NJ.

A festive henna evening, known as mehndi by Asian Indians, is celebrated usually the night before a wedding. While a henna artist decorates the bride Swati's hands and feet, she also paints a quick design on the palm of the bridegroom Leith., Katrina Thomas's notes: A wedding is a major rite in the Hindu life cycle, its format and sequence varying greatly in the regions within India as well as abroad. The earliest weddings I photographed were performed by Ram Patwardhan, the first Hindu priest in New York City, who in 1956 designed a modern Vedic ceremony, preserving its essence while streamlining a three- or four-day event to little more than thirty minutes. There being no Hindu temples here at the time, weddings took place in the home or in restaurants serving Asian Indian food. Later, I photograph weddings in newly built Hindu temples, all of which accommodate differing priests and the various traditions which marry a couple. If the couple has not the same homeland, they agree to choose a region of North or South India.

Toni and Kwako are married in an African wedding celebration conducted by Nana Dinizulu., Katrina Thomas's notes: Nana Dinizulu, a native of Georgia named Gus Edwards, introduced the Akan tribal ceremony to the U.S. In the 1960s, believing this to be his heritage, he went to Ghana to be ordained a priest. He provided the following information: The bride and groom march in with family members. The bride's mother or the eldest woman, representing the family, is asked if she received a sufficient bride price for losing her daughter. Today it is money; in the past it was money, cloth or a sacrificial animal. While family and guests kneel behind the couple, Nana, by pouring gin on the ground, invokes the gods as witnesses. Then he passes to the man, and to the woman, a glass of pure water first, followed by honey in water, and finally watered gin. The nuptial rite ends with drumming by his followers. The newlyweds begin to dance, followed by family, and finally everyone.

In taking communion during their the nuptial mass, Peter and Daphne kneel before the priest. Peter observes while the priest puts a wafer into Daphne's mouth., Katrina Thomas's notes: Roman Catholics are of many ethnic backgrounds but do not introduce customs of their heritage into the long established liturgy.

An important rite of a "Big Wedding" is the all-night bowing ceremony in which both bride and bridegroom participate. Sarn Poo will honor ancestors first, family next, and then every guest, by lowering himself to his knees several times for each one. Meuy Chow, standing beside him with her two attendants, will kneel only once to each of those, being honored by her husband., Katrina Thomas's notes: Also known as Iu Mien, a tribal people settled in farming communities in southeast Asia until disrupted by the Vietnam war, when they came here from Thai refugee camps in the early 1980's. Today perhaps 50, 000 Mien live in the U.S., most of them in the states of Washington, Oregon and California. When they first arrived, I photograph several weddings, including Big Weddings, known as tom ching ta, celebrated for three days, catnapping in my car in front of the bridegroom's house so as not to miss any of the day and night ceremonies. The bride may already have birthed several children fathered by the bridegroom, and whether celebrated for one day or three, a Mien wedding is no more and no less than a transfer of the bride to her new home with rites to insure her acceptance by the bridegroom's household spirits. During the period of an overnight or three days, many meals are prepared, principally for the bride's extensive family, perhaps 60 or more, and also for friends. I photograph rites that welcome the bride, and for "Big Weddings, an important all-night bowing ceremony, performed by the bridegroom to ancestral spirits, to living relatives and to all family members.

Ksenia kisses the icon depicting Christ, held by her father and given to Andrij, while her mother looks on. The two icons, presented to the couple, will hang in their conjugal home. In the past the blessing was accompanied by a song about love and unity in the family., Katrina Thomas's notes: Ukrainians number perhaps a million today in the U.S., and even more in Canada. When the Ukraine was under Soviet subjugation, those who settled abroad were determined to revive their culture in a new land, and pass on relevant customs to future generations. To this end they establish Plast, their scouts organization, to which both boys and girls belong, and which fosters relationships that may end in marriage. Although most embrace the Orthodox Christian faith, the weddings I am able to photograph are Eastern Rite Catholic. Before the nuptials, the parents bless their children, using bread or icons. A bridal procession follows, and at the feast, instead of sharing a white wedding cake, they have their own ritual breads, korovai, which are decorated with twigs, herbs, flowers, and symbols in dough. The celebration ends soon after the maiden bride accepts the Slavic headgear of a married woman. However, today this rite is often omitted. Ukrainians, seeking a better life, still come to the U.S.

As the first sunlight glances off the roofs, in preparation for marriage, Sam Ath, known as Ath, and Savath are blessed by a Buddhist monk. Shaking a pink rose, the monk sprinkles holy water on the couple. Friends are present but play no active role in the proceedings., Katrina Thomas's notes: The Cambodians I photographed are newly arrived refugees, having fled the communist Khmer Rouge after the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975. Many came without their families, who had been killed or had remained to guard their properties. In the U.S. Khmer weddings usually take place on a single day. I photographed four, three on a single day, one lasting two days. All are abbreviated when compared to those in the home country. With little guidance, they try to keep traditions for a proper celebration but without their native substances or their own foods. Rather than falling in love, all the couples were matched by others and most weddings are conducted by their own people without the licenses to do so legally but able to marry them in the eyes of their own community.

Receiving the sacrament of holy matrimony, John and Jackie stand under heavy gold crowns belonging to the Orthodox church. The crowns are held by the "persyj druzba, best man and the persa druzka, maid of honor., Katrina Thomas's notes: The homeland of Carpatho-Rusyns is located on the slope of the Carpathian Mountains where the borders of Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland meet. Never having had their own state, they have lived since the sixth century as a national minority in kingdoms whose borders frequently change. And yet they manage to keep their traditional customs, marrying under gilt crowns in the tradition of Eastern Rite Christianity, accompanied by Carpathian plainchant. I photographed two weddings observing various traditions, the highlight of both being the Rjadovyj, during which everyone dances with the bride, ending with the bride's mother placing a silk matron's cap, a cepec, on her daughter's head, while guests line-dancing shoulder to shoulder close in around the new wife, forming walls through which the bridegroom must fight his way to capture her and carry her away.