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When the bride price is established and paid, the wedding is celebrated the next day by honoring the families and ancestral spirits. One of See's messengers, holding the umbrella representing her, calls out names of her family, both living and dead. Toua and his best man respond by falling to the floor, kowtowing twice to each of her relatives., 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.

Jackie and John cut two cakes, an American wedding cake and a traditional Carpathian wedding bread, baked by John's mother, who decorated it with three masts representing the Holy Trinity and two dough birds representing the couple. Their guests divide it, wrapping it in periwinkle, a Carpatho-Rusyn custom which assures fertility in the marriage., 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.

To start the nuptial rite, Manivanh and Phetphoumy kneel before a bowl of small parcels, which will be given to their close relatives. Pressing their heads to the floor, they are blessed by the well-wisher, who officiates., Katrina Thomas's notes: Laotians, emigrating from Laos or Thailand, came to the U.S. in the greatest numbers when the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Their weddings are well-wishing ceremonies, called baci/basi, conducted by an elder, conversant with Buddhist practices. Two phakhuane/"spirit trays" embody the spirits that protect life and health. These support floral and food arrangements, and serve as altars. The officiant, holding threads connected to one tray, recites good wishes to the young couple and chants verses about how a husband and wife serve each other. He ends the rite by tying sacred threads, phuk ken, around their wrists. Wedding guests tie more strings of good luck on the newlyweds' wrists. Without a common language, I photograph four weddings with varying success. The one in Milpitas, CA kept the most traditions, which are explained to me by the bridegroom.

Ravinder and Paramjit sit before the Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book, which embodies God. The text lays down moral and ethical rules for development of the soul, spiritual salvation, and unity with God. The language is Punjabi written in Gurmakhi., 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.

A Lutheran pastor officiated at a Christian rite for Dennys and Genaro, who is a Guatemalan weaver, and blessed them during the Mayan wedding rite. Now presiding, while Dennys signs the marriage certificate, the pastor wears a stole woven by the bridegroom., Katrina Thomas's notes: People of Central America observe a mixture of Christian and Mayan wedding customs. I photographed a Guatemalan weaver and his American bride who were married in both cultures. A Lutheran minister officiated at the first. It was followed by a Mayan ceremony, for which they changed into native dress, although there was no presiding shaman. The focus of the Mayan rite is the couple's spiritual link with the earth and Mother Nature. The bride and groom sat barefoot in front of the church pews at the edge of a small handwoven rug while children set candles and an ear of corn before them, the significance of which was not explained to me.

The "Rjadovyj Tanec, during which every guest dances with the bride, ends with Michele encircled by dancers. She waves Bob's feathered and flowered wedding hat, which The threw to her before The endeavors to break down successive dancing walls to capture his wife., 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.

At the end of the nuptial rite, known as "pelea ruom khnoevy, after which Taing Ly and Ngo will rise as husband and wife, wedding guests shower them with rose petals and hearts of palm., 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.

More than 1200 Lubavitch Hasidic families reside in Brooklyn. Yosef, the bridegroom, or "chosen" in Yiddish, has signed the "ketubah." Now he prays with eyes closed and recites the Maamor, a discourse on the spiritual meaning of marriage. For more than an hour, he is toasted by male friends and relatives sitting with him, after which everyone will leave the table in procession to veil his bride, the "kallah.", 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.

Cap has collected his bride, Luong Le, in his car. The two of them, preceded by children, walk the last few blocks with their families and wedding guests to Cap's house for solemnizing the marriage., Katrina Thomas's notes: Under a special act of Congress, refugees from Vietnam were first admitted to the U.S. after the fall of Saigon in April 1975. They included ethnic Chinese, Eurasians and Amerasians born there, most of whom are Christian. Vietnamese have settled largely in Texas, and in California, the state in which I photograph them. Weddings start at the bride's house with a formal introduction of the two families, followed by bestowing jewelry on her by the bridegroom's family, and progress to the bridegroom's house to honor his family. In their home country, their own customs were influenced previously by French culture so that couples here adapt rapidly to American ways. The ethnic nuptial rite has been superseded by the Christian rite or a Buddhist blessing.

The hair-cutting rite for San and Heng was once a purification ceremony because it was believed that evil spirits reside in hair. Today it is entertainment. Their parents and relatives snip a bit of hair and then spritz the back of their necks with a spray of cologne., 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.