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Although not French, these Anglo-American newlyweds ponder how to cut and serve their preferred wedding cake, a croquembouche, which is a sticky tower of caramel-coated cream puffs., 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.

Ouliam begins the bowing ceremony with two boy attendants beside him and also Maye Chow, seven months pregnant with their third child. Because Iu Mien value children, her bride price is greater than that of a wife, who has not yet proven herself to be fertile., 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.

The bridal party lines up for a wedding picture. The best man, or "kum, wears an embroidered peskir" over his right shoulder, knotted at the waist on his left side. All attendants wear sprigs of rosemary, a good luck symbol tied with blue, red, and white ribbons., Katrina Thomas's notes: Croats are Slavs, who emigrated from the nation state of Croatia, once part of the former Yugoslavia. They are predominately Catholic. Their folk music is played by plucking a tambura, a Balkan string instrument made in five different sizes. I photographed two marriages, one in NYC and the other in Pennsylvania farm country. The country wedding keeps many traditions because the bride is descended from immigrant families, who came to mine coal when it was a company town, known as Shaft Four. The village population of 890 swells to 1200 to celebrate the nuptials of the mayor's daughter, who is an accomplished folk dancer and musician. Seven tambura groups play constantly from morning until after midnight, several starting before breakfast, one leading the procession to church, another accompanying Schubert's Ave Maria during the nuptial rite, various providing music for dancing, and finally after the newlyweds depart tamburas continue to set the beat for rock 'n roll.

Linh, who has lived all but three of her nineteen years in America, while respecting customs of the land of her birth, eschews wearing the traditional dress known as "ao dai." She chooses to be married in a western wedding gown with many flounces. A friend curls her hair into ringlets., 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.

During the "mitzvahtanz, the bridegroom Yeruchom takes Malkie's hands and dances with her briefly before the assembled guests who remain, perhaps fifty women and several hundred men. Some 3,500 guests attended the feast, reduced from an estimated 6,000 or more, present earlier for the nuptial rite under a chuppah, set up outdoors on a flat-bed truck.., 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.

The parents of Luba and Alexander hold bread, a symbol of plenty, with which to bless the couple so they will never go hungry. In the past this blessing validated a union, after which they were considered to be man and wife. A church rite simply fulfilled a religious obligation., 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.

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.

Maye Chow and her two attendants wait on the porch of the spirit door, known as the Big Door, before they will be admitted to the bridegroom's house. Inside, a shaman is performing the final rituals to prepare the household spirits for her entrance as a new occupant., 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.

During the wedding reception, Larissa has been kidnapped, a holdover from the days of marriage by capture, and is now returned to be ransomed by the bridegroom, who must be prepared to pay dearly for the return of his wife., 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.

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.