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After the nuptial rite, the bridal party goes to a park for a picnic. They ride in white limousines and bring spicy food, enjera watt, in cowhide-covered baskets. They feed the rolled-up pancakes to Tewabetch and Abinet who, in turn, feed their friends., Katrina Thomas's notes: There are dozens of ethnic groups in Ethiopia, speaking over 80 languages, but historically its population has been considered Orthodox Christian. I photographed Coptic wedding traditions which, I'm told, have endured since 326 B.C. The couples wear crowns and robes, usually provided by the church. The language of the liturgy is classical Ethiopic, known as Ge'ez, and that of the service is Amharic, the modern language of Ethiopia. Their celebrations include the newlyweds and guests feeding one another the national dish, spicy meat wrapped in a moist pancake. During the feast, guests honor the newlyweds by dancing in front of them, clapping their hands while moving their shoulders with joyous energy.

At the end of the nuptial mass, Dominika places a bouquet on the altar of the Virgin, after which she and her maid-of-honor kneel in prayer., Katrina Thomas's notes: These highlanders from the Tatra mountains, emigrating since WWII to a neighborhood in Chicago, have built there a community hall in mountain-style Gorale architecture. They are the only Poles in the U.S. who retain a wedding culture dress, customs, unique music, and songs in dialect preserved in the isolated region of their homeland. Historically shepherds, the men sing from deep in their chests and play stringed instruments, which they call fiddles, their voices and music echoing from mountainsides while their sheep grow fat. Traditions have not changed appreciably since the 19th century. The couple marrying is accompanied by fiddlers to the nuptial rite and into the church, to the wedding breakfast, and into the evening reception. Gypsy impersonators may bar the newlyweds from the wedding breakfast until given the fare they demand. During the reception, fiddlers play polkas, mazurkas, czardas, two-step, and even rock 'n roll for dancing. At the close of the celebration, an extensive farewell, lasting more than an hour, is the cepoviny, played out in music and song, releasing the bride to her husband, only after many warnings to her and jokes about married life.

It is customary for a bride to show off her wealth in many Asian cultures by changing her dress many times during the wedding day. After the traditional home ceremony, Taing Ly puts on a western bridal gown, which she wears to the banquet in a Chinese restaurant., 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.

Peter and Nora's best man and matron of honor accompany them to the altar, where they are led through the marriage vows. Joining hands with those of their two witnesses, all four put their right foot on a rock, whereby the couple is united by God. Peter and Nora are making a solemn promise that their union will be "as solid as a rock.", Katrina Thomas's notes: Despite long periods of foreign domination, these Baltic people have maintained a distinct national culture, characterized by dainas, their folk songs of which more than 60, 000 have been collected. Most Latvians in the U.S. are Lutheran and, still speaking their language, preserve ancient customs. Wedding receptions that keep traditions are distinguished by the use of oak leaves and constant singing, particularly toward the end when the micosana, a pre-Christian rite, is performed. At this time, the bride's maiden wreath is removed and replaced by a matron's cap or wimple, and the bridegroom may receive a hat and pipe, testifying to his change of status. One wedding I photograph is a double celebration, occurring on the day Latvia declares its independence from the USSR.

The first wedding event is a "tie-hand" rite, held in the bridegroom's family house, invoking the household spirits for a happy outcome of bride price negotiations. The officiant passes a handful of cut strings, which will be worn for good luck, over the hands of the bridal party., 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.

The wedding party is linked by a chain of knotted white handkerchiefs. Nadya and Mike stand with their attendants, who must be married, a best man for him and two women for the bride, all of whom play significant roles during the wedding day., Katrina Thomas's notes: These dissenters refused to accept liturgical reforms imposed on the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th Century and were forced to flee persecution. Seeking to preserve their religion as a way of life, they moved first to outlying regions of Moscow, eventually fleeing Communism in both the Soviet Union and China to colonize countries around the world. In the 1960's, several groups reached Oregon and have remained. Although they are reclusive, with luck and persistence I manage to photograph unique customs at two weddings of a people who live much as they did in Old Russia "as God made them" without using make-up, or cutting their hair, or shaving. They wear peasant dress and play no musical instruments. Their music is liturgical chant, sung in unison in church by both men and women. At receptions, wedding guests dance to singing by women. No photographs are permitted in their churches. Nevertheless, despite faithfully honoring centuries-old customs, they cannot withstand completely the influences of U.S. wedding culture.

After the nuptial rite, a Puerto Rican bridal party may wait several hours to have pictures taken in a portrait studio located on Lexington Avenue in El Barrio., 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.

While the wrists of See and Toua and the two, who comprise the wedding party, are being tied, the room hums with voices chanting "good luck...happiness." The eggs, two chickens, plates of food, chrysanthemums, and a lighted candle on the table are significant., 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.

Before complying with the rituals of welcome, which are designed to let in only good spirits to her new household, Maye Chow and two unmarried cousins sit with family members in the bridegroom's backyard, while his family serves tea and tobacco to her relatives., 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.