Persian Wedding, San Francisco, CA, 1989

While happily married women grind two cones of crystallized sugar onto the canopy over their heads, a symbolic act to sweeten the couple's life, Mehrdad smiles at Shahrzad before starting to read together a "sura" from the Koran, open on their laps.

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.