Wedding

lourful visuals of weddings from across the world

When compared to each other, the costumes and rituals of most of these weddings are as different from one another as chalk and cheese.

Nepali
 

A Nepali bride sits during her wedding ceremony in the town of Dang in western Nepal.

Bulgarian Muslim

Bulgarian Muslim Moussa Babechki (L) speaks to his bride Fikrie Sabrieva during their wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in the Rhodope Mountains, some 210km (130miles) south of Sofia. The remote village of Ribnovo, set on a snowy mountainside in southwest Bulgaria, has kept its traditional winter marriage ceremony alive despite decades of Communist persecution, followed by poverty that forced many men to seek work abroad.

Macedonian

 

A bride looks on during her wedding ceremony in the village of Galicnik, some 150 km (93 miles) west of Macedonia's capital Skopje. The Galicnik Wedding, a three-day traditional Macedonian wedding celebration held each "Petrovden" or St. Peter's Day, involves traditional customs, costumes, and rituals and dances that have been passed down over the centuries.

Iraqi Mandean

An Iraqi Mandean couple laugh together after their marriage on the Tigris river in Baghdad. Iraqi devotees of an obscure religion who take John the Baptist as their central figure perform virginity tests on their brides and take a dip in the murky Tigris river every Sunday to purify the soul. Most of the world's 20,000 or so Mandeans live in southern Iraq and southwestern Iran.

Maasai

Maasai bride Namunyak Baiera wears traditional bead necklaces during her wedding in Olepolos village, 120 km (74 miles) southeast Nairobi. In the Maasai tradition, the groom has to pay for his bride in cows and sheep, which have to be brought to her family on the wedding day.

South African - Zulu

South African President Jacob Zuma takes part in a dance during his traditional wedding to Tobeka Madiba, his fifth wife, at the village of Nkandla in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The ceremony took place at Zuma's traditional home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal province, where the 68-year-old president, in Zulu tribal dress, married Tobeka Madiba, 37, according to clan custom. Multiple marriages are allowed in South Africa and form part of Zulu culture but the practice has drawn criticism from HIV/AIDS activists in a country with one of the highest infection rates in the world.

Palestinian

Palestinian groom Mohammed al-Zanen sits with his bride Kholod in a tent near his destroyed house during their wedding ceremony in Beit Hanoun town in the northern Gaza Strip.

Bulagarian Muslim

 

Bulgarian Muslims Feim Mekerozov, 22, and his bride Kadrie Chumova, 20, pose during their wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in the Rhodope Mountains, some 250km (155 miles) south from the Bulgarian capital Sofia. Every winter season the residents of the alpine village participate in unique wedding ceremonies. The ancient tradition includes special colourful make-up for the bride called 'ghelina'.

Iraqi

 

An Iraqi bride-to-be tries on a wedding dress at a fashion design shop in Baghdad.

Indonesian Muslim

Roni Gustiawan dressed in traditional Indonesian red and gold finery and his bride Evi Susanti pose for a picture during their traditional wedding ceremony in Pariaman, Indonesia's West Sumatra province. The period immediately after the fasting month of Ramadan is considered an auspicious time for many Indonesian Muslims to marry.

Source: Reuters

Image credits: Reuters