FT SeriesWeddings — a summer specialFrom exhausted bridesmaids and over-excited guests to ridiculous cakes, photographers and writers shed light on our most hopeful traditionWhy weddings are a perfect window into modern IndiaPhotographer Mahesh Shantaram on his ringside view of the ultimate social theatreMarriage, Tijuana-style: Yvonne Venegas on her father’s wedding photographyIn the 1970s, José Luis Venegas and his wife Julia opened a photographic studio with a fresh ideaNovelist Geoff Dyer on the joys of his bargain-basement wedding‘Was it mean of us doing as we did? Is having a big wedding an extravagant version of getting your round in at the pub?’Olivia Laing: why I’m marrying the same man twiceWe’ve had the register office warm-up. Now comes the grand-scale eventJohn Paul Evans’s wry take on the family portraitThe pictures show the artist and his partner in a number of absurd domestic scenariosFairytale for sale: the brides reselling their dream dressesNatasha Caruana collected photographs posted online by women hoping to find buyers for their gownsMore from this SeriesToo good to eat: the art of the wedding cakeWhy the highlight of the feast is all about self-expressionNilanjana Roy on two very different Indian weddingsSometimes it’s the smaller, less lavish ceremonies that leave a big impressionLaurence Scott: ‘A wedding is always late for a marriage already in full swing’The writer and critic on being descended from divorcees and what an ideal wedding promise might beThe curious phenomenon of mock weddingsThese all-female ‘dress rehearsals’ for nuptials became a feature of US women’s colleges
