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Every culture built a ceremony to make love official.

Seven wedding traditions — fire, tea, glass, cattle, cord and sake.

Cover — every culture built a ceremony to make love official.
Saat Phere — the Hindu ritual of circling a sacred fire seven times
Tea Ceremony — the Chinese wedding ritual of serving tea to elders
Chuppah — the open-sided canopy of a Jewish wedding
Maasai wedding — beaded collars, a father's blessing, and cattle exchanged between families
Handfasting — the Scottish origin of the phrase tying the knot
San-san-kudo — the Shinto wedding ritual of nine sake sips
Confarreatio — the ancient Roman wedding rite of Rome's elite families
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Hindu couples circle a sacred fire seven times. Chinese couples kneel to serve tea to their elders. Jewish grooms shatter a glass underfoot, and Maasai brides are blessed before cattle change hands between families. Six very different traditions, one same promise.