Below are a few pictures from photographer Neelakshi Vidyalankara’s online portfolio of an Irish Gypsy Wedding between two 16 year-old third cousins. The rest of her photos in the gallery are fabulous, Ms. Vidyalankara is a very talented photojournalist!
From the intro:
“Mary Connors, one of five siblings, marries her third cousin Patrick Connors – both are 16 years old. There is an estimated 19,000 Irish Travellers in the UK, the majority of whom are devout Catholics. A highly marginalised and insular community, there is often much social antipathy towards them. Irish Traveller girls don’t work, most are illiterate and they remain teetotal virgins until they marry – which is usually very young. The more wealthy families have weddings that are often lavish ostentatious affairs of expensive cars and designer clothes (25-tier cakes, wedding dresses encrusted with Austrian Crystals costing thousands of pounds and huge diamante tiaras). The weddings are highly charged with exuberant emotion, free flowing alcohol and an innate love of life.”
