Making Family at a Wedding: Bilateral Kinship and Equality

Abstract

In this chapter we study weddings as family gatherings, as get-togethers of people who are important in the lives of young couples. A wedding is no longer a rite of passage in the sense of being the first step into adulthood and getting married is no longer correlated to leaving the parental home, living in a couple relationship or even having children. Many people live independently, disconnected from their parents’ everyday life, and have a family of their own prior to marriage or even totally outside marriage. However, a wedding can still be considered as a rite of passage for the young couple; it reconfigures the social bond between the partners and, for many couples, a wedding offers a means to obtain social recognition of their relationship from their parents (Maillochon, 2008).