This research examines what role the institutionalized structures and practices of professional wedding photography play in the ritual of the American middle-class wedding ceremony. The study, based primarily on ethnographic research, is grounded in particular strands of the relatively recent critical, cultural, and interdisciplinary research in mass communication. The theoretical framework for this study is generated from the disciplines of mass communication, American studies, sociology, anthropology, and British cultural studies. The work concerns how the practices of professional wedding photographers influence the wedding ritual.
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