Weddings in Haiti – it has to be flashy!

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Newly-weds kiss in the church, Forêt des Pins, Ouest department, January 2017. Valérie Baeriswyl

Nobody wants to miss their chance to take the perfect photo during the ceremony. Tabarre, Ouest department, December 2016. Valerie Baeriswyl

A male choir singing during a ceremony at Cap Haïtien, Nord department, October 2017. Valerie Baeriswyl

Sherline makes the final adjustments to her wedding dress; behind, her godmother prepares. Léogâne, Ouest department, October 2017. Valerie Baeriswyl

People often travel in groups, since many people in rural areas don't have cars. Deschapelles, Artibonite department, November 2017. Valerie Baeriswyl

A local tailor makes some important adjustments, Ouest department, December 2017. Valerie Baeriswyl

Marriage ceremony in the St-Pierre church, Pétionville, Ouest department, December 2016. Valerie Baeriswyl

Wedding guests are photographed in front of a church wall especially decorated for the purpose, Forêt des Pins, Ouest department, January 2017. Valerie Baeriswyl

A marriage involving members of the diaspora in a chic hotel on the coast of Haiti, Côtes des Arcadins, December 2016. Valerie Baeriswyl

The groom in search of the garter, Port-au-Prince, February 2019. Valerie Baeriswyl

The bride received for confession before the wedding; the groom will do the same. Bouli, Centre department, December 2018. Valerie Baeriswyl

Those who don't feel well-dressed enough often haven't the courage to enter the church. Port-au-Prince, December 2016. Valerie Baeriswyl

A generator to power the sound in the church is prepared. Electricity is not available everywhere in rural Haiti. Deschapelles, Artibonite department, November 2017. Valerie Baeriswyl

The bridal dress is showcased in the living room of the house. Often, dresses are rented out for the day. For the more lavish weddings, a member of the diaspora brings a dress back from, for example, the US. Bouli, Centre department, January 2018. Valerie Baeriswyl

A couple poses in front of their house. Usually, homes where the new pair are to live are repainted. Baie-de-Henne, Nord-ouest department, October 2018. Valerie Baeriswyl

A maid of honour applies lipstick, Forêt des Pins, Ouest department, January 2017. Valerie Baeriswyl

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Just because you’re poor, it doesn't mean you don’t have the right to a Hollywood-style wedding. With characteristically southern generosity, Haitians can spend a lifetime’s worth of savings on a single day.

As she did in Switzerland on assignments as a wedding photographer, Valérie Baeriswyl has slipped behind the scenes of such Haitian marriages to capture the “anxiety mixed with euphoria, a universal prelude to the vows of eternal love”.

“I took boats, motorcycles, vans and donkeys. I have attended peasant weddings, entered the lemon-coloured palaces of the beautiful districts of Port-au-Prince, the mud houses of the slums, and the rented rooms where what remains in Haiti of a middle class still believes in a future”, she wrote in the preamble to her work, which earned her a scholarship with the Reuters news agency last year.

Now she is looking for a publisher to make a book from this “exceptional showcase of traditions, the Americanization of an island, social divides and daily resistance”.