Following are samples of the responses entered into the free-form comment boxe of the survey questionnaire, to illustrate the variety of different comments and styles of writing, as well as the differences in American and Finnish responses. While it would not be practical to publish all of the responses here, the entire collection has been archived and would be available for scholarly followup.

American Responses:

• "I am Scottish American, my husband is Japanese American. We worked very hard to incorporate both cultures into our wedding ceremony and celebration, for example: in the ceremony we had a traditional plaiding of the groom and handfasting reading, and our cake was a traditional Japanese cake with cherry blossoms and a Japanese porcelain cake topper."

• "Catholic marrying an agnostic. I'm fairly religious, he is not at all. He has handed over all aspects of the ceremony to me, because it matters more to me. He is willing to go through all of the preparations necessary to be married in the Catholic church because that is important to me."

• "I am Chinese American, specifically Cantonese. He is also Chinese American, but he's Mandarin. We're both Christian. We're not having cultural differences in planning the wedding."

• "2 Caucasians, both raised Catholic, but converted, almost, to Baptist"

• "I am researching my Genealogy, but do not know exactly what my whole cultural makeup is, though I'm 90% sure it is a combination of English with some Irish. I am a Christian and my denomination is Assembly of God (Pentecostal). My Fiance' is Irish (his father was 100% Irish) and his "official" religion is Catholic, but he does not practice. This difference was very hard for us at first, but he relented and allowed me to have the church wedding I want and to raise our children in my church, but because of strong emotions regarding his late father (a strong Catholic) he will not join "us" for our services."

• "We have no religious affiliation. My husband is an atheist and I'm agnostic. His father is catholic and his mother is protestant. My father's an atheist (formerly a catholic), and my mother has no religious affiliation."

• "I am very american and not very religious.My fiance is hispanic and a devout seventh day adventist."

• "My family's cultural background is English, Dutch, French, Czech, and Irish. I'm a Unitarian Universalist. My Fiance's family is Chinese and are Buddhists. We are having 2 events because the demands of a tradtional Chinese wedding could not be incorporated in the same day as the ceremony and needs of my family. We'll have the marriage ceremony in Illinois, near my family, and a reception then 2 weeks later a Chinese Tea ceremony and wedding banquet in New York for his family."

Finnish Responses (translated by the author):

• "I'm from a Finnish family, from Helsinki. I'm Lutheran, I go to church for weddings, christenings and funerals. The groom is from Järvenpää, the same background when it comes to religion, his family is maybe slightly more religious than mine. They go to church on Christmas, too."

• "We're just a regular Finnish Lutheran couple."

• "We are both very liberal Lutherans. The only thing that is keeping us in the church is a dream of a church wedding."

• "We are both from Kokkola in Central Ostrobothnia, we have always lived here and are not planning on moving. The family and friends are nearby. We are not religious but we had a church wedding."

• "We are both Finnish, Lutheran, nothing special."

• "I don't believe in anything but the missus does a little... I guess I should join the church but I'll retract the membership as soon as I can [after the wedding]."

• "I'm Laestadian so alcohol, dancing, etc. are not part of the wedding."

• "I'm Lutheran, with a normal Finnish upbringing. The groom is a Catholic latino."