Perspective: Weddings Take Place Amid Iraq Bloodshed

Men check arrivals to a wedding reception for weapons

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- There were no musicians, food was sparse and guests were frisked at the door. But when the 21-year-old bride appeared in her white, full-length dress with her groom by her side, everyone beamed.

"We have suffered so many attacks here, but we still must have weddings, even if they are not like before," said Saad Ibrahim Idan, one of the groom's uncles.

Despite Iraq's terrible violence, young couples such as 23-year-old Hussein Ali and Sumaya Jassim are marrying and trying to live normal lives. In a country where tens of thousands have died and even more have been displaced by nearly four years of war, this requires bravery, ingenuity and compromise.

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