Focusing on excerpted elements of gesture, costume, decorated nails and leotards, and unbridled conviction, Kraven
gathers bodily forms and images prompting the question of what is missing from the action.
This recognition that the power of ritual is made manifest in material
forms illuminates how the
bodily practices that underlie the behaviors in the study — premarital sex and cohabitation, deliberation over relationship decisions, and the
gathering of supporters and witnesses in the marriage ceremony — shape marital quality.