Chechen weddings are traditionally seen as being big spectacles featuring a succession of live shows, singing and dancing.

And a new series of pictures has shown how a beautiful bride has made sure she has a wedding dress to live up to expectations for the three-day event which will mark the start of her marriage.

But despite the big ceremony, tradition dictates that the bride cannot join in with many of the celebrations and must remain respectful to her new family with own own relatives banned from attending.

Before the ceremony in the Chechen capital of Grozny, the bride is pictured getting ready for her big day with her friends and family. After her hair is styled and her make up perfectly applied, she then puts on her ornate lace dress complete with delicate jewels on her veil. And as Chechen weddings are traditionally paid for by the groom and attended by his family members only, once ready the bride must wait to be collected.

Pictures show her becoming tearful as she waits to be picked up from her parents house by her new in-laws who bring her to the ceremony. She is allocated a special place at the event in which to stand, but does not take part in the dancing, where men and women must not get too close. Throughout the day she is introduced to new relatives and can only sit down when granted permission.

According to tradition, the groom should be absent from the ceremony entirely, meeting his bride after the festivities away from prying eyes. She is then seated by a window where guests of honour usually sit. This part of the room is decorated with a special wedding curtain. The girl is offered to hold someone's firstborn son (she will hopefully give birth to many boys.) The bride hugs the baby and gives him a present. Guests give various things to the newlyweds. Women give them useful things for the home such as linen or crockery. Men bring either money or sheep. And then, everyone is invited to partake of a sumptuous meal. Once the meal is over, guests ask the bride to give them a drink of water. All of them talk amongst themselves, share jokes and discuss the bride's looks.

The bride must keep her mouth shut because verbosity is seen as a sign of empty-headedness and immodesty. She can only offer the guests a drink of water and wish them all good health. On the third day musical instruments are played and dancing guests lead the bride to a river. Cornmeal pancakes are thrown into the water, to be shot at, after which the bride draws some water from the river and goes home. This ritual is supposed to protect the young woman from the spirit of the river. It is usually in the evening of the third day of the wedding festival that a man empowered to act for the bride's father and the bridegroom goes to the register office. Most young men are married by the age of 20 while many girls are married at 17 or 18. Most couples have children soon after marriage.