Some time ago, some friends of mine came to me and asked me to tell them how a Viking wedding was conducted. When I turned to the sagas, they didn't tell me, either.
Thus began the start of a massive research project that has produced the work you are about to read. The study is still not over I am still discovering new information as the number of scholars in the fields of Viking history and Scandinavian womens' studies increases.
Whenever I discover new information, I either correct or augment my work, so it is as current as I can make it. The long and short to the problem is this: even in sappy modern romance novels, how many times is an entire wedding ceremony actually described?
You can discover that brides wear white dresses, often with veils, that there was a groom, a best man, a matron of honor, bride's maids. You'd find out that the words "I do" and some rings fit into the picture somewhere.
But since each and every one of us has seen or heard about weddings, the novelist doesn't have to include all the details.
