Slideshow:Arusian Persian Wedding

Between accounting for the needs, wants, demands, expectations and vagaries of two people, two families and a host of supporting characters, planning a wedding can be lesson in diplomacy.

Now make it an intercultural wedding in which the inaugural meeting between your Iranian-born parents and your conservative, all-American future in-laws includes questions like this getting thrown down:

How do you feel about the policies of this government in the Middle East?

And that's just while the appetizers are being served.

When Alex, an Iranian American groom-to-be, and his fiancee, Heather, elect to have their wedding in Iran, the groom's sister, filmmaker Marjan Tehrani, soon realized that the occasion was a way to explore the thirty-year divorce in relations between the land where they grew up and the land of their ancestry. 

"Ever since I can remember, I have been answering questions about Iran’s government and political policies as if I am supposed to be an expert on the topic," says Tehrani. "For me, there has never been a separation between the personal and the political when it comes to these two countries."

In Arusian Persian Wedding, Tehrani documents an array of personal, always compelling and occasionally awkward moments between two people as they embark upon the most important decision of their lives, ultimately offering a nuanced and rarely seen perspective on Iran.  

A photographer by training, Alex Tehrani also produced and narrated a stunning photo journal of his time in Iran. For more Info on the film, on relations between the U.S. and Iran and about Persian wedding traditions check out the Learn More section on Independent Lens.