Brides wait, some anxiously, for their marriage ceremony to begin Saturday, June 13, 1998, at New York's Madison Square Garden during the Family Federation's Blessing '98 ceremony. The grooms who were to wed these brides were not present because they could not afford the travel expenses. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church, married 1,500 couples, clad in long, white dresses and dark suits.