This haunting wedding photos appear to show a miserable bride who was given just a few days notice that she was to marry an impoverished history teacher.The match between bride Marjona Hudoidodova and Saidsho Asrorov, 23, was brokered by Tajikistani's all-powerful dictator Emomali Rahmon.
But while the groom appears thrilled with the match , 22-year-old Marjona did not smile at all during the ceremony.
Arranged marriages are common in Muslim Tajikistan, although it is rare for the president to order them.
A "matchmaking committee", run by a local apparatchik in charge of ideology, was formed to find Saidsho a bride.
President Rahmon stepped in after the teacher read a sycophantic poem at a gathering attended by the Tajik strongman who has ruled the ex-Soviet republic for a quarter of a century.
In the poem that won him a bride, Saidsho praised the president for his role in "supporting education and the upbringing of the young generation" in Tajikistan.
Saidsho told Radio Free Europe: "The president asked me about my life