A family unit is begun by a civil or church wedding or by a couple moving into the same house. Weddings are considered the best way to begin a family unit but living together is common also. A male should be at least 25 years old and a female at least 20 to be married. The man must have a house for the couple. He must supply furniture for the house. The woman provides a mattress for the bed and linens. Prior to the marriage, the man must have a garden with root crops ("viv") to sustain life, i.e. yams, sweet potatoes, manioc, taro, dasheen.

The courting process is based on the man influencing positively the person who has the most influence over the woman he desires to marry. The man spends time trying to get close to this influential person so that this person will aid in encouraging the woman to marry him. The influential person will get the two together at social events and church. Social status, education, and family history all are part of this process of evaluating the suitability of one person to marry another. Parents play a role in this evaluation process. The parents of the man and woman must visit together and talk before agreeing to the marriage. The couple asks their parents to get together to plan the wedding. It is generally assumed that if you have a "menaj" (usually translated girlfriend or boyfriend) you are having sexual relations.

Encourage their children to not have sexual relations until after marriage, but with the added input that if you do have sexual relations, use birth control. In general it is assumed that the youth are sexually active. The parents of the children raise the grandchildren so that the children can continue their education. This is the reason more parents are encouraging the use of birth control by their children. AIDS is also a factor in this area. Until recent years AIDS was a disease of the cities and the well educated. They were the only ones that could afford to have multiple sexual relationships on a casual basis.

A wedding is a social event, so that a community may place conditions on the man and woman wishing to be married. A wedding can involve a change in social status. This can require a substantial outlay of money to purchase clothes, food, colas, beer, rum, sweets, and rings. The cost depends on the capacity of the persons getting married and their parents. It is common for those attending the reception to take anything they can including plates, glasses, silverware, and return for deposit bottles. This can place a heavy burden on the new couple and their parents. Some communities allow the couple to borrow rings for the wedding ceremony and rent a dress or suit.

Polygamy is common, taking several forms. The man can be legally married to only one woman, however he may have several “wives” to whom he is not married. Men are permitted to have more than one wife, according to their capacity to provide for the wife and the children the man fathers. The definition of capacity is changing. Traditionally a contractual agreement was made between a man and woman which required the production from one "carreau"(3 acres) of land for each child born out of their union. This carreau would eventually become the inheritance of the child. Today the terms can be based on money or even the partial production of a piece of land. The tradition is changing, as it becomes more difficult to find someone with a carreau of land willing to enter into a contractual agreement. Today a woman will have a child based on the production from one season of the two possible seasons from a garden. Women are also committing to have children based on a man having a job at the time of the agreement.

When a man is not married (a civil or church ceremony) to any of the women who have given birth to his children, he will live with his mother. If a man is married he will continue to live with his wife. He may choose to live with one of his other wives if she is in agreement. It is illegal for a man or woman to be married to more than one person, although there are people who try. This is one reason there is a strict procedure to be followed before performing a marriage. Every woman who has had a child for a man is considered to be his wife and they are addressed as his wife. Women take on the first name of their husband or father of their children. An example of this would be Tibab who has more than one wife but each wife is addressed as Madam Tibab. He is not married to any of the women, so he lives with his mother.

Polygamy is practiced for a variety of reasons. Men consider having multiple wives based on economics (they have the financial and or material means) and bragging rights to the number of children they have fathered. Sometimes younger women are taken as wives when the current wife begins to get too old to carryout all of her duties. Women take on multiple husbands if they feel it is necessary for survival. Each child provides increased wealth for the women if she contracted well. A woman must contract with more men today because the men have fewer resources.

Women gain respect and come into womanhood by having a child. Men gain respect by fathering children and like to brag about the number of children they have fathered. One of the first questions people ask each other when they first meet is "How many children do you have?”

Men are considered to be the head of the household. Women are expected to provide meals for the family. The man will give the woman food or money to feed the family and she will add what she has to feed the family. She may have to take the resources the husband gives her and multiply them to feed the family. She is responsible for the children, feeding the family, and taking care of the house.