Chaya Yvonne Crowder and Braxton Earl Cook were married Sept. 21 at the River Mill in French Camp, Calif. The Rev. Kevin K. Ross, the senior minister of Unity of Sacramento, officiated.

The bride, 27, is a doctoral candidate in American politics at Princeton, from which she received a master’s degree in political science. She graduated from Columbia, from which she also received a second master’s degree, also in political science.

She is a daughter of Phyllis A. Marshall and Charles P. Crowder of Sacramento, and a stepdaughter of Millard F. Hampton. The bride’s father retired as a senior real estate appraiser for the city of San Francisco. Her mother is the chief legislative representative at Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The bride’s stepfather retired from the San Jose Police Force; he was also on the 1976 United States Olympic team, winning a gold medal, as part of the 4x100-meter relay team, and a silver in the individual 200 meters at the Summer Games in Montreal.

Mr. Cook, 28, is a jazz musician, an alto saxophonist and vocalist, who is based in New York. He graduated from the Juilliard School in New York.