Sepia Satuday's October theme is "Special Occasions" which this week focuses on Weddings, with the prompt photograph showing a bride arriving at the church with her father.
Where do I start on this topic, as I have no shortage of images! So I am focusing on fashion.Takea look at styles down decades from 1879 to 1971 - and read the stories surrounding the events.
One of my favourite photographs as it is so typical of its period - 1929, According to her daughter, Jennie Danson (my great aunt) by her late twenties decided she had had enough of fulfilling a domestic role for her four brothers, following the death of their parents. The brothers showed no inclination to marry and set up their own homes.So 1929 saw Jennie marrying Beadnell (Bill) Stemp at St. Chad's Church, Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire. This move prompted her brothers all to get married in the following few years!
A local newspaper report gave an account of Jennie's dress. Written in an effusive, over the top journalistic style, it makes entertaining reading:
"A wedding of much local interest took place in the Poulton Parish Church on Saturday afternoon the bride being Miss Jennie Danson daughter of the late Mr and Mrs James Danson, Bull Street and the bridegroom Mr Beadnell Stemp, son of Mr and Mrs B. Stemp, Jubilee Lane, Marton.
The bride, who was given away by her brother Mr R. Danson, was stylishly gowned in French grey georgette, veiling silk to tone. The bodice which was shaped to the figure was quite plain, with a spray of orange blossoms at the shoulder, while the skirt, which was ankle length, was composed entirely of five picot edged scalloped circular frills, and the long tight sleeves had circular picot edged frilled cuffs in harmony. Her hat was of georgette to tone with uneven pointed dropping brim, having an eye veil of silver lace and floral mount. She carried a bouquet of pink carnations with silver ribbon and horsehoe attached."
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Here is the 1931 wedding of Albert Leslie Williams and Hilda Florence Coombs in London, the parents of my cousin's Stuart's wife. It is two year's after my great aunt's wedding above and in another part of the country, but Dutch style hats for the little bridesmaids were still in fashion.
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The reception was held at the home of the bride’s uncle, after which Mr and Mrs Ditchfield went to New Brighton for the honeymoon, the bride travelling in a dress of rose-rust silk, with ecru lace en relief, over which she wore a cost of dove grey, with fox fur trimming and hat of grey felt”.
Onto a century later - and my own wedding in 1971,
Here with my father arriving at the church - my nearest image to the prompt photograph below. I was wearing a simple empire line dress, with a headdress in the style of Ann Boleyn, the wife of Henry VIII. Tudor styles were all the rage at the time, with dramas on TV and in Hollywood films.
To be honest it not a good omen, given that Ann Boleyn suffered the fate of being executed by the monarch. But my husband and I survived and have recently marked our 53rd anniversary!
Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share
their family history and memories through photographs
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Click HERE to see how other Sepia Saturday bloggers
are marking SPECIAL OCCASIONS.
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How enjoyable to go through the ages and see the fashions as they changed, or stayed the same! So glad your marriage has now celebrated 53 years...congratulations! I didn't get to doing a Sepia post this week...life interrupted!
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