Vintage wedding photographs part five

It is an exciting time as my sister gets married on Saturday. It seems to have been a while in the planning and is now suddenly here. Her dress is made, the cakes are iced, my niece and I have sparkly bridesmaid's shoes to wear, bunting is being put together, paper flowers are being fashioned and crochet floral table centrepiece production is a go go. It is all set to be a wonderful day.

All this wedding preparation made me think it was about time to feature some more vintage wedding photos here. You can find more in my previous posts on this subject here, here, here, here  here and here.

I really like this 1920's photograph as you can see a fair bit of detail of the bride's cap and veil. Look at the lovely lace on the corner of the veil that is hanging over the chair. Her cap is either beaded or she has some kind of tiara on. It is a shame that her massive bouquet hides her dress but this is common in wedding photos of this era.

I think this is a 1920's wedding because of the bride's hat, hair and dropped waist dress. On the back of the photo it says Mother and Dad. I wish we had their names! I like the fact that this bride's bouquet almost touches the floor! The groom is very dapper.

I think that this is also a 1920's wedding, although it could be early 1930's. Massive bouquets, floor length veil, pearls, bridal cap. I am particularly interested in the bridesmaid's dresses as it looks like they have some sort of open, full length coat that goes over their dresses. Their hats are also interesting, the look like they have an inner cap that fits close to the head and then the outer part has the brim. You can see the hat pin on the bridesmaid on the left.

I like these two smiley, happy bridesmaids. I like the jaunty angled brims on their hats too. The sleeves and length of their gowns make me think this is a 1930's photo.

I think this is an early 1940's photograph judging by the hair and the woman on the right's dress and hat. We can't see much of the bride but close up it is possible to distinguish two layers to her dress, the top layer is see through and looks to have a lattice pattern. The bridesmaid's dresses look a little more 1930's with their puffed sleeves. On the bridesmaid on the left you can see some kind of detailing near the bottom of the dress, I think it could be an appliqué bow? The little girl has nice shoes that I would wear now and a great, sticking out dress!

This photo is not in great condition but I wanted to include it as the bride is in the middle of laughing at something and looks so very happy. I can't tell if the bride's dress is a printed fabric, some kind of damask or has a lace overlay. Her sleeves look slightly puffed but then tight from the elbow down. You can just catch a glimpse of her floor length veil behind the groom's leg. I like his pin striped suit. I think this is a 1940's wedding.

This is a lovely picture of a wartime wedding. I hope that they had a long and happy life together. The bride and bridesmaid have suits on or possibly the bride has a long coat and a dress on. Impressive hats too.

Very helpfully there is lots of information on the back of this picture. The wedding of Mary and Alan took place on 4th November 1948. The best man is Brian Temperley and the bridesmaid is May Lyons, the bride worked with her at the Regal Cinema. I love being able to find out this kind of information. The bride is in a lovely shaped suit, it looks like the skirt may button down the middle, or it has some kind of central decoration. May's dress has some very pretty pleats and looks to have some embroidery at the collar. She has a very far away look!

This bride is wearing a lovely suit, it is probably a wartime wedding. The star piece of her ensemble is her hat. It  has masses of veiling and some bird's feathers/wings/half a bird on it. Quite impressive. They look happy couple.

I think that this could be a 1940's wedding too. The top of her dress has such beautiful details on it, beaded flowers and a sequined ribbon. I think that her hat is made of feathers, I like the ones that curl around her ears. This is a lovely, happy picture.

This is such a fabulous picture of these three bridesmaids all smiling away. The have lovely floor length floral dresses with a slight sweetheart neckline finished off with pearls. They all have elbow length white gloves and cute half hats. I think this is from a 1950's wedding.

I'm looking forward to Saturday!

My photo shoot with Millinery by Jen

Handmade silk flower

A couple of weekends ago I had the most fun day playing photographer on a photo shoot. It was the first photo shoot that I have ever done, as in one where it would be beneficial to get some decent, usable pictures by the end of it! I was using a much fancier camera than I normally use and when I got over being scared of breaking it I enjoyed playing the part of a paparazzo.

Handmade bead and sequin star band

 For those who know me it may come as a surprise that it didn't come naturally to direct the lovely model, I felt like I was being a right bossy pants. However, after a while, I got over that and was full of 'turn', 'twirl', 'look down', 'tilt head', 'smile', 'don't smile' etc! It was really interesting to me to find out ways for the camera, the model and the photographer to bring out the best in the glorious items which were being snapped. I really wanted to try and do them justice but I think that they speak for themselves.

Feathers

Have you guessed what I was taking pictures of? There have been lots of clues!

Royal blue beret with bow trim

Yep! Hats!! Lots and lots of glorious handmade hats. I think this beret should be snapped up by Kate Middleton.

Red, white and blue

A patriotic number! Perfect for Jubilees, high days and holidays.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

The most fabulous shape. The missing piece to complete your New Look, assuming you already have a Dior Bar suit.

Navy cloche with flower

Super stylish and time period appropriate for this season of Downton Abbey. I love that programme. It is a shame that I hadn't been told before this photo shoot that I must go upstairs to take off my hat as Lady Mary does.

Felt leaves and a fabric covered button.

So. I bet you want to know why I was taking these pictures, and more importantly, who has made all these gorgeous hats?

Red flower with spotty button

Here she is! The very talented Jen! If you are in a hat styling fix you need to call her. Seriously. She knows how to arrange it on your head just so, so that both you and the hat look great. Much better than my general plonk it on and hope for the best approach.

My auntie and I dancing at my wedding

I got married nearly two years ago and my lovely friend Jen offered to make me a wedding hat. I was really touched and snapped up the offer and I received the most beautiful hat for my wedding day. It is made from pleated purple velvet and it has 3 vintage pearl buttons nestled in the pleats. There are three white feathers in a knot of braid and the same purple and gold braid trims the hat. I absolutely love it. Jen put it on a comb for me so that I could ram it into my hair (told you I wasn't gifted in hat styling) and it stayed put throughout the service, the reception and some mighty strenuous ceilidh dancing. My shoes couldn't hack it and had to come off but that wonderful hat had no such problems.

My wedding hat and bag

Here it is in close up and next to it is a bag that was a surprise gift. Jen kindly made me a vintage style bag using the same fabric and trim which was the perfect size and went beautifully with my dress.

Green tweed with a purple velvet bow

After four years studying millinery and having a life long love of hats Jen has decided to let her hats out into the world. Hooray! Our photo shoot provided images for her Etsy shop. Feel free to head over and check it out.

Navy heart pill box with felt bird

This heart shape is so cute and is a more unusual take on the traditional pill box shape.

Navy braid swirl.

A really pretty, classic look.

Purple beret

I love the shape and the colour of this purple beret. It even looks good from the back!

Red roses

Handmade ribbon roses. I think this hat would suit all manner of occasions.

I think I took over 300 photos, made Jen do lots of posing, drank several cups of tea, ate some tasty cake and it really was a fun day. I enjoyed getting to look at all the hats up close and looking at the shapes, trims and decorations in detail. If you want to keep up with Jen's adventures in hat making you can find her here.

More vintage wedding photographs

After some successful trips ferreting around in antiques centres and junk shops I have a few more vintage wedding photographs to add to my collection. My virtual collection is growing too, you can see it on my Pinterest board.

This is such a lovely photo set in a splendid panelled room with a huge fireplace that can just be seen on the right hand side. From the suits and dresses I would say it is a late 1930's wedding. The bride's dress has a high square neck with scalloped edging which is repeated at the sleeve edges. The sleeves are puffed and she is wearing a floor length veil. It is a simple and elegant dress. It is interesting that she is carrying a book (prayer?) rather than a bouquet.

The bridesmaid has a tremendous frilled heart shaped head piece, the centre of which seems to echo the panels on her bodice in colour. Her dress has a very high neck, it almost looks uncomfortable, and big puffed sleeves. She has a small pretty poesy finished with thick ribbon.

The men are wearing very dapper double breasted suits and the best man's suit has a pinstripe. The trousers are wide legged and they both carry gloves.

The photo is mounted and written on the mount in pencil is J.M. Turpie, Paisley. I don't know if this refers to the couple or to the photographer and haven't been able to find out.

I was very excited to find this photograph as it is such a relaxed and candid shot. It is very faded, bent and has funny reflections in it's original state so this is the best picture I could get of it. It is obviously a Second World War wedding from the groom's uniform and the bride's best dress rather than a wedding dress. To confirm it the picture is dated on the back which is lovely, I like it when there is any extra information. The wedding was on October 3rd 1942.

 I would love to know who the little girl is, could she be theirs (unlikely due to her age and social stigmas at that time), his, hers (another reason for a best dress rather than a wedding dress if it is a second marriage) or just a relative? All these possibilities are really interesting. I love the fact that it looks like the little girl has just run up to them and the photographer has quickly captured the moment.

There is always a certain sadness when at wartime wedding photographs as you have to wonder whether the men came back and whether everyone survived. I hope they had a long and happy marriage.

When I picked up this photograph I was absolutely convinced that I had seen this bride and groom before and it turns out that I was right. I featured a picture of just the bride and groom on my second post on my photograph bunting from my wedding. She is on the second photograph from the end of the post. I did get them from the same shop but a good six months apart so I was surprised that the two pictures were of the same wedding.

This is from the 1940s, in fact it is dated July 3rd 1945. The bride and bridesmaid are in their best dresses and everyday hats. The bouquets are massive. The groom looks very smart in his three piece suit. I like the row of terraces in the background, I assume they are standing outside the one that will be their home.

It is really nice to have three pictures from the same wedding here which each tell a slightly different part of the story of their day. The first is the bridal party outside the church just after the ceremony. I think the second one is the bride and groom leaving the church on the way to the reception. The third is of the cutting of the cake at the reception. It almost feels like you were there!

I think it is a late 1940s or early 1950s wedding. The bride is wearing a long sleeved, almost sweetheart neckline dress with a fitted bodice and slightly flowing gathered skirt. It is made of a heavy looking printed fabric, possibly satin or silk. Her veil is thigh length and is held in place with a hairband of flowers.

There are 3 adult and 2 child bridesmaids. The children are in bonnets and puff sleeved high neck dresses. The adults have dresses in a similar style to the bride but with short sleeves and different material. They have tiara style headpieces but I think they are probably floral. they all have wonderful bouquets.

It is hard to see much detail of the groom's suit but doesn't he look very youthful?! His best man is in a sailor's uniform, I like his buttonhole flower nestled in the ties of his sailor's collar.

It is really nice to have a picture from the reception, I have not come across many of them. The table setting is lovely, the tea cups have some kind of crest or writing on them. You can see plates of buns and cakes and possibly plates of sandwiches at every place. the wedding cake has 3 tiers with flowers and leaves as the decoration. Look at the vase of flowers on the top. It is on a big silver cake stand, like the one I had.

I keep on looking out for vintage wedding photographs so I imagine there will be another of these posts in the next few months!

Vintage wedding photographs

I added to my collection of vintage wedding photos the other day and thought it would be nice to take a closer look at them. If you want to find out how my collection started and what I used it for take a look at my posts here and here.

Judging by the number of cloche hats on the guests this is a 1920s wedding. I would love to know why the bride and groom are being photographed through apparently locked gates. Is the man in the cap on the left rushing to open them? You can just see the groom's top hat and he has lots of rice or confetti on his shoulder. The bride looks to be wearing a silk and lace dress, I wish it was possible to see more of it. Her lace cap and veil look beautiful.

I think the rest of the photographs that I found are of 1930s weddings.

This is a great group shot framed in the beautiful stonework of the church doorway. Look at the naughty lads not paying attention to the photographer and chatting at the back. Although you can not see much of the bride's dress if you look closely it appears to have a lace bodice. Her tiara/cap looks quite magnificent. The bridesmaids all have straw wide brimmed hats trimmed with ribbon. The flower girl has a Juliet cap, tilted at a jaunty angle. I don't think that the page boy is having the most fun. I put this down to a) the long white socks, b) the silk knickerbockers and c) having to hold a girl's hand.

I love this bride in glasses, always nice to find a fellow wearer of spectacles. Her gown is very elegant with its puffed and pleated sleeves and the triple layer Peter Pan collar. It looks to have a button through bodice but the large bouquet of carnations and ferns is rather in the way to be able to confirm this. She is wearing elbow length gloves and you can just see that her watch is worn over her gloves as fashion dictated. Near the bottom right of her skirt two tassells are visible so I think that there is some kind of belt to finish off her ensemble.

These three bridesmaids are wearing fabulous dresses. Part of the problem of finding old photographs is that you can not always find a set, so, like in this case, there is no way of knowing what the bride and groom look like. I am always careful to look and see if it is possible to match any pictures up. I have been able to with the next two.

All three bridesmaids have floor length dresses with puffed sleeves gathered into a cuff that sits above the elbow. There are lots of differences between the dresses. The woman on the left has a scalloped Peter Pan collar and her bodice looks to have buttons hidden under a placket. The woman on the right has a much smaller collar and exposed button. They do seem to have matching headpieces and the floral fabric of their gowns seems to be an overlay on top of plain fabric. The girl is wearing gloves which come right up and under her sleeve cuffs. She has a Peter Pan collar, covered buttons and a scalloped edge to the button band on the bodice. I can not tell if the trailing ribbons are a sash or belong to her poesy of tulips.

This is a fantastic full wedding party photograph. I really like the setting, the curved tiled platform in front of those very solid looking doors. The bride is almost completely hidden by her massive bouquet so it is hard to say much about her dress. The problem is the same for the bridesmaids. I like the pin striped, double breasted, wide lapels, wide legged suits of the groom and best man. The older gent's suits are not as stylish! It is really nice to get to see some men's fashion and also to have pictures of the mothers of the bride and groom. The groom has a triple corsage growing over his shoulder.

Here are the happy couple on their own. Don't they look lovely? I hope that they had a long and very happy marriage.

Handmade wedding - photograph bunting.

My inspiration for this came from an hour or so sat on the sofa with my friend's mum having a cup of tea and looking through her photograph album of family weddings. As she was talking me through who was who and what the weddings had been like we were also commenting on all the different styles of dress. It was fascinating to see trends emerge and fall away again and to compare dresses of one era with another. We looked at length of dress, veil or not, accessories, bouquets, shoes, bridesmaid's outfits and groom's outfits. We compared wartime brides in their Sunday best to 1960s mini skirted brides with all sorts in between. We saw some beautiful outfits and some 1980s horrors. It got me thinking that I would like to reflect my interest in vintage fashion by having some sort of display of bridal wear through the ages at my own wedding.



My friend's mum as a bridesmaid in the 1950s.
I love this whole outfit and I kept it in mind
when looking for my own dress.

So I let the idea mull away in the back of my mind and began looking out for old photographs of weddings. It was a bit of a hunt but I started to build up a little collection. It was a fun search even though I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to be doing with them all! I find if you think too hard sometimes you push away the fleeting glimmer of an idea that you are having. Much better to let it be part formed hovering out of sight until the day when it is ready to ping into the forefront of your mind ready for you to use.


Relatives, names unknown, 1900s?
He is so very dapper.
I'm afraid that she reminds me slightly of Miss Havisham
due to the exposure. I hope she had a much happier life
than that.

So I waited for my idea to form and busied myself with other wedding decorations. I was also thinking about ways in which I could include our various grandparents who were no longer with us. I didn't just want to mention them in a speech, I wanted some kind of memento, object or presence of them there on the day. It occurred to me that I could try to collect up their wedding photographs and have them on display in some way. Then they would be there, we would see them, and they would be a part of the day.

My Granny (coming up 83) and my Grandad.

Granny and Grandad 1949. Granny wearing a dress lent to her by a
neighbour. Look how it swirls out onto the floor. The veil and headpiece
look pre 1940s to me.

Grandma and Grandad 1940.
A male relative designed and made Grandma's dress. He went
window shopping in London then returned to Sheffied where
they lived, designed and cut the pattern and sewed the dress.
The veil is long and the top half of the dress is surprisingly shirt
like. Look at the lucky black cats in the horseshoe!
Grandad was in the RAF and wore his uniform.

Grandma's bridesmaids. You can see her writing above naming Joan
and Cynthia.

Mr O's maternal grandparents 1945.
What a totally gorgeous dress.

Mr O's paternal grandparents 1938.
The bride and bridesmaid look to have some kind of amazing pompom accessory.
The bride's belt is a lovely detail.

I also managed to get hold of my great auntie's wedding photographs. In the group photo of my Granny and Grandad she is the adult bridesmaid on the right hand side.



My Great Aunt and Uncle in 1950.
She has a tripple buttonhole!



As above.
I like the best dress and nice cardigan approach.

I then wanted to include wedding photographs of our parents and Mr O's brother.

My parents 1973.
Mum made her dress from a Vogue pattern. The bridesmaid
on the left is my aunt who made her dress. The other two
bridesmaid's dresses were made by someone else.



Mr O's parents 1970.
Anothe lucky horseshoe and black cat.



Mr O's brother and his sister-in-law
2000.
The first scoop neck dress in these pictures.



Then my idea pinged fully formed into my mind like I hoped it would do. I would make bunting. Photograph bunting. On giant ric rac (love ric rac, knew I would find a use for it) and on lace. Using mini wooden pegs to hold the photos on. It would go above the cake and above our message tree (more on that in another post). It would be both a decoration and a display of vintage wedding fashion. It would include everyone we love who couldn't be there. It would give guests something to look at and something to talk about. It would give me something to keep afterwards, a piece of family history.

Photograph bunting in all it's glory.

In close up.
We hung two lines over the cake.
The bottom line includes some photographs from the album that I mentioned at the start.

 I put it all together when I put it up on the morning of our wedding. It was a little nerve wracking as whilst the version in my head was exactly what I wanted and looked perfect I hadn't actually tried it out so I had no idea if it would work in real life! I didn't know if the pegs would hold or if the photos would be too heavy or if it would just look a bit silly. But I loved it and am proud of it!


Mr O's mum.
Giant ric rac and mini peg details.

The bunting in position above the cake.





Close up of the pegs and lace.



The bunting made from the old photographs that I collected I put up over our message tree. I am going to cover that in a separate post as I want to include as many photos of the lovely old outfits as possible without making this one really long.

These are a few more of my family wedding photographs. Unfortunately we do not know everyone's names or the dates of the weddings but it is possible to roughly work it out from the fashions.



Look at those massive bouquets. I would say this is from the 1920s.
Delicate shoes for the grown ups and ankle socks for the children!



This is the 1920s. The bride's dress has an interesting handkerchief hemline.
Both brides have similar lace caps and veils. The younger children have
similar ruffled dresses on. They could even be the same or cut down as both
pictures show family weddings.

This is the wedding of my Granny's brother in 1937.
The bridesmaid dress material is interesting with those hoops. Look at the
huge puffed sleeves.
A big contrast to the sleekness of the bride's dress.

I think this is probably the 1930s.
Shame the huge bouquets obscure the dresses a bit.
The bride's veil is long, you can see it almost touches her train.
The bridesmaid almost has leg of mutton sleeves.

A 1940's wedding, obviously he is in uniform
but you can also tell by her suit. No fancy shoes
for her, just practical ones. I love her handbag.

Another 1940's wedding.
I like her jaunty hat.
It looks like he may have pinstriped trousers on.