My blog post written by my Nanna, about her wedding in the 1940’s, got great feedback and lots of shares and comments on Facebook and Twitter. So I thought I would ask friends and family who have married through the decades, to give us a glimpse into their weddings. How much did things cost? What happened during the day? Where did they get their dresses from?
Naturally the first person to ask (after my Nanna that is!) was my mum. My parents got married in Southport in the 1970’s. My cousin Jayne and my two Aunties (mum’s sisters) were bridesmaids. So over to you mum!
“Our wedding in 1975 would have been regarded somewhat as a ‘shot gun’ wedding as we were engaged and married within 4 months. (We had been going out together for over two years and had just purchased a new build house for the grand price of £9,000!!)
I was married from the flat that I shared with another girl, rather than from my parents home, which would have been the norm. Alan and I did all the planning and roped in our many talented friends and family to help with the occasion. This included making the cake, arranging the flowers, taking the photos and playing the organ. We also arranged for the minister from my childhood church to come and share conducting the service with the local minister. The service was held at the Methodist church where I helped run the Brownies and we both played badminton.I bought my dress from Marshall and Snelgroves, now Debenhams. I went one day after work with my friend and picked one out that fitted! A few eyebrows were raised because the dress I chose was cream rather than the traditional white! The veil also came from there and I made my own head piece to attach it. (Our daughter wore it at her wedding !)
The floral bouquets for myself and the bridesmaid and the various corsages and button holes came to the sum of £18.00 . The bridesmaid dresses for my sisters were long cotton summer dress from Richard shops. We had chosen an Autumn theme for the colours which were reflected in their dresses, the flowers and the tan colour of Alan’s suit and floral shirt!
We designed our own wedding invitations and it cost £12.00 to have them printed. As was customary we had the wedding service followed by a family meal for 24 people which was paid for by my father. In the evening we invited everyone (around 80 people in all) to an party with The Mighty Mouse disco and a hotpot supper.
The service was quite traditional apart from the fact that the organist played ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ and ‘Let The Sun Shine in’ as a special request!. My signature on the register was somewhat wobbly as I had sprained my wrist decorating our new home in the days up to the wedding and was unable to grip the pen! On leaving the church we asked the chauffeur of the white Rolls Royce if he would drive us around the town for a while…..we wanted to get our moneys worth! The cost of hiring it was as much as my wedding ring!
As was the custom we were to leave the party before everyone else and be waved off on our honeymoon…2 nights in a local hotel….in a car suitably decorated by Alan’s cousin. Little did they know that we drove it round the corner and got into Alan’s Dads car to make our getaway!
A very memorable day and 40 years on we have enjoyed reliving it by writing this piece.”
Massive thanks to mum for writing this piece and today is a special day as its their Ruby (40th!) Wedding Anniversary. Many congratulations, you are awesome parents and I hope my marriage is as long and as happy as yours is. xx
