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From the Linda Kodachromes comes this circa 1955 slide labeled "Wedding." We hear the deviled eggs in the reception hall are first-rate. View full size.
The gene pool is clear. From left to right - younger sister of the bride (same mouth), sister of the groom (looks just like the groom's mother), older sister of the bride (a dead-on younger version of the bride's mother), father & mother of the bride (Dad is thinking oy vey one down, two to go), bride, groom, groom's mother (Jane Wyatt's doppelganger) and father, who are very happy and looking forward to either the highballs or grand kids to come.
I see a lot of similarities with my grandparent's wedding in 1955. Of course, being Catholic, my grandmother's 'princess' dress covered from neck to wrist. The bridesmaids dresses looked a lot like these, though, and the maid of honor also had a different colored dress. However, instead of matching the flowers to the bridesmaid dresses, they had alternating colors- pink bouquets for the ones in green, and a greenish bouquet for the one in pink. (Of course, I'm judging the colors from some very questionable Kodachrome snapshots- the official photos were black and white, of course.)
All of the men here and none of the women, except for the maid of honor, are wearing glasses. Did the women just have better eyesight? Or was it vanity? Until she was fairly old, my mother did not like being photographed wearing her glasses. Just wondering.
According to Emily Post's 1969 edition of Etiquette page 401, the receiving line consists of the Mother of the Bride, the Mother of the Groom, the bridal couple with the Bride on the Groom's right, The Maid/Matron of Honor, and the bridesmaids in order of height. The two fathers walk about together (in jolly camaraderie, no doubt). The Best Man and Ushers (they are not properly called Groomsmen) do not join the receiving line (to their great relief, no doubt). And, of course, the bride's family's butler is at the head of the line to announce aloud the names of the guests.
of the groom's mother is, I believe, to Ingrid Bergman. It's those apple cheeks.
She could be Lee Remick on a high dosage of hydrocortisone.
I think they're on the far right. They're usually the host and hostess for the wedding, so they'd be first in the receiving line to greet their guests.
[Family resemblance would seem to indicate otherwise. - Dave]
The groom's parents standing on our right are looking a lot happier than the bride's parents. I surmise they gave birth to the groom because he looks like a perfect balance of genetic material from each of them, i.e. Mom's robust cheeks and Dad's easy smile. The bride's parents on the other hand seem quite solemn and resigned, keeping a stiff upper lip while thinking about the cost of the wedding.
Looks like the Father Of The Bride is holding the Caterer's invoice in his right hand.
A Frasier episode I watched recently concerned a wedding. One line was "Bridesmaids' dresses are always ugly to make the bride more beautiful!"
I guess it's true.
My guess is that the Maid/Matron of Honor is the sister of the bride. Assuming that the bride's parents are to her right, the mother of the bride (black hat) and the Maid of Honor have strikingly similar "smiles."
The vestigal muffs worn with summer dresses are an oddity beyond compare. I fervently hope that the bride's children found photos of this wedding when they were old enough to be at war with their parents over bell bottoms.
I hope their children got his straight teeth and her eyesight!
Clearly, the blue dress goes to the shortest one.
And, by the way, the groom's mother is very attractive and bears a striking resemblance to a famous person I can't quite put my finger on.
It wouldn't be uncommon for the maid of honor to be designated in some special way like that - a different-colored dress, a different, more elaborate bouquet, different jewelry.
From the left: Bridesmaid, Bridesmaid, Maid of Honour (or Matron of Honour). Note - I'm from Canada - that's the way we spell honour!
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