This
wonderful old wedding photograph of a bride and her father approaching the
church, was taken in 1925. The bride is the grandma of Jan, who is a
regular site visitor to this website.
The wedding took place on what was clearly a bright sunny day on August
1st, 1925. The lovely bride, shown left, is Winifred Roberts (born on November 4th
1900) and her father Gregory Roberts (born October 16th, 1862) of Walthamstow, Essex (now London E17).
Read below a little more of what Jan wrote to me about the photo.
'I am now sending a photograph from my grandma's wedding. The
photograph shows her with her father walking into the church.
I have noticed a tendency for 1920s wedding photographs to be taken
with the bride and groom sitting down. Have you noticed that? '
Indeed I have noticed this point about seated bridal groups.
If you have an undated wedding photo that looks post Victorian and the
bridal party is sat down, it may indicate that the image is of the 1920s/1930s. The
1920s in particular seemed to be a fashion era when the bridal
couple or party were seated for their wedding photos.
Jan continued 'This does not show the bride and groom, however, this
is the bride and her father striding to the church with good humour and high
spirits... and, apparently, a dog-end!'
Yes, just look at that dog-end between his lips.
No politically correct woman in the 21st century would allow her father to escort her
smoking! Today he would be given strict instructions on his
behaviour for the big event, by both daughter and mother of the bride.
But in those days women 'knew their place' and maybe this is an example of
what is etiquette to one generation, is not considered good manners to another generation. This truly
looks like a joyful event, let's get on with it happy wedding day.
Take a look at those wonderful Mary Jane bar shoes. Mary Jane's
have come back into fashion and you can see modern versions of the shoes
here on my
fashion trends pages.
The headdress is typical of the 1920s era, actually, this style had been fashionable
since about 1910. This headdress (above) almost appears to be a flower-bud foundation hat, but with a veil attached.
As the 1920s progressed, the mob cap of the bridal headdress
began to be more and more embellished.
You may already have noticed that wonderful, well balanced, embroidery design that meanders and scrolls over the wedding gown from bodice to skirt. See also how the rose design is repeated in a symmetrical manner on the upper bodice
of the wedding gown.
The organic design focuses on a central rose, and makes a play of scale with
smaller and larger trailing leaves. This gives contrast between the
ethereal light stitches adding intricacy, and the rich weight of heavier embroidery design work. The roses appear to have been worked in a raised satin stitch.
This bridal gown of 1925 was obviously worked with love and with great
skill.
Jan explained
'The dress was probably made by the family: grandma was the youngest
of five. She and her three sisters all sewed and embroidered for a
living. Winnie married Albert Jeffryes and they continued to live in
Walthamstow, until 1961.
I find skirts of this era often interesting and this wedding dress captures the dithering hemline of the 1920s. Skirts were obviously getting shorter. But huge departures from a
particular skirt length and style always takes time for mass approval.
Many women would have played safe and opted for the illusion of a shorter
dress. This underskirt may also have been longer and the final under length
selected at the last moment.
A year later, in 1926, skirt hemlines shot up and clothes have decidedly C20th
fashion look. Double layer skirts, deep banded contrast hems and handkerchief hemlines
are all part of such indecisiveness of design.
The top layer of this 'new shorter' double wedding skirt has a lovely
scallop edge and I think I can see some seed pearls or glass bugle beads
twinkling.
1925 Compared with 1921
The double skirt was not a new style and had been in fashion since around 1912, indeed, the waist had moved up and down several times. This
image left is of a bridal dress pattern of 1921 and you can see how the style elements are similar to those of the bride above.
If you are researching family genealogy and think the names here are
related to you, then you may contact Jan via her website
here.
Old photos can be useful when tracing family members and narrowing down
search up-to-dates. These 1925 photos may help you put an era to your
un-to-dated images.
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This was the era of film stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino. While they were 'walking out' with starlet such as
Louise Brooks and Pola Negri, there were no major film star
nuptials
in 1925.
Interestingly, Percy and Florence Arrowsmith were married in 1925 and in 2005 they celebrated their 80th Wedding Anniversary.
Other events of 1925 include, John Logie Baird building Britain's first TV transmitter. In Egypt, the Great Sphinx of Giza is unearthed and restored.
For more information about Wedding Photos click below:-
*
Old photos can be useful when tracing family members and narrowing down
search dates. These photo pages may help you put an era to your
undated images.
If you have old wedding photos please send them to me and if suitable I will
add them to this pictorial section of social history.
OLD WEDDING PHOTOS
For superb Victorian or Edwardian re-enactment costumes in USA, try the reproduction costume range at:
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