Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Friday 29 April 2011

Wedding Day Delay



This is my contribution to this week's Sepia Saturday. I decided to go with the wedding theme as I have just watched the Royal couple tie the knot, and I was in the mood. This is my grandparents' wedding in September 1918. They were married at Christchurch Parish Church, Watford. The possible reason they all look a little grumpy is that some key members of the family missed the wedding due to travel problems. I saw this picture for the first time a few weeks ago, when my brother, who is the genealogist for the family, told me the story. The following day they all had to get dressed in their wedding clothes again and resurrect the bouquet and wilting corsages. My Gran and Grandad still looked happy though. My Gran was twenty-one and my Grandad just twenty. The First World War was not yet over and my Granddad had already been in the army for three years. More poignantly my Gran's three beloved older brothers were missing from the photo; two killed in 1916 and a third still serving in France. Sadly he never returned, dying of pneumonia, possibly as a complication of Spanish Influenza, in France in 1919. They went on to have a long and happy marriage of almost fifty-five years, ending only on my Grandad's death.


17 comments:

  1. This is a lovely photo and story. Did you post your link on the linky? I had to find you through your profile. I am certain others would love this story.

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  3. That is a fabulous, fabulous photograph. Only when I clicked and enlarged it did I appreciate it fully : all the individual faces and expressions. You could write a book based on that picture alone. What a fine Sepia Saturday post that is.

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  4. I can only echo Alan's comments. The expression on the face of the young boy at the front says it all.

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  5. What a great story! Having to get dressed again and make a picture after you are over it!

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  6. Lovely photo. Yes, what a coincidence that we both mentioned the 1918 flu epidemic. What a terrible time that must have been. But despite that the wedding did go on. They were a beautiful couple.
    Nancy
    Ladies of the grove

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  7. ...and what an interesting and timely post for this week... a lovely family too...I rather enjoy the children in front the most...priceless expressions!

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  8. The grumpy girl on the right in the front row looks like a young version of the grumpy woman above her in the back row.

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  9. Truly wonderful photograph, but tragic story. I love the grumpy expressions. You don't get so much of that in modern photos! I love the centre parting of the man on the right at the back. Thanks for sharing this with us.

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  10. Amazing photo! One of the most interesting wedding photos I've ever seen. And the fact that it was a sort of rerun makes it even more interesting.

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  11. double ditto on Alan's comment. I have never before heard of a rerun wedding the next day, but I am sure the late arrivals appreciated it. A grand photo with many awaiting tales to be told.

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  12. Wonderful photo and ever so interesting story. Great that someone even knows the story, so rare.

    Love your blog, looks like it's new and will be really fun!

    God Bless and have a great week,
    Julie

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  13. This is a fantastic photograph! Such a tragic period in time though

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  14. This is a grand photo. I loved looking at the individuals and their expressions. It's too sad about your gran's brothers being lost in the war. Very sad.

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  15. Great photo and wonderful photo. It was amazing they could get them all back for the next day photo.

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  16. Besides many others things, which have already reveived mention from other readers, I was intrigued by the early Boy Scout uniform.

    I'm guessing the Spanish flu touched most families in one way or another.

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  17. I love all the expressions on the faces...

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