Above is my mother with her dad “Papa” at their home upstate New York. Their home was called the Homestead.
This was the wedding of a lifetime, my lifetime that is. If it wasn’t for this wedding, I probably wouldn’t be here today. This is the wedding video from the 1940s of my mom and dad.
I found this Super 8 film in my mother’s belongings after she passed away. I only regret we didn’t find it and convert it while my mom and dad were still alive. I love watching it over and over for a couple of reasons, one, I get to see relatives, such as both grandfathers and grandmother, who I never met because they had passed years before I was born; and two, I love to watch my mom and dad giggle because they were so much in love.
Back in the 1940s when you got married, there would be a string of cars decorated in streamers that would line the streets. As I said in my About page, both my mom and dad’s side of the family, for the most part, lived very close in proximity, while others still lived in the city, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island and other surrounding areas; weddings were a family affair back then.
My parents’ reception was at the Homestead where my mother’s family lived on a farm. My mother’s wedding gown was simple but elegant, just like my mom was. I had the honor of wearing her gown 49 years after she had worn it. My aunt, my mother’s younger sister, designed the gown for her own wedding; however, when her wedding was postponed, she let my mom wear it, and a seamstress in Poughkeepsie, NY made it.
I did have it altered when I wore it, by a designer in NYC, Gia Lamothe, who also made all the bridesmaid dresses and suits for the groomsmen, which were designed especially for my renaissance Disney theme wedding.
Did you have a video made at your wedding and do you have a video of your parents’ wedding?
