Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Happiest Day?

A lot of the books I deal with at work must come from house clearances, as I keep finding wedding photographs hidden amongst the piles of book club editions and eight-volume sets of "The Illustrated War News".

I used to think that all wedding photos looked the same, apart from the changing fashions. But I was wrong. In the post-1960 pictures, everyone looks genuinely, almost desperately happy, but in the older photographs it's interesting to see that there are quite a few dissenters. Take this picture, which I found yesterday:

I can see a rather unhappy father, a relieved bride, a mother keeping up appearances and a sister and brother who have witnessed the whole sorry business. Here's a close-up:

A great photo, but my favourite is still this image, which I posted a couple of months ago:

The face of a condemned man. I wonder what happened next?

3 comments:

Hannah Stoneham said...

I dread to think, but he doesn't look too happy.

Richard de Pesando MA(RCA) said...

She's wondering what colour curtains for the lounge - he's wondering where to get a bath of acid....

The Poet Laura-eate said...

I suppose they had a little more choice in the 1960s, a few more career/contraceptive choices for women and a little less social/financial pressure all round to contend with.

Marriage for love was a luxury few could afford until surprisingly recently (unless they really were lucky) long though the ideal of 'love' and finding 'the one' may have existed.