Wedding Wednesday Archives - Maureen Taylor

Episode 132: The Wedding Detectives Charlotte Sibtain and Cole Moreton

Maureen Taylor — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Take one wedding photo, add some research and you’ll end up with quite the story. That’s the premise behind The Wedding Detectives on BBC Radio 4. Charlotte Sibtain was on The Photo Detective back in episode 44 vintage Wedding Photos. I discovered Charlotte’s Instagram feed and so did reporter Cole Moreton. Together they uncover the tales behind what on the surface look like ordinary wedding images. Murder and mayhem are just one of the stories they found. You don’t have to live in the UK to listen to their program. My fingers are crossed the series gets expanded. Let’s help them by tuning in via the web. Link in the show notes.

Episode 44: Vintage Wedding Photo s

Episode 98: Collect Photo Stories with StoryGlory

About My Guest:

Charlotte Sibtain is a London-based social researcher who collects vintage wedding photos and then reunites them where possible with the families. She is also the co-host of the popular BBC Radio 4 series, ‘The Wedding Detectives’.

Cole Moreton is a writer and broadcaster exploring who we are and what we believe in. His BBC Radio 4 series The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away won Audio Moment of the Year at the Arias and Best Writing at the World’s Best Radio Awards in New York. He also contributes to Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2. Cole was named as Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards for his work with the Mail on Sunday and also writes for other titles including The Guardian and the i. He is the author of five books including Hungry for Home, which was shortlisted alongside Zadie Smith’s White Teeth for the prestigious John Llewelyn Rhys Prize for first book of any kind. An East Ender by birth, he now lives by the sea.

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London and Canada. She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira). She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

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Mother and Daughter

Maureen Taylor — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 15:01:00 +0000

This unidentified bride and her mother posed circa 1914. The shawl collars on both of their dresses help place them in a time frame.

So do the flowers.

Edwardian era bouquets were large with trailing ribbons, vines or flowers. Large lilies dominate the greenery. On her head this bride wears a type cap of flowers with a long veil. Her mother’s corsage consists of a single piece of greenery, perhaps a fern, with an accent bud.

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Wedding Wednesday: Decorated with Flowers

Maureen Taylor — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 12:55:00 +0000

A. M.Estrella of Fall River, Massachusetts took this photograph in the first decade of the twentieth century. There is something really charming about the enhancements on this image. The pink flowers with green leaves were stamped on the image with ink.

The bride wears a lovely striped silk dress with a full veil. Her groom holds a pair of gloves in his hands. Could the couple have requested this all over green and red pattern or was this a specialty of the photographer? I’m looking for other examples of his work.

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Wedding Wednesday: A Couple from the Mid-1890s and Crayon Swindlers

Maureen Taylor — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 14:31:00 +0000

The spectacle of the Kim Kardashian/Kanye West wedding is outside the pocketbooks of modern brides, nineteenth century high society wedding with white gowns, diamonds and multi-course reception meals were too expensive and frivolous for most of our ancestors as well. It was pretty typical for a man to purchase a wedding suit to be married in and for his bride to wear a new dress for the event. It was usually a dress the bride could wear again.

Spotting a wedding involves reading the matrimonial clues in a portrait. In this case, the couple formally holds hands and both wear corsages. The tell-tale wedding veil confirms it’s a wedding. There are cases where the bride doesn’t wear a veil. Sometimes, women just wore a scarf of white fabric wrapped around their collar.

This bride wears fingerless mitts instead of long gloves. Her full upper sleeves dates the picture to the mid-1890s.

While the image was taken in Minneapolis, the studio called itself the New York Portrait Company which had studios in New York, San Diego, New Haven and Minneapolis (and probably other large cities as well). They advertised their services in newspapers and bragged about their ability to produce pastel and charcoal enlargements known as crayon portraits.

In the 1890s the popularity of these prints and the well-known reputation of the New York Portrait Company provided an opportunity for scam artists, aka crayon swindlers, to separate our ancestors from a little cash. A man falsely representing himself as an agent for the New York Portrait Co. would approach a house when just women were home. He’d appeal to their desire for an enlargement of a treasured family photo. A deposit of one or two dollars was required as a deposit. The woman would hand over the image and the cash and never hear from the man or see the promised product.

Source: Anthonys Photographic Bulletin volume XXIII, 1892, 223.

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Wedding Wednesday: General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Daughter Minnie

Maureen Taylor — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:30:00 +0000

When Maria Ewing Sherman married Thomas William Fitch on October 1, 1874.

Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman and his wife, Ellen Boyle Ewing had several children including their oldest, Maria who was known as Minnie. Her marriage to Naval Lieutenant Thomas William Fitch was a Washington social event attended by President and Mrs. Grant. It was covered by newspapers across the country. The bride and groom wed at 9:30 am at St. Aloysius Catholic Church. Wax lights and gas jets illuminated the interior of the church. Minnie wore a heavy white silk dress with a long train decorated with satin ribbons and orange blossoms. According to the finding aid for family papers at Villanova, Minnie received a four strand diamond necklace and matching earrings.

Following the ceremony, guests were entertained at a reception at General Sherman’s home.

The couple had seven children but only four lived to be adults. Minnie died in 1913.

Source: “A Brilliant Affair–The Crowds, The Flowers, The Dresses, Etc.,” St. Alban’s Messenger (Vermont), October 9, 1872,2. Image:Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division

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