VINTAGE VILLAGE WEDDINGS: PART III

This is the last (we will never say last!) of the vintage wedding series.

In reading on the net I found a great app tool which allowed me 

to do this collage and more.

I have loved doing this story telling with the beautiful photographs

 that grace these pages. 

 Gratitude for all those who carefully preserved them. 

There is a new one added to the collage and that is of my mother 

as a Bridesmaid in the 1930's.  

She is up at the right corner.  In researching my family genealogy 

I found it as part of another wedding photo.

Like pressed flowers, these beautiful photographs allow us to live moments of love 

from days gone by. As time passed, and as we see in these photos, history changed the way weddings took place. We saw it in the last two posts and we shall see it in this one. 

I recognize many of these faces though I knew them when they were much older.  

Of course, those related to me are engraved on my heart.

Before we begin: a note.  Carolyn, a reader, has highlighted the fact that many of the photographs in this series have the same backgrounds.  Indeed, they were all taken at Boutin Photography Studio on E. Brittania St. in Taunton.  She and I were commenting online that it would be awesome if some of those files exist.  Lo and behold… they do!  A daughter of the woman who owned the Studio kept them and they are going through them, hoping to post on 
I'm from Taunton Facebook page!!
  Blessed be those who do not throw away such treasures!  Blessed by Herminegild Boutin 
of Boutin Studios. 6 Brittania St., Taunton, premiere photographer!

………….

This first photograph is from my my Aunt Alveda Souza Napieralski's photos,  Thanks to my cousin Shelley for sharing.  It is clearly a Village shot.  I recognize my Aunt Lavina Souza O'Connell on the end at the right, and I think I recognize the Maid of Honor.  It appears the others were friends or bridesmaids.  I would think this was in the late 30's or 40's.

The photo also reminds me of stories I was told of the bridal showers given in the Village.  Apparently they included mock weddings and were for gals only.  The history of bridal showers is that back in the day when weddings were arranged by family members, it is said that a Dutchman fell in love with a girl whose father refused her a dowry.  Their friends "showered" them with enough gifts to start a household.  Later, another bridal party included an upside down parasol full of gifts. It was turned upside down over the bride and she was  "showered" with gifts.
 In the Village in the 30's and 40's young brides to be and their grooms
counted on showers to give their kitchens a head start. 

 Today of course showers are as complicated as weddings themselves.

 Not as much time for simple friendship and laughter.

……………...

Speaking of young couples starting out with not much, a good example in 1939 was the wedding of my mother and father: Angelina Motta and Frank Souza. 

 My mother was, to all intents and purposes, an orphan without a mother and father 

to purchase a wedding gown and give her a wedding ceremony,

My father was just starting out himself, his father had died in 1927 and his mother, my grandmother was raising their seven children alone.  So, my parents did their own thing.  One cold January Sunday morning they were married quietly and simply after the 11 a.m. Mass at St. Anthony's.  They always said there were a lot of people at their marriage.  That did not mean however, that they were not a stunning couple,  even without the accoutrements of wedding finery my mother is stylish and chic wearing her corsage with as much joy as a bride with a full bouquet.

……………..

                               It was not long before war became a fact of life for young couples

                               who were marrying.  Here is a photo from Pinterest of a family posing after

                               a simple wartime ceremony.  No money, time or much else but love to

                               start them off in life, with prayers that he would come back from battle.

                              

         

……………….

 The war meant that Village couples took much on faith as they exchanged their vows.

             That was true for this couple: we introduce Mr. and Mrs. Alice (Pina) and John Emond.

            Before their wedding he was sent off to WWII.  She prayed and waited faithfully until he returned.  She and my Aunt Alveda were best friends.  They waited together

for their men to come home.

Happily, they did.  Here below is their wedding photograph from 1946.

                   

……………...

Also, in 1946  the Village wedding of my Aunt Alveda and her husband, Zigmond took place..

You were treated to their wartime romance and wedding earlier

in this blog when we spoke of the Army Base at Camp Miles Standish in Taunton.

……………….

                       Below is the 1948 wedding photo of Alice Pina's sister, Virginia Pina, to
                       Manuel Nascimento.  Manuel is related to my nephew's Peter and Roger.
                            The Best Man is Charlie Nascimento also related to my nephews.
                              The Maid of Honor is Mary Pina, twin sister to the Bride.

                                                                   ……………..


Finally, I feel we have come full circle with this wedding below in 1946.  Here are Bride: Deloinda "Linda" Rezendes and her husband Antone Carreiro. Her Maid of Honor is her sister, Mary Rezendes, the Best Man is their brother, Tony Rezendes.

Why do I say full circle?  Well, Linda and Mary and Tony were siblings of my dear friend, Theresa.
Theresa and I grew up together in the Village.  Through me, Terry met her husband, Gil. She and I double dated on their first date.  I was Maid of Honor at their wedding at St. Anthony's in 1960.
                                                It is to Theresa that I dedicated this blog.

Now, let me tell you a charming story about the Maid of Honor, Mary, one of the bride's 

sisters. Mary and Linda and their sister, Theresa were from a family that was strict as to 

the activities of the daughters.  Theresa could spend time at my house only if her mother talked to my mother first.  Anyway, Mary's  friends told her if she did not get out and about, she would never marry.  She responded that if God wanted her to find a husband, He would send one to knock at the door.

So. one day she was sitting at the kitchen table in the family's third floor small apartment on Floral St.  There was a knock on the door. Mary answered it and there was Antone.  He had been sent by a cousin to see if they needed dry cleaning.  He owned his own small company and made house calls.  The rest as you can guess is that they eventually married.  I am sure there was a very chaperoned courtship before this wedding took place. Mary did not have to go any further than answering the door!

             
                       "We bring our years to an end, as it it were a tale to be told." Psalm 90

…………………..

This series of posts has resulted in over 1,000 page views, it is clear that we all love
 wedding history.

I am glad that this has been enjoyed.  I urge you to share your family photos, the older the better, and stories attached are even more welcome!!

………..

Sources for this series:

There are many web sites relating to the history of weddings, here are some I used :

http://www.pibweddings.com/traditionsorigins.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/weddings-history_n_2272022.html

http://www.brideandgroom.com/wedding-articles/wedding-traditions-2.asp

*Photographs from Arlene Gouveia with Village lore for many of them.
*Photographs from Motta-Souza Genealogy collection.

*Photographs from Shelley Napieralski Au, her Mother'sand my Aunt Alveda Souza  Napieralski's collection:

*Pinterest for floral photo, shower momento and other photographs.

 The photo above was shared by a vintage collecting friend.

VILLAGE VINTAGE WEDDINGS BELLS : PART II

Thank you to all who responded so favorably to our first Vintage Wedding Post.  It was a delight to write.  Here now is the second part.

In researching the history of weddings, I came upon this photo on Pinterest.  Notice the clergyman in this photo?  Did you know that clergy were not present at weddings until after the 15th Century when it was degreed at the Council of Trent?  Prior to that a simple." will you marry me? and "yes" was enough.  If a priest was there, it was only for a blessing.

Also in this photo: shoes tied to the bumper was thought of as a symbol of authority and possession. Taking the bride's shoes meant that she would not run away.

                          This photo was probably taken in the 20's from the look of the cars.

But, back to our Village history.

Below are Mr. and Mrs. Morien Costa (Mary Rose) for their wedding which took

place in 1927.  Note the "Merry Widow" hat which we will see in many wedding photos.

Also, her neckline is a departure from earlier gowns.  After 1910, wedding gowns took on a more silhouette streamlined look.  Changes could be seen as the Sufrogette movement started, too.

We could certainly say that this is a more "modern" bride.

She has a huge bouquet: earlier in history what she might have carried, as we said early on,  might have highlighted these symbols:

*dill- lusty

*sage-wisdom

*orange blossoms- happiness and fertility

*lilies-purity

Now, a very special photo.  Here are Aelene Gouveia's parents: Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Rose (Mary Perry). This is special for me because I knew these two people and remember them.  The marriage took place at St. Anthony's Church in 1929.   

Here again, we see on the Maid of Honor that Merry widow hat and the fluffy neckline.
The bride's veil is more voluminous and is like a train.  The groom and best man are
wearing tuxedos.  It is said that before Teddy Roosevelt wore one at at his wedding
grooms simply wore their best suit.

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Amaral (Ida Silvia) in 1931. Ida was the sister of

Manny Silvia of the band: The Top Hatters.

This is noteworthy for me as Manny was my father's partner in Souza Electric on School St.

Also, years and years later, after Manny and his wife had passed on, I purchased their

little red house on 12 Ashland St.  I found a printing plate of the Top Hatters in a closet.

I wonder if Manny and the boys played at this wedding.

This lovely bride we see wearing satin, a change once again.  Her headpiece is a tight fitting

cloche, of the '20's style.  Here the gown is getting longer again. She has gloves, too. Her veil is flowing around her feet.

From an ad in the Anchor newspaper.  Sorry for the blur.

Here a lovely bride with the cloche hat once more.  Mr. and Mrs. John Veida,

relatives of Arlene.  Wedding took place in Providence in 1931.

Sadly, pneumonia took the groom shortly thereafter, 

Another couple I recognize a bit.  This is Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sylvia (Anna Brazil).

Wedding at St. Anthony's in 1932.  Anna, if I recall, was always called Anna Brazil 

even after her wedding.  They were the parents of friends Joanne and Pat Sylvia 

and lived just beyond Braga Square.

The Village folk loved nicknames.  One of my aunt's was Joe's Mary

to differentiate her from a sister-in-law also named Mary and so forth.  

Anna's veil is even grander and her cloche hat simpler.  

And here below is that sister-in-law: Mary Bernandino, my paternal Aunt with her husband 

 John Bernadino in 1933. Both were of the School Street Village. My Uncle Joe (his wife was Joe's Mary), her brother, as Best Man.  Maid of Honor is Mary Costa.  Mary later owned and operated the Taunton Flower Studio.

In the 19020's and 30's weddings turned into big business,  Mary Costa benefited as weddings would have been a large part of her business. When I married in 1985, I had them do my flowers, and School St. Bakery, my cake.

Did you know that once the wedding cake was thrown in pieces at the bride, until a baker in Roman days complained of the waste of his confections?

Mary's gown here is long and more elaborate.  It appears both she and her Maid of Honor

wore satin. Mary Costa has only a little pill box of a headpiece. The bride's neckline as well as her Maid of Honors are heading south a little more.

Our last photograph for this post will catapult us into a new wedding style era.

Here are my Aunt Eleanor Costa, her new husband, John (Bunny)Souza, my 

paternal Uncle, and her sister, Alvera Costa and new husband, Arthur Marshall.

Of all of our photos, this is the only one of a double wedding.

Full on, the entire wedding party is in smiles. The women have simple headdresses with enormous veils and trains for their gowns.  Short sleeves, smaller bouquets and demure necklines.

Remember the practice, at least in the Village, of putting a rosary on the clothesline the might before the wedding to assure good weather?  Judging by these beautiful smiles, it worked.

My Aunt Eleanor loved this song and I share it with you

until our next Post of Village Wedding Bells: Part III

Stay Tuned….

VILLAGE VINTAGE WEDDING BELLS: PART I

"Something old, something new, 
something borrowed and something blue."

                    That tradition goes way back and links the bride to family and faithfulness.

Well, here is something definitely borrowed.  This post, Part I of three,  traces the history of weddings in the Village.  The photographs come to us courtesy of Arlene Gouveia whose mother kept many, many precious photographs that are enriching our memories in this blog.  

Lesson to be learned for all of us.

 Through the help of Arlene's son, John, these have become part of a lovely history of weddings in the School Street Village.  When I first received them via e-mail, I sorted them along with others from my own Souza-Bento Correia  genealogical  files. Along with many of the photographs are stories that often charm, sometimes sadden, and always bring the pictures to life. To add even more, one can extrapolate these stories and their photos to a history of weddings in America through the years.  For the most part this is a chronology with some departures here and there.

                                                     

 Researching the history of weddings in general I was amazed to find how the photos correlated.  Come along for this ride and do not be surprised if you hear wedding bells from the past.

The first weddings took place in 2,800 BCE with the first recorded use of the wedding finger band.  In 1659, the most expensive wedding gift ever was bestowed by King Charles II to Queen Luisa of Portugal.  It consisted of the two cities of Tangiers and Bombay!

The word matrimony comes from the Latin: matrimonial is derived from mater or mother.
Weddings changed over the years from "catch and capture"
to more romantic and religious events.

Our first couple dates all the way back to 1891. Predating the establishment of St. Anthony's Church in the Village in 1906, Jose Rosa and Flizbeta (Flora) Rose were married at St. Mary's Church in Taunton in 1891.  It was only in the 1870's that the use of diamond rings was started, and also the use of photo albums as in those years Kodak came on the scene. Everything about the photograph bespeaks simplicity and few "bells and whistles" Both man and wife are austere and unsmiling. The times were difficult for many newlyweds and strength would be needed.

                    The honeymoon destination Niagara Falls become popular around 1860.

Below my maternal great Aunt Anna Bento Correia and her husband, Jose were married in 1901, probably in Bristol, RI at the Portuguese Church of St. Elizabeth. Note her Victorian hairstyle and the full sleeves which characterized the wedding gowns of the time. 

Times have begun to change, in at least style.

This gentle woman, Tia Annie to us, was my grandmother Isobel's sister.  Her husband Jose and her two oldest children would die prematurely in the Azores leaving her a young widow in her twenties.  Returning to the U.S. with her two remaining daughters, she would marry Mr. Fostin in the Village.  They would settle in a little white house right next to Jigger's Variety just off Braga Square. She lived there until her death in 1958.  Her home which was very familiar to us,  provided us with easy access to Jigger's and a view to the happenings of the Village at that end of School Street including Fourth of July celebrations.

This next photograph is of Mr and Mrs Jose Luiz Perreira (Maria de Camo Moniz Morgada) married in New Bedford in 1908.  For awhile floral headdresses were the rage.  One still sees that Victorian hairstyle, the nipped waistline and the puffed sleeves.  Our groom here is sporting white gloves. The wedding gown color is still high encircling the neck. But, at least the bride is smiling.
Here is something interesting.  Notice that the gown of the bride
and the maid of honor are very similar.
Way back in time, this was done on purpose so that evil spirits would be confused as to who as who, or marauding men would not steal away the bride.

I am putting this next photo in out of chronological order.  The wedding  of Joao Bento Correia and Maria Irena Encarnacao Xavier took place in 1923
in the Village of Villa do Campo 

St. Miguel, Azores.

 Look at the veil.  The history of the wedding veil goes way back in history. It also harkens back to Sephardic Jewish history in the Iberian peninsula.  Keep in mind that there was a strong Jewish presence all the way back to the Romans in Portugal. I do not know if there was such a bloodline in our family, but all is possible.  At the least there was a cultural heritage. To me this veil has Sephardic overtones as it nearly overwhelms the dress and even, the bride herself.  Also, even prior to that tradition, it was thought that the veil protected the bride from evil spirits.  In the case of arranged marriages it hid the bride so the groom would not change his mind.

 This couple are my maternal great cousins and their progeny would settle with many other Portuguese in Bermuda, and with a strong family presence in the Village, starting with my 

Tia Annie seen in an earlier photograph.

When Queen Victoria married in the 1800's, the wedding scene really changed.  Prior to that many brides wore colored dresses.  Many were poor and the dress would need to do for other occasions, even perhaps her funeral.  Musical wedding tradition was set when the Wedding March by Wagner 

was heard at this royal wedding as well as the wedding 

recessional: the Bridal Chorus from Wagner's Lohengrin.

It is 1921 for the photograph below.  Our bride has no gloves at all. The history of courtship and romance with gloves had a long history back to the Middle Ages, 

 Most brides wore them until around 1910 when  a spirit of new freedom seemed to begin.

The style is still demure but the skirt is a lot shorter.

Mr, and Mrs. Joseph Silvia (Mary Rose) were married at St. Anthony's Church.

She was Arlene's  aunt.  Note the floral bouquet.  Centuries before, the bride came down the aisle

carrying a bouquet of dill and garlic to ward off the Plague. Over time the tradition changed to flowers with their own meanings such as roses and baby's breath and forget-me-nots.

Not long after this, in 1924, the bridal registry was born at Marshall Field's in Chicago.

Above, my maternal great Aunt Mary Conceicao and her husband Joseph Belerique Cardoza 

after their wedding at St. Anthony's in 1927..

Uncle Joe was a long time custodian at Fuller School.  Their late son, Joseph, was a great help to me in my genealogical research and we often talked and shared discoveries.  

He provided one of the all time exciting moments for me when one day I was visiting him in Taunton.  He said to me, "I have been waiting for years for someone to ask me for this….."  He then put into my hands my great grandmothers original passport dated 1922.  

Note how the wedding gown has shortened even more.  It is the roaring 20's and ladies are baring their legs. The wedding dress still includes lots of lace and ruffles. Now we see opaque white stockings and the long gloves are back at least for this wedding. Gone are the puffed, long sleeves.  The Victorian hairdo is out, too, and now the headdress gets a whole lot of attention puffing up accordingly.   The style includes a smaller bouquet of flowers.  The tradition of tossing the bouquet began

 because once it was "get a piece of the bride of the bride's gown." 

 This became so rowdy that the more

 sedate practice of throwing the bouquet came into vogue.

In the 1920's, the Jazz Age, the wedding business was started in earnest,

Ah, the whole bridal party here.  Our bridal cap is quite ornate and the neckline a bit more daring.

Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Gonsalves (Mary Gallego) were married at St. Anthony's Church also in 1927. They are Arlene Gouveia's husband's paternal grandparents.  The flower girl is Mary Tremblay and the ring  bearer, Sam Sousa.  Now we see a lovely smile on our bride's face which was "frowned" upon in former years. Our small flower girl's headpiece is definitely the 20's look. 

Also, see her sleeker wedding dress.

The history of flower girls goes back to Roman times, then they carried sheaves of wheat and herbs to ensure blessings of prosperity and fertility for the couple.  Ring bearers go back to ancient Egypt when it was the custom to carry treasured jewels on ornamental pillows during wedding ceremonies.

Our Next Post:       

 More Village weddings 

as we stroll through the years.

       Meanwhile: wouldn't you like to share some of your wedding photo heirlooms with us?