What does this wedding photograph reveal about my great grandparents?
QI’ve discovered a photograph of my maternal great grandmother, Isabella Reynolds, at her wedding to Robert William Pearce on 23 May 1904 when she was 29 and Robert was 24. Apart from them both looking a little glum, could you tell me anything else about the photograph?
Nigel Mapp
ABy the time of your ancestors’ marriage in the early 1900s, openair wedding photography was rapidly becoming popular, and your portrait was probably taken by a professional hired to come out to photograph the couple’s special day. This garden setting will be their reception venue – perhaps a pub, or the family garden.
Your ancestors are formally posed in this tableau-like scene, the bride carefully displaying her wedding ring. By 1904, middle- and upper-class brides often wore a full ‘bridal white’ gown with a veil, and carried a large bouquet. Those from less affluent backgrounds often preferred a fashionable day dress that could be worn again.
Isabella’s pastel-coloured ‘Sunday best’ outfit is typical of the period. Formal headwear was highly elaborate: a wide-brimmed hat ornamented with flowers, feathers and bows, its colour matching the dress or white, reflecting the occasion. Both bride and groom generally wore floral sprays, as here in your great grandmother’s corsage and her husband’s boutonnière. Your great grandfather’s smart dark lounge suit and hat was the usual mode for ordinary weddings. Jayne Shrimpton
1 HAT
Robert’s tall-crowned bowler hat was a fashion associated mainly with the late 1880s and 1890s, becoming outmoded among young men by 1904. Perhaps he borrowed or hired it for the occasion.
2 POSE
The couple do look quite glum, but this was common in Edwardian photos, when subjects often felt awkward posing stiffly; nor were they encouraged to grin in front of the camera.
3 NECKTIE
The groom sports the white necktie that was reserved for important events, as well as a special white wedding waistcoat.
4 BODICE
Isabella’s distinctive dress bodice featuring a high collar, loose front panel and complex sleeves, tight in the upper arm, full around the elbow, dates her appearance firmly to 1901–1905.
5
WAIST SASH
The bride wears a white ribbon waist sash – another popular late-Victorian and Edwardian accessory denoting marriage, but easily removed when wearing the dress again later.
6 PROPS
The photographer has carefully arranged a cloth on the grass, picturesque covered table and elegant flower vases, emulating the furniture and ‘props’ used for formal studio portraits.