All posts tagged: 1890s

Family wedding photos

Here are some random family wedding photos from Mr D’s maternal side.  Sadly, we don’t even know exactly who some of the brides and grooms are, or when the wedding was. This is probably the oldest.  They are a rather sad looking group aren’t they?  And we aren’t even sure it is a wedding photo – only the small bouquet carried by the seated woman and the posy in the standing woman’s belt hint at that.  The photo does reveal one dirty little family secret though.  See those trees in the background.  Yep.  Eucalyptus.  Some of Mr D’s ancestors came from Australia.  *wink* This photo is much more ‘bridal’, but the bride looks just as unhappy!  Poor thing!  Don’t you just love her huge sleeves though?  And the little boy lying awkwardly at the front of the group? I think that the man in the light suit is the same man as in the first photo (those ears rather give it away!) and the boy sitting in front of him may be the same boy …

Rate the wedding dress: 1890s

Last week the first half dozen of you to rate Heather’s dress were madly in love with it.  I thought we might have a perfect score!  And then the dissenters arrived.  One of you even flat out hated the design, colour, and cut.  And a few more of you didn’t hate it, but thought it was blah, and that the bodice cut was frumpy.  So balancing out those who loved, loved, loved it, those of you who were blah about it, and the one who hated it, the lavender outfit rated a solid 8.  I guess most of you did like it! This week, it’s wedding dress week, so what do I have for you to rate?  A wedding dress of course! This dress dates to the 1890s, a period by which most of the traditions that we have about wedding dresses had already ingrained themselves in the cultural psyche.  Brides wore white, with veils, and carried roses for love, orange blossoms for purity, and myrtle for domestic bliss. Some things were very different from …

Gosh Dagmar, you really liked your pearls, didn’t you?

I’ve posted about Dagmar of Denmark, known after her marriage as Maria Feodorovna of Russia, before.  While I was researching her I noticed something.  Maybe it was because of her rather impoverished childhood, maybe it was a family weakness for completely OTT necklaces, maybe it was because she had already cried her share of brides tears well before the wedding, or maybe she just liked the things.  Whatever it was, man, that girl had some pearl bling going in all her portraits! From Dagmar’s diary*: 6 June 1867: A man came today to take my portrait with the new camera technology.  How fabulous!  I knew exactly what I wanted to wear: my favourite bow headband and every single pearl necklace I own.  Also the bracelets.  I looked fabulous.  One of my ladies in waiting suggested that it might be a bit much as I’m not even 20, but I told her to stuff it.  The nerve! 25 September 1874: The happiest possible news!  The doctor has just confirmed today that I will be confined for …