History & Myths

Edwardian Weddings

I am writing a novel and i was wondering what an upper class wedding in 1911 would be like. would it be very different from nowdays? The bride and groom in this novel are 17 and she is three months preganant (the reason that they are marrying), would this make any differenece. i.e done quickly and less formal, what do you all think.

Annanan Fri 20/06/08 13:44

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Lil O'lady
Sat 21/06/08
21:23

The practice in the upper classes was to marry very quickly after announcing engagements - so a pregnancy was often passed off as an 'early' baby in all classes. Plus the wealthy might return from an extended honeymoon with a baby born at an unannounced date abroad.
Wedding dresses tended to be 'best dresses', but depending on your social position it was considered dangerous to be 'too fashionable'. So by 1911 designers like Leon Bakst were cutting edge and some rich women would wear these kind of designs, but most would still be in the styles of the Edwardian era. Since the best frock of a rich womn was often white, it gradully became the case later in the 20th century that women wore white dresses to get married.
A 17-year old male would only be considered marriage fodder if there was summat up ie ill - most men were older than their brides.
On the other hand a 17 yr old female was a great catch if from a rich family.

Steve.5
Mon 23/06/08
02:08

In all classes, what a load of b------- its was a case of double standards.

Return from a holiday, so as to remove the embarressment of being pregnant, or to eleviae the problem. Thats if thy were not so preoccupied with using terrorist tactics in order to gain the vote.

Whilst the lower classes of society never had the chance that Ms Stokes wanted to introduce.

So if i were you Annaan I would recomend a bit more research of the era.

good luck

juliacornwal
Mon 23/06/08
11:47

Get yourself of copy of 'The Perfect Summer. Dancing into Shadow in 1911' by Juliet Nicolson. As a research book it's excellent.

Lil O'lady
Tue 24/06/08
20:16

An extraordinary outpouring of vitriol seems to have been prompted by an innocent question. Steve wants to have a rant about dual standards and Marie Stopes (who was a eugenicist incidentally). Noknowledge never makes a typo or has skippy key syndrome so must punish the poster for doing so.
Poster asked about an effing wedding frock for godsake.

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