Wedding Memories

I will always remember the little church at Tempe where we were married. It was newly built. We were one of the first couples to be married in it. Do you remember that I always looked for that church whenever we went to Sydney? I used to point it out to you. It was a small, brown brick church, quite unassuming on the Princes Highway. Ah! Memories. I remember the church service very well. Do you know what the minister said to us after the ceremony? He said “If we weren’t happy after one year, we could come back and he would read the service backwards!” Fancy that and we have been married for 60 years. Too late now to go back and have the service read backwards, isn’t it? But…, on the whole our life together has been good.

It was 1934. We were still feeling the effects of the Great Depression although things were getting a little better. Your father was working at Port Kembla and his job was becoming more secure. He started working one week on and one week off. This meant that there was enough money for us to live on and so we decided to marry. Before that he was on call only - never knowing when he would be needed. I was living with your Aunty May in Tempe but I used to go home to Wollongong at weekends. I worked at the Globe Mills in Sydenham as an invisible mender. I loved my job and I loved the money but I had to give up my job when I was married.

As an invisible mender, I was earning good money for the times, and for a woman. Nevertheless, money always influenced any decisions I had to make, as it did with most people. For my wedding dress, I decided to wear a blue dress which was very pretty and relatively new. However, a neighbour of May’s said that all brides should have a traditional white gown and she offered to make a dress for me. She told me that I could buy white satin for 1/11 per yard which would make up nicely. Well, I was very happy with that arrangement so the dressmaker and I raced into the city to buy the material as she had only a few weeks to make the dress. However, I saw a magnolia coloured satin for 2/11 per yard and I fell in love with it. It was a heavier quality and I really loved the colour and feel of the material. I let my head go and bought the dearer one.

The dress was lovely and I felt like a princess. It was a full length fitted dress with long sleeves and a short train. It had a cowl neckline which was very fashionable at that time. I had bought a very pale pink net for the veil which swirled to the floor around the train. It was attached to my head by a half circle of organza orange blossoms. In my day, weddings and orange blossoms went hand in hand. You don’t see them today at weddings – gone out of fashion I suppose. My wedding ring was engraved with orange blossoms. You wouldn’t know it was the same ring today Look at how thin my ring is now. There was a narrow band of white gold engraved with orange blossoms on top. All worn away! My wedding ring was so pretty when it was new. Anyway, back to the wedding day, I carried a sheath of white gladiolas tied with a magnolia coloured grosgrain ribbon. Six inches wide! I’ve still got the ribbon in the box that you like to fossick and rummage through. I love gladiolas but they have gone out of fashion too. Pity.

Your father, the best man and my Dad, looked the part in their hired black suits; white bow ties and gloves. Yes. Very handsome, indeed. In fact, Tom and I made a fine couple, even if I say so myself. Aunty Marjory was my bridesmaid and she wore a pretty floral street dress and a brimmed hat jauntily perched on the side of her head, rather like a flapper of the 1920’s. She was married only two months after me and wore my wedding dress. Your cousin Norma wanted to be my flower girl. She was only two and half years old. At first, she wouldn’t walk down the aisle but after a bit of coaxing she finally made it. She looked so cute. Norma carried a basket of flowers nearly as big as herself. In her hair she had a huge white ribbon tied into a bow that hung over part of her face for the ceremony. She was a sweet little girl but very serious throughout the wedding.

Because the wedding service was held in Sydney at 5pm on a Friday evening and both of our families lived in Wollongong, not everyone could make the ceremony, which was sad. Tom’s father owned a car which was rare in those days. However, he could not drive so Uncle Dave drove the guests and wedding party from Aunty May’s house to the church in relay. We had our photos taken at Lemaire’s studio in Newtown. They had the name in photography in those days. They were very formal photos. I love my wedding photographs. They will be yours one day. So many memories! We all stood in a row with just a hint of a smile on our faces. In the background, as you can see, was a dark backdrop of painted arched church windows. We chose a sepia colour for our photos and the studio tinted our faces slightly which was the fashion.

We went back to Aunty May’s home in Tempe for the wedding breakfast. Our wedding was a small affair. May and Mum did the catering between them. Mainly sandwiches and small cakes. Sherry and soft drinks was served to the ladies and beer was served to the men. May made the wedding cake- a fruit cake which she iced and put fresh pale pink flowers on top. Our wedding breakfast was a very happy occasion.. Besides much talking and laughing, we sang around the old piano and May played her violin. Such lovely old waltzes. The pop songs of the day. Don’t hear them now but I really loved them. Still do!

Our honeymoon was a weekend in Sydney. Honeymoons are very different affairs for young people of today, aren’t they? We booked into a hotel for two nights as your dad had to be back at work in Port Kembla on Monday. Firstly, we shopped on Saturday morning. I remember that well as Tom bought me a dinner set and we had to hump it around Sydney all morning. In the afternoon, we did all the touristy things like going over to Manly on the ferry, eating fish and chips by the beach and going to the aquarium on Manly wharf. I never enjoyed the ferry ride when there was a bit of a swell on at the entrance to the harbour. I tend to feel seasick. Tom doesn’t, of course. Tom says that he has a stomach of cast iron and he never feels sick no matter how rough the ocean gets. Well, I did feel sea sick that day as the swell was up and down, up and down, bouncing all over the place. On Saturday evening we went to Luna Park and had great fun except for the big dipper ride. I hated that. I was as scared as all billyo. I reckon Tom didn’t enjoy it either although he wouldn’t admit to it at the time. I held onto the bars in the trolley like grim death as we went up and down and around and over at high speed. Talk about feeling like there would be no tomorrows. A good dose of fear and feeling sick thrown in for good measure, well, it doesn’t worth mentioning!

On Sunday, we booked a joy flight over Sydney in a tiny air plane. It was our first plane ride. That was great as it was so exciting looking down at the beautiful harbour and the bridge and over the business area of Sydney. It was a sunny day and the plane ride will stay in my mind forever in more ways than one. We were sitting in an open cockpit with hardly any protection. I wore a hat onto the plane which had to be removed as it was quite breezy up there. When we landed, I looked at myself in the mirror and to my horror, my lovely permed and set hair was one mass of frizz. I can laugh about it now but I felt like crying then. So much for vanity!

After our marriage we lived with your Dad’s parents in Gwynneville. After a few months, Tom went onto full time work and was offered a rented company cottage at Port Kembla. We were so lucky to have a home of our own as most young married people lived with their parents for years. We were even given a telephone as Tom could be called into work at any time. We couldn’t ring out as the phone was a work’s party line and besides we had no-one to ring as our family and friends didn’t own phones in those days. Well, that was the start to an amazing journey for Tom and me. Sixty years that journey has taken. We have had some very good times mixed in with bad times but that is life really. No one escapes sadness and you have to make the most of the good times. Who would have thought, on that wedding day, I would be sitting here, now, reminiscing with you and five grandchildren. I am indeed lucky and grateful for all the love I have received and lucky just to be alive in this wonderful world.