Wedding announcements of the 60s

 

Wedding announcments used to fill the Sunday newspaper

It’s a different newspaper today than it was 50 years ago.

No baseball box scores, no full-page stock tables, no TV and radio listings. And obituaries? No problem as long as you are willing to pay for the obituary, by the word.

A staple of the Sunday paper in those bygone days was the wedding announcement. The Sunday “Home and Family” section was filled with them.

 Typical was this wedding announcement that I picked at random from the January 17, 1965 of the Kingsport Times-News, headlined:

Melinda Edwards Becomes Bride

It was one of 19 (!) wedding announcements in that Sunday’s paper!

 Wedding announcements always began by setting the scene:

Broad Street Methodist Church was the scene of the wedding of Miss Melinda Carol Edwards and Stephen Kent Fritschle. Rev. Ted R. Witt Jr. performed the double-ring ceremony at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Then they introduced the bride, groom and their parents:

The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd L. Edwards, 2352 Pendragon Road.

The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clifton E. Fritschle of 4171 Skyland Drive.

Next came a narrative of the ceremony:

Mrs. L. P. Gregory, organist, and Mrs. F. L. Hamilton, vocalist, provided a program of wedding music.

The church was decorated with a background of smilax with large cathedral candles at the front of the church. Arrangements of white snap-dragons, gladioli, and chrysanthemums were used on each side of the altar. The pews were marked with white bows and white flowers.

[For the uninitiated, like me, smilax is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in the tropics and subtropics. They are climbing flowering plants, many of which are woody and/or thorny.]

Perhaps most important in those days, a detailed description of the bride’s gown:

Given in marriage by her father, the bride wore a silk organza floor-length sheath with scoop neckline and bridal point sleeves. Re-embroidered chantilly lace and pearl trim encircled the bodice and skirt, which had a detachable bouffant chapel-length overskirt. Her shoulder-length veil was of English silk illusion with organza petals of Chantilly lace and seed pearl trim. She carried a cascade bouquet of white cattleya and phalaenopsis orchids.

Now the wedding party with more fashion descriptions:

The maid of honor was Miss Mary Lawson Groseclose. She wore a floor-length turquoise chiffon sheath with scoop neckline, empire waist, and matching chiffon overskirt edged in velvet.

Her headdress was a matching velvet bow with tiers of turquoise veiling. She carried a cascade bouquet of white camellias and roses.

Bridesmaids were Miss Paula Ripley and Miss Vicki McIntyre. Their attire was identical to that of the honor attendant. They carried cascade bouquets of white camellias.

The father of the bride-groom served as best man. Ushers were Mark Fritschle, brother of the bridegroom, and Albert H. Agett Jr.

Next came details about the post-wedding reception:

Following the ceremony, a reception was given by the bride's parents at Ridgefields Country Club, under the direction of Mrs. Graham Porterfield and Mrs. Blake Faris. [I should note that my mother baked many groom’s cakes for Mrs. Portefield and Mrs. Faris and I suspect she did the groom’s cake for this one, too.]

Mrs. Henry C. Meeks introduced the guests to the wedding party. Miss Gay Edwards, cousin of the bride, presided at the bridal register.

Assisting in serving were: Mrs. Russell H. Miles, Mrs. Wiley H. Weaver, Miss Cathy Weaver, Mrs. C. B. Duke, Mrs. Kenneth Umberger, Mrs. W. Allen Exum, Mrs. James Edwards, Mrs. T. W. Glynn III, Mrs. W. B. Greene, Miss Jan Fritschle, and Miss Elizabeth Fritschle, sisters of the bridegroom, and Mrs. Val Edwards.

And finally the honeymoon details:

For her traveling costume the bride chose an aqua blue three-piece double-knit suit, with a jacket of matching suede. Her accessories were beige and brown. She wore the orchid from her bridal bouquet.

Biographical sketches of the bride and groom followed that:

The bride was graduated from Dobyns-Bennett High School and attended East Tennessee State University where she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority. She is employed by Bennett and Edwards, Inc.

The bridegroom was graduated from Dobyns-Bennett High School. He is attending the Georgia Institute of Technology where he is majoring in engineering mechanics. He is a member of Theta Chi fraternity. He is employed by the firm of Wallace and Poole, associated architects.

Let us not forget all the folks who feted the bride in the weeks leading up to the ceremony:

Pre-nuptial parties included an open house given by Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Looney and their daughter, Allison Looney; a linen shower given by Misses Paula Ripley, Mary Lawson Groseclose and Vicki McIntyre. A kitchen shower was given by Mrs. Heywood Modlin and Mrs. Thelma Blankenbecler.

Mrs. Kenneth Y. Umberger, Mrs. E. J. Triebe, Mrs. Ralph Baldock and Mrs. Millege Daniel were hostesses at a coffee. A luncheon was given by Mrs. C. A. Ross Jr. and Mrs. Russell H. Miles. A miscellaneous shower was hosted by Mrs. Harley Needham, Miss Margie Fleenor, Mrs. R. G. Dillard, Mrs. A. P. Harkins, Miss Melba Minton, Miss Peggy Leonard, Miss Rita Archer and Mrs. Ray Clark. A coffee was given by Mrs. Henry C. Meeks, Mrs. C. B. Duke, Mrs. W. B. Greene, Mrs. Wiley H. Weaver, and Mrs. James Edwards.

The rehearsal dinner was given by the bridegroom's parents at Ridgefields Country Club.

[Melinda Edwards was D-B ’63; Stephen Fritschle was D-B ’61. The wedding pictures here are not of Edwards but are typical photos of 60s brides. Her wedding picture on the microfilm was too dark to reproduce here.]

 

Wedding announcements weren’t so elaborate thirty years earlier. Here’s a typical one from the April 11, 1935 edition of the Kingsport Times:

Mr. and Mrs. John N. Lady announce the marriage of their daughter Margaret Maxine to Mr. Faustine I. White Monday, the eighth of April nineteen hundred thirty-five in Bristol, Virginia.

The wedding was solemnized on Monday morning at 11 o'clock in the home of Rev. Sullins Dosser. A few out-of-town guests of the bride and groom attended the wedding.

Mrs. White is the attractive daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Lady of this city.

Mr. White is the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. White and is an employe of the Meade Fibre Corporation. He is a graduate of the Dobyns-Bennett high school.

Mr. and Mrs. White will leave today by motor for Washington. They will be at home after April the fourteenth, at 837 Dale street.

 

Lest we forget that not all weddings go according to plan, here is this 1935 story from, where else, Newport, Tennessee:

WEDDING GUEST IS CAUSE OF MIDNIGHT FIGHT AT NEWPORT

Two Newlyweds and Three Guests Are Locked In Jail, Awaiting Charges of Last Night

Newport, May 5. - Two newlyweds and three guests at their wedding celebration are locked in the Newport jail today, awaiting charges of breach of peace as the result of a midnight fight in which the son-in-law of the new bridegroom was shot thru both hips, struck with a poker and stabbed.

Howard Morgan, 40, the wounded man, is alleged to have sat in the lap of a 17-year-old girl at the wedding party, bringing on the general fight. Ill feeling between Morgan and several other guests is known to have existed for some time, the police were informed.

 

Bobby Peters, Singing Star

Kingsport football star and state senator Bobby Peters had another claim to fame in the sixties, a recording career, albeit a brief one. From the Dec. 13, 1963 Kingsport Times:

Bobby Peters Records Ballad About Kennedy

Former state Sen. R. L. (Bobby) Peters has turned his talents to the field of music.

Peters, a Kingsport businessman, announced today that he has composed the music and written lyrics for a ballad titled "A Sunny Day In Dallas" in an effort to express the emotions felt by Americans and other peoples following the assassination of

President John F. Kennedy. Peters said he has recorded the song and that the record, released to area radio stations Thursday, will be available to the public here soon.

Peters, who narrowly lost the nomination for Congress in Tennessee's First Congressional District in 1962, is a graduate of Princeton University.

While at Princeton, he met Kennedy who was a student at Harvard and then did not see him again until the two met in Nashville while Kennedy was campaigning for the presidency.

Peters said he composed the song "out of great respect” for the late President.

Link to Peter's recording:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWRtXWTKpCY

If this link doesn't work, go to YouTube and search for "Honorable Bob Peters.")

At the time of this recording, Bobby Peters was, in addition to being a State Senator, the president of Clinchfield Supply, a building supply company on East Market Street. He named his record label “Clinchfield Records.”

The recording is included with 15 other songs on the album “Tragic Songs from the Grassy Knoll: John F. Kennedy 50^th Anniversary” (Norton Records of Cleveland, Ohio, 1994, $14.95).