In my last post I talked about our honeymoon - this prompted some memories of our wedding of November 10, 1947. Had we postponed it but ten days our marriage would have coincided with the royal nuptials of Elizabeth and Philip.
The royal wedding gown was very elegant compared to my knee-length pale blue dress. But by the time the social editor of the paper finished describing my gown, I hardly recognized it "a hyacinth blue crepe frock, styled in the new long length, with draped front, cap sleeves, and braided cutwork design in the same material as the bodice was chosen by the dark-haired bride".
Something I will never forget is that I cried throughout our wedding ceremony. I am a very emotional person and when I stepped over the threshold of tiny St. Aidan's church and realized the surge of organ music was for MY wedding, and the solemn words of the familiar ceremony applied to ME, it was just too much. My eyes filled with tears of happiness and emotion.
Another fond memory of our wedding is that the toast to the bride was given by my husband's 85 year old grandmother, who, never having travelled in her life, had flown to Canada for a visit which coincided with our wedding day. Tiny, rose-cheeked, white-haired Mary Stofer represented the type of grandmother one reads about in novels. Her small energetic hands had tended her twelve children. She was sweet and cuddly; she was lavender and lace.
My husband, Ken, recalls that when he was in England during World War II and had not yet met me, he predicted to his grandmother that she would come to Canada in 1947 - and she did!
After our wedding ceremony and reception, Ken and I boarded the midnight boat to Vancouver. We had often dreamed of taking that romantic voyage. In fact on many of our late night walks while courting, we leaned on the causeway wall and watched the twinkling lights of that Princess boat as it departed from beyond the old Bapco Paint Factory (now the Laurel Point Inn). Each time we heard the deep blast of the ship's whistle, we promised ourselves that someday we would be on board.
After docking in Vancouver, we boarded the Trailways bus for Los Angeles.
We did lots of fun things:
But one of our more exciting evenings while honeymooning in Hollywood was attending a sumptuous meal at Earl Carrol's Theatre-Restaurant. The floor show was fabulous. Neither of us had ever seen anything to equal the lavish costumes and elaborate production numbers.
Earl Carrol's famous slogan was "Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world", which proved to be very true. It was the policy of the dancing girls to choose some poor unsuspecting male to perform with them on stage. My bashful Ken was chosen. He looked most ill at ease with two scantily-clad girls and had to pose for a picture between their feathers and sequins.
When they learned he was on his honeymoon, I was coaxed to join him on stage. (My daughter Terry says 'and so yet another beautiful girl passed through the Earl Carrol portals').
My husband, Ken, recalls that when he was in England during World War II and had not yet met me, he predicted to his grandmother that she would come to Canada in 1947 - and she did!
After our wedding ceremony and reception, Ken and I boarded the midnight boat to Vancouver. We had often dreamed of taking that romantic voyage. In fact on many of our late night walks while courting, we leaned on the causeway wall and watched the twinkling lights of that Princess boat as it departed from beyond the old Bapco Paint Factory (now the Laurel Point Inn). Each time we heard the deep blast of the ship's whistle, we promised ourselves that someday we would be on board.
After docking in Vancouver, we boarded the Trailways bus for Los Angeles.
We did lots of fun things:
But one of our more exciting evenings while honeymooning in Hollywood was attending a sumptuous meal at Earl Carrol's Theatre-Restaurant. The floor show was fabulous. Neither of us had ever seen anything to equal the lavish costumes and elaborate production numbers.
Earl Carrol's famous slogan was "Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world", which proved to be very true. It was the policy of the dancing girls to choose some poor unsuspecting male to perform with them on stage. My bashful Ken was chosen. He looked most ill at ease with two scantily-clad girls and had to pose for a picture between their feathers and sequins.
When they learned he was on his honeymoon, I was coaxed to join him on stage. (My daughter Terry says 'and so yet another beautiful girl passed through the Earl Carrol portals').
Thank you for sharing, that was lovely!
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