Hi-di-ho, friends! It's June! The traditional month for weddings, and I love celebrating romance. Last year, in honor of A Moment Forever, my publisher Vanity & Pride Press hosted a 1940s week of blog posts with giveaways and one of the topics I thoroughly enjoyed discussing was the History of 1940s Weddings. Of course, not everyone married in June, so I penned a mock newspaper announcement in honor of all those couples who said "I do" on the fly during the war.
Tongue-in-Cheek Newspaper Wedding Announcement, 1943:
At nineteen, the starry-eyed bride looked lovely wearing her Sunday best, a tan ensemble. And what a joyful - and practical - occasion it was, particularly since the bride and groom had only met four weeks ago. Congratulations to the impetuous, happy couple, and best wishes for cloudless skies to the groom, an Army Air Forces navigator departing in three days for Europe! We'll keep our printing press at the ready for that baby announcement in nine months.
Keep 'em Flying, you wacky newlyweds!
If you're interested, you can read the article HERE.
So, one year later and my wedding project has some new subjects. Here's the backstory: It all began with my husband's patients. You see, he's a house call physician and most of his patients are elderly and love, love, love to talk about their spouse (sadly, mostly deceased.) Of course, he listens attentively, probably asks questions and may even share something about us as a couple. Then he asks "Can my wife share a few lines from your love story on her website?" And they're so happy! He'd snap a photo of their "couple" portrait or snapshot and then text me a little bit about them. From there, I extended the invitation to some of my readers and friends on Facebook and thought to include a few of my own dear ones and voila! Their 1940s Romance was born as the first 1940s Experience Photo Project! Mr. Cat and I are absolutely honored to share the romantic legacy of these beautiful couples from a time when the world was on fire but love blossomed with hope and promise of a bright forever together.
To kick off this celebration of love, meet our first couple:
♥ Raymond and Frances ♥
Mr. Cat's handsome patient, Raymond (age 95) from Connecticut was a black belt in Karate and boy is his wife Frances smitten with him! These two lovebirds were married for 46 years. Hanging in his apartment living room, this photograph was taken in 1943 when Raymond was a Chief Petty Officer in the Coast Guard, which was part of the Navy during the war. He served on the USS Wakefield as a troop transport, shuttling troops to Liverpool and POW’s back to the states.
Look at that expression on her face! I just love this couple! This sweet image gives me happy goose-pimples.
Thank you, Raymond for your service and for sharing the love of your life with us. ♥
See you soon with our next sweetheart couple! Now, if you'd like to share the romance of a couple married in the 1940s, drop me an email and we'll make it happen!