I thought it would be fun to have another Throwback Thursday...where we look back and reflect upon...big hair and smaller waistlines.
Oh, how I wish I were kidding!
I know April Showers bring, you know, May flowers and all. But, April Showers also remind me of all the young brides who must be searching for perfect dresses to wear to wedding showers, excitedly answering doors to UPS men delivering wedding presents, already frantically trying to keep up with the thank you notes.
But, honestly--do brides still wear dresses to wedding showers? For that matter, do they even still write thank you notes?
Back in my day--a mere 19 years ago--brides did wear dresses to showers, in my case Leslie Lucks and Sharon Young. And I certainly did write thank you notes (even if it took me a year to finish)...on ivory engraved note cards. Are any brides still this formal? Or, is that all in the past? I honestly don't know...I live in a very informal town now, and wonder if some still keep the old traditions?
Here is my grandmother, my "Gram," (her name shortened from "Grammy" as we got older) at my Engagement Party, thrown by 4 of our family's oldest and dearest friends. How fitting that it was a Mexican Fiesta--since I was marrying Dave, a true Texas boy.
This picture just makes me smile. Do brides still have Engagement Open Houses on Sunday afternoons with fancy tables? This table holds some of the typical Open House food--colorful fruit tray, cheese straws, cucumber and chicken salad finger sandwiches, little pie tarts, petit fours, a nut dish, a coffee service, and a punch bowl with a floating ice ring (not yet on the table.) There was also a new--exotic to us--item for this party. At the front left of the table, on the round platter are cream cheese stuffed sugar snap peas. I remember standing in my Gram's kitchen with my sister-in-law and her mother, learning to make these delicious treats! It's killing me that I can't place the items on the round platter at the right front end of the table...?
Let the Bridal Shower season begin! This was a Bridal Brunch held by 3 dear ladies. This sweet lady is Miss Maples, whom we dearly loved. We still tell a Miss Maples saying around our house...She used to say that whenever she had a cake at her house--she "stripped it till it was gone!" Meaning--she would cut a little strip to eat at at time. I can totally identify with that kind of guilt-free eating of cake--which is why I am a cake stripper myself! Just one little strip isn't gonna do any harm, now is it??
Do you also see how my corsage matches my dress? Party hostesses always called the bride's mom a week ahead to find out what she was wearing--so the corsage could match!
Smile, smile, smile. This is my first grade teacher, who no longer lived in our town at the time, but drove the 5 hours to come to this Bridal Shower. The students in her new school called her "Miss Bunny"--which was absolutely fitting of her. I will have to hug her neck again in heaven someday. Oh, if all first grade students could be loved by their teachers like this...What a kind world we would have.
(1990s fashionistas--raise your hands if you think Miss Bunny was wearing a Susan Bristol?)
Here is my Gram, my mom, and me in the middle sporting a very BRIGHT Sharon Young dress. (Dallas girls of the 90s, are you getting a tear?) Oh, how I wish you could see the peplum on this top! And the white leather pumps on my feet. (Yes, young girls, we called our shoes "pumps" back in the day!) This was at my Personal Shower, which I cringe to tell you my um, you know, personal sizes were written right on the invitation! (Thank heavens more mature moms like myself don't have personal showers!!) Note that not only am I wearing a corsage--but my mom and grandmother are, too. That's just how it was done! I sure wish I could show you a picture with the hostesses of this party--one of my dearest friends and her mom.
This clever shower was a Basket Shower, held by 3 of my best high school friends. I think I still have some of the baskets I received that day! This is my little sister (note the corsage on BOTH!), and I am sure I have said something goofy that I am giggling about. In fact, most pictures ever taken with my sisters, we are giggling about something goofy.
This little note means so much to me. It was from Miss Walker, who had been a best friend of my great aunt's, Aunt Mae. Aunt Mae was the dearest woman who ever lived, in my family's eyes. Miss Walker called my mom during my season of wedding showers, and asked if we could come over for a special visit one day. As we sat in her formal living room that morning, Miss Walker told me that since she had been a best friend of Lillie Mae's, she wanted to give me something very special in her memory. She gave me a beautiful silver-footed dish, and this lovely note. Honestly, the note means as much to me as the silver dish. Doesn't it make you smile, and wish for that kind of kindred friendship that remembers and honors the other to the next generation?
Finally, the season of Bridal Showers ended, and the BIG DAY was approaching. All 7 of my bridesmaids made their way to my hometown, and we hugged, and giggled, and talked a mile a minute catching up. That Friday, we all dressed up in our dresses, white hose, and pumps...and we hot rolled our hair, teased it like there was no tomorrow, and sprayed a cloud of White Rain like you've never seen in this decade...piled into Honda Accords and Toyota Celicas, and drove to my aunt's house. She held the most amazing Bridesmaid Luncheon I could ever have imagined. This is the menu from that day. She had gotten scraps of my bridesmaid dress fabric, and had made the cutest little aprons for her daughters to wear as they served us. She also wrote the funniest little song--and she and her daughters performed it for us that day! We sipped our drinks out of her crystal goblets, and ate our beautiful food off her old family china.
It was a day--just like all of the showers before it--filled with the old traditions, fancy tables and fancy food, fresh flowers and corsages, laughter and wide smiles, and most of all--hosted by family and friends who poured out their love upon me in such indelible ways that I can never forget.
From that day, the baton was passed to me. Now, it is my turn to pour out the love, to set the fancy tables, and order the fresh flowers. Girls today usually think corsages are silly and wasteful. So, it's up to me, to my generation, to come up with new ways to honor them, to shower them, and to give them indelible and loving traditions as we are able to hand off the batons to them.
Thank you for indulging me today in these memories. Oh, how I WISH I could come sit in your living rooms, and flip through YOUR photo albums. I LOVE hearing bridal shower and wedding stories. I love seeing the throwback fashions and the big hair.
I would love to hear some of your stories! When I get smart enough in this blog stuff, maybe I can throw a Throwback Linky party. Until then--I'd love to hear your stories in the Comments!!
Happy Throwback Thursday, ya'll!!
