Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wedding Wednesday, It Cost HOW Much to Get Married? 1947 Style

Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I keep saying, she saved everything.  Every box, every envelope brings surprises, Man keeps saying, I never knew she saved - - -

Well, she did!



Tucked into a small cedar chest (jewelry sized) with cards and other small treasures from their wedding we found two small sheets of notebook paper, gently yellowed with age. One sheet looks to be a preliminary list of expenses, maybe their budget. The other sheet, written in Man's father's handwriting, is the list of actual expenses of the wedding, and notations, of paid (pd.)



Inside the little cedar chest, wedding memories, invitation, lists, cards of congratulations.


We know from the cards she saved, the invitation list was fairly extension, after all, she had a VERY large family, many aunts and uncles and LOTS of cousins!

It appears you could throw a wedding and reception for $558.92.




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9 comments:

Linda Hughes Hiser said...

Love it all.....the cedar box, the carefully ribboned items and the fact that they spent the most on the beer....they knew how to party ;-)

Susan Clark said...

Don't I wish a wedding today cost this much! I loved that flowers and beer were big ticket items. My kind of party.

For grins I checked to see what this would be in present dollars - $5,660 in 2009 dollars according to MeasuringWorth.com http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/

Linda McCauley said...

What a great list!

Unknown said...

Have to laugh - beer is one of the most expensive items on the list!

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that, for the day, the musicians got paid at least respectably. Fascinating. Thanks.

Jo said...

Wonder what Benny did that warranted $5?

Karen said...

Carol, you really have some treasures that Man's mother left you. I'm getting misty at the sight of the little cedar box with the ribbon-tied papers...

Michelle Goodrum said...

I love the cedar box! This one's a treasure. Sure wish I could marry off my daughter's for $558.92! At least they knew how to have a good (no scratch that) GREAT time!

Lisa Wallen Logsdon said...

Wow...what a treasure on a little piece of paper! A neat peek into the past!