Is this a wedding photo?

[arthurk]

In another thread Viktoria mentioned a wedding photo, and it reminded me of one that I have:

In my grandparents’photo my grandmother is standing whilst grandad sits!
Emancipation had not yet arrived!
Viktoria.

These are my great grandparents, and I'd always assumed that they were posed like that because she was quite petite and it might have looked odd the other way round, but maybe for a time that was the way it tended to be done.

However, it had never occurred to me that it might be a wedding photo, but on checking my dating books, I now think it could well be. They married in 1883 when he was 28 and she was 26 - what do others think? (No restores, please - I'll ask if/when I need one.)

[arthurk]

Bumping back up 

[BumbleB]

Well, she is "showing off" her wedding ring 

[Treetotal]

Hi Arthur, it could well be a wedding photo, I have a photo in one of my books where the gent is wearing a jacket with only the top button fastened and a similar collar and tie arrangement and it is dated 1883. See what Jim and Gadget say.
Carol

[Gadget]

Hi Arthur

I agree with Carol.

The clothing would fit with the early 1880s, especially the man's. He's wearing a single breasted tight fitting jacket which is only partially buttoned, exposing a buttoned waistcoat. The  wing collar and white pocket handkerchief also fit the period.   The woman's skirt  looks to be very early 1880s as it is quite narrow and  cuffs are exposed at the wrist.

I'd say it was likely to be around the 1883 date that you have in mind.

Gadget

[arthurk]

Thank you all for your opinions - it does all seem to tie in with the 1883 wedding. I hadn't looked at it in detail with a view to dating, and as I said, I simply assumed the pose was more to do with their relative heights. It was only when Viktoria mentioned her photo that the penny dropped, but I didn't want to rely on just my interpretation, so thank you.

Samuel Bartle, my great grandfather, has scrubbed up rather nicely given that he was a miner at the time, but he'd lost his grandfather in a pit accident and I think he had his eye on higher things for his family: three years later and for the rest of his working life he was an insurance agent. Of the three children who survived infancy, two went to Leeds University (in the early 1900s) and became teachers, and the third went to teacher training college and was eventually a headmistress.

[Treetotal]

That's great Arthur, power to the working class, rare in the early 1900s.
do tell us who the little cutie is in your Avatar, I'm often wondered if it was you 
Carol

[arthurk]

That's great Arthur, power to the working class, rare in the early 1900s.

But ironically it moved the family out of what would now be understood as the working class.

do tell us who the little cutie is in your Avatar, I'm often wondered if it was you 
Carol

No, it's my grandfather on the other side of the family, taken around the same time as the photo we've been discussing. I hope I don't come across as though I've been around since then

[Treetotal]