Wedding gift lists 1930s

[louisa maud]

Country quite
Even though we got married 1964 when perhaps couples had begun to live together, 2 I knew were pregnant, I couldn't have done that to my parents, no criticism on anyone else who did, 

LM

[BumbleB]

Country quite
Even though we got married 1964 when perhaps couples had begun to live together, 2 I knew were pregnant, I couldn't have done that to my parents, no criticism on anyone else who did, 

LM

We also married in 1964.  We had known each other for a couple of months and I had just received my sailing date for my migration to NZ.  He asked me not to go to NZ but to go to London with him instead, and get married.  I said OK.  I rang my Dad to tell him and was asked "do you mean you've got to?" - response over my shoulder was "well if she has, it's got nothing to do with me"!

[Viktoria]

  ,

I have one of my parent’s wedding gifts .in  1932.
A silver plated three tier cake stand with three Wedgwood plates
of beautiful pheasants.
The plates are octagonal with a blue stippled and gold border with the pheasants in the middle . I believe they are called Liverpool Birds.
The stand came out atChristmas  with mince pies, chocolate biscuits and fingers of Christmas cake.
From my paternal Grandmother’s sister.
My sister has a lovely oak, hand made bedding chest ,made by someone where Mum worked, joinery was his hobby, in natural oak ,just waxed.
Given by the other office girls ,although in 1932Mum was 36.
She and Dad could not marry before that as he was still ill  from WW1 .
Viktoria.

[Viktoria]

As you say Louisa Maude, no criticism just a passing comment.
I can remember my Mum ,when I was old enough - pointing out women who
“ Had to get married “— “and do you know she will never know if he really loved her or just got married because they had to!”
Oooer!I did not want that nor to be spoken about years and years later by other women who didn’t have to get married!
It wasn’t just my mother either ,one woman only ever addressed the girl or woman by their maiden name!
What a blooming cheek!
There were very good contraceptives though, one was my future mother in law the other was my father!
The third was my boy friend was really decent. No doubt his mother’s principles instilled into him.

Wonder when marriage became the norm?
Possibly when some big butch caveman wanted to be sure who he was leaving his best spear to!

Bad weather forecast this week folks, really heavy rain and high winds.

Cheerio, look after yourselves.
Viktoria.

[andrewalston]

..one woman only ever addressed the girl or woman by their maiden name!
What a blooming cheek!

My gran only ever referred to women by their maiden names. Doris Woods had her 50-odd year marriage to Joe Holmes ignored.

It was only when I started researching that I figured out who most of these women were!

[Top-of-the-hill]

  So did my mother - I think it is pretty normal if you have known the woman all your life.

[Rena]

  So did my mother - I think it is pretty normal if you have known the woman all your life.

I too think it was normal and when I started researching I knew from my mother chatting to her sisters,who had married whom :-)

[sylvia (canada)]

We got married in 1967, but it was rather strange ........... we'd known each other since 1959 as good friends. Then OH got a position at a university in the US, only for a few months, but it must have shaken us both ........... he was due to leave the UK at the end of January 1967. we got engaged just before Christmas 1966 

That sure shook everyone up, as no-one had any thoughts that it might happen. He finally left the UK at the end of February, and we planned the wedding via phone and letters .. ni email in those days!

We didn't have a list, because I had been rather upset when my landlady's future daughter-in-law had issued a list in summer 1966 that contained items such as Refrigerator, Stove, etc etc.

There literally was nothing that I could afford, either from the money point of view or desire, as they weren't friends.

If anyone asked, I gave a selection of ideas. OH's mother told us to choose our own china and she would pay for it ......... we went to Brown's in Chester and bought a new design by Royal Doulton, MorningStar. It was about half the price of their usual lines, and was aimed at young marrieds. We managed to buy a service for 12, tea service for 12, 2 tureens and 2 larger serving platters, plus sugar bowl, milk jug and 2 gravy bowls for less than mum-i-l had offered.

We still have almost all of that set, used every day for over 56 years. One large plate and a sugar bowl have been broken, but replaced, plus 6 extra dinner plates bought from a shop specialising in replacements. Many of the dinner plates have lost their pattern but everything else is still in good condition.

We got a canteen of cutlery, fish knives and forks, 1 set of steak knives and matching forks and 1 set of steak knives.

Lots of stainless steel ....... serving dishes, teapot, etc etc.

We still have almost everything we were given and most of it is still in use.

Sorry, dinner calls!

[sylvia (canada)]

Picking up where I left off ..............

We still have almost all of our wedding gifts, although not all of them are in current use (eg, the stainless steel serving dishes), as we don't entertain much these days. We still have the original cutlery set, but have bought another larger set and been given a 4-piece IKEA set that we use. Daughter is going to have to sort that out later!

My parents had a very quiet wedding back in 1928 as her brother had died only 6 weeks earlier, her parents insisted that the wedding went ahead, so Mum was married in a lilac coloured dress as that was considered more suitable under the circumstances. They never mentioned any wedding gifts!

OH's parents were married in 1936, didn't have a list, and not many of their relations could attend as it was in the middle of the Depression and they couldn't afford to travel. As a result, they received about 36 linen tablecloths 

The reason ..... easy and cheap to send by Royal Mail!

Mother-in-law said they all came in useful .......... packages not opened and stored, then most were given away as wedding gifts to friends and relations who married during the war and into the 1950s'.

My daughter married in 1999, set up a Registry at one of the major Canadian stores, the alternative over here to giving out a list. You just go online, look up the Registry listing and choose what you want to give, although you don't have to stick to it! Then the store notifies the couple that such-and-such has been bought and is waiting pick-up. It was set up in a hurry, and when daughter showed it to me after her fiance had gone back home, I pointed out that everything listed was pretty expensive, and yet she had complained only a few months ealrler that her friend's list didn't have anything on it that daughter could afford ..... they were all recent graduates without full time jobs. Four of the friends joined forces and bought a requested set of 4 glasses. So, she added some cheaper items that were more of everyday use than special.

A nephew and his bride had been living together for years and basically were fully fitted out. They did put out a short Registry List but said they would prefer everyone to give cash so they could pay for their honeymoon in Australia. I didn't quite like that idea, so we bought some pans from the registry. Never got a Thank You for them 

We've since inherited some stuff from OH's parents, that came down to them from farming families in Wales and Westmorland. The history of some is lost, but I have a suspicion that some of the silver came as wedding presents, for example, a pair of silver serving spoons hall marked as by the Bateman's who flourished in the 18th century.