My Grandparents Met at a Wedding

Last week, Ester and I had a chat about how neither of us had ever been bridesmaids, and I mentioned that one of the original purposes behind the idea of the “bridesmaid” was to publicly showcase a bride’s unmarried female friends and relatives.

It’s the same idea that’s behind dating apps like Hinge, the ones that connect you to friends of friends; if you already know the bride, you can probably trust that her single friends will be equally cool people. (Or, you know, people from the same socioeconomic background.)

Then my mom told me that this was exactly how her parents (my grandparents) met. She sent me a copy of the above photo; my grandfather is standing next to the groom, and my grandmother is the second bridesmaid next to the bride.

My mom also sent me a scan of my grandmother’s wedding book, called Milady’s Wedding, in which my grandmother describes how she and my grandfather first met:

Twas at the wedding of two very good friends, Anna [redacted] and Robert [redacted], who on March 8, 1947 became Mr. and Mrs. [redacted]. My Prince was the best man to the Groom and I was one of the Brides Maids for the Bride.

After the wedding My Prince and I went to get something to eat and since his car had been written all over with signs of “just married” it was taken for granted by everyone that we were already married. I guess that helped break the ice for an early proposal.

I love that she called my grandfather “My Prince.” My mom also said that my grandmother contrived a second meeting with her prince by “accidentally” leaving her gloves in his car. (This was apparently the 1940s equivalent of the right swipe.)

They were engaged on April 1, 1947, and married on August 2, 1947. I don’t have any financial data about their wedding to share (and both grandparents are deceased so I cannot ask), but I did want to share this wedding story with all of you because it is exactly what weddings were in part designed to do: strengthen social connections between groups of friends and help a young woman like my grandmother find her prince.

Which, in turn, leads to strengthened financial security in adulthood (especially if you are a woman in 1947), and in this case led to a family and children and, eventually, to me.

So I’m very glad that my grandparents met at a wedding.

This story is part of our Wedding Season series.

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