Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Wedding Wednesday ~ Mom on Her Wedding Day in 1955 ~


1933 ~ 2010

On December 10th in 1955, mom married my stepfather in Augsburg, Germany. The above photos are so special to me, it shows mom's beauty and the talent she had for making her own clothing. Mom made the wedding dress and veil you see her wearing in the above photos by hand.

The dress and veil are absolutely beautiful.  How I wish I had that dress today. I have no idea what happened to them. I am guessing that she left them behind when we emigrated to the United States in 1957.

Mom was an excellent seamstress and made my clothes up until I was about eight or nine years old. . .about the time I discovered jeans and T-shirts and maybe what was in style! Mom continued to make some of her own clothes, but as her career took off, she had less and less time to sew.  Her wedding dress and veil show the detail and talent she had as she worked with fabric...she was a perfectionist and paid close attention to detail and simplicity that was elegant.

How I wished I had chatted with mom before she passed. I would have loved to have heard all the details and the story behind the making of her very special wedding dress.




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The marriage to my stepfather ended when I was about 10 years old. Mom and I rarely spoke of my stepfather, I won't go into details but it was a time that mom and I chose to put behind us. Mom stayed single for over 30 years until she married Adam in April of 1999.








13 comments:

Éire Historian said...

What a beautiful and talented lady. How fortunate you are to have been able to share your life with her. Thank you for sharing these photographs with us. Cheers! Jennifer

Harriet said...

Beautiful dress! Are you also a seamstress?

Lori H said...

Isn't it wonderful that you have these beautiful photographs of her in the dress? She must have been extremely talented to not only design but create a gown so gorgeous! Thanks for sharing!

Linda Hughes Hiser said...

She makes a beautiful bride. I wish I was able to enlarge the photos to see the detail you mention. Outstanding floral bouquet, too. I wish I had more wedding photos of my female ancestors. I don't even have one of my Mom and Dad. Thank you for sharing this precious memory.

Carol said...

It truly is a beautiful dress, and the collage does it justice. My grandmother could sew like that, and made her living at it for a number of years. I can sew, but, NOTHING like this! Thanks for sharing!

Kerry Scott said...

My gosh--that dress is STUNNING. I am in awe of people with sewing talent like that.

Gini said...

Thank you everyone for stopping by and enjoying my mom's wedding photos with me.

Jennifer, Lori & Kerry ~ Mom was a very beautiful and talented lady. How blessed I was to have her as my mom and share life with her. She was a woman and mom full of integrity and grace. She left a beautiful legacy to me and to her family. I am grateful each and everyday for all that she gave me and that I had the opportunity in life to be her daughter!

Harriet and Carole ~ No, sadly I am not a seamstress and I don't sew at all. When I am able to get mom's sewing machine (a Necchi)I may attempt it. Her Necchi is about 40 years old I am guessing...it's in mint condition! When I started to wear jeans alot, mom would get frustrated with me and want me to dress smarter...just wasn't me...to this day I still live in jeans...I can still hear her about it! I left all the sewing to mom!

In May when she came down for her mother's funeral, my Oma...she repaired a pillow for me that I thought was ready for the trashcan. It had teacups embroidered on it and I just couldn't get rid of it. When she was done with it you couldn't tell it had fallen apart!

I always called mom "Martha Stewart!" She really was the original Martha, even before Martha was around. Mom could sew, decorate, clean, cook and put on a dinner party with ease and to die for! She has beautiful linens and dishes from Germany. This Thanksgiving will be very tough...we always cooked together.

Lindalee ~ I will post just the photos so you can see her dress up-close. It's very simple yet elegant and timeless I think.

Jo said...

What a beautiful dress - look forward to the close-up pics. My Mum also sewed - I remember asking for flares and landing up with purple satin Paisley-pattern flared trousers (left over material from another project, no doubt) when I had hoped for denim! She taught me how to put a new zip in my spray-on jeans when I busted the original one :-)

Gini said...

Jo...I do remember those days! Photos are posted in the original post here.

Greta Koehl said...

What a beautiful lady and a fabulous dress. My mother and grandmother were great seamstresses, but I unfortunately did not inherit their abilities.

my Heritage Happens said...

Beautiful pictures! Marvelous seamtress! You are so fortunate to have these photos. Necchi, I have not heard of this brand before, it would be fun to see too! Wonderful page you made too!

Kellie said...

Beautiful dress!! Thanks for sharing.

Leah Kleylein said...

What a beautiful dress!! My mom, sister, aunt and grandmother all sew, but the genes seem to have missed me!