Back to the Future - Onewave Weddings

 

I was writing about whimsy weddings recently – simple, personal etc- and it occurred to me that my parents wedding in 1964 was probably very similar.  I was with my mother this week, so I asked her about the day.

 

It turns out that yes, it was quite similar – wedding at her childhood church, wedding breakfast in the church hall straight afterwards.  The bridesmaids dresses were handmade/altered and reused many times over after the wedding for parties, balls etc.  There were only two options for a wedding in the 1960s – church or registry office.  Receptions would be held in the banqueting suite of a hotel, and it was part of the best man’s job to hand out maps and ensure everyone had a lift.

 

In my parents case, there was no evening party – after the meal it was back to the house and the couple would get ready to go straight off on honeymoon – Brighton, rather than the Maldives!

 

In some ways, my parents wedding feels like a “Twilight Wedding”, just not in the evening!  The ceremony flowed into the wedding breakfast and the rigid elements weren’t there yet – that was more a thing from the 1980s onwards where it was ceremony – drinks and canapes with group photos – wedding breakfast – speeches – room turn – disco.

 

The 1960s wedding didn’t have a name, or a vibe.  It was just a wedding, more simple than I’ve seen over the past four decades, partly from necessity, partly because the couples were from the “Silent Generation” who grew up with rationing,and make do and mend.  Perhaps it’s the quiet forerunner of the Twilight wedding or Whimsy wedding.  I’ve decided that it’s a “Onewave Wedding”, where we drop the rigid partitioning of the day and just flow straight through

Onewave is a wedding day that flows straight through — one emotional arc, no partitions, no reset.

You can make your wedding whatever you want it to be, but if you want daytime simplicity, look back to look forward and think about adopting “Onewave”

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