Reunited with Memories

A friend of mine posted this on my FB wall:
Reunited
Its a wonderful thing to have happen.

To be reunited with your pictures when you've given up hope of ever finding those memories.

This gave me the feel goods.

:)

Happy Ever After,

Jane

What I saw at the Zoo last Saturday

There was a wedding at Brookfield Zoo! Was it ever pretty!
The Bride wore an off white dress. It was strapless and had a full gown with lots of tulle.A perfect princess gown. The bodice was sparkly. Her hair was in a updo. A perfect Chignon. A lovely tiara and long veil completed the look. The best part about the bride's ensemble? Her shoes!

Sparkly cobalt blue shoes! Her something blue, I suppose.

The Groom was in classic suit.Clean lines. Stone grey with Chucks! LOVE.

I was thrilled to see this. It made my day.



I was going to take pictures, but then realized that would be so rude and disrespectful. So I didn't.

When the Mr and I do our vow renewal, we are having it at Brookfield Zoo, with the Penguins.

Cousin Isabella's White Wedding.

September 26, 1953. 

Cousin Isabella got Married!

Bride Isabella and the Bridesmaids.

Sounds like a music band, doesn't it?

But I am going to gush a bit.

I love the wedding gown.

The collar, the "v".

Its one lovely dress.

And the bridesmaids...Perfect tea length dresses.

The lace shrugs with the collars (again!) and the headdresses. 

I love it. LOVE it.

An early mirror selfie.

Guess who this is.

Seriously.

The Attendants.

No guesses yet?

Fine.

Its Eleanora! And the Bridesmaids!

The Guests of Catherine Scorgo's Wedding

The guest of the wedding are pretty interesting.  Remember the wedding scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" That was my wedding day. Guests are so fun to watch. They can be happy for the couple, pissed  at the couple ("They placed me next to HER?") Or just there for the free booze. Who cares? Its a celebration!

Possibly the MOB and FOB?

It's not always Happily Ever After....

Sometimes in my collecting travels, I come across the most interesting things. Babies getting their first ever pictures, family portraits. Military pictures. But those don't interest me. We all know my focus: Wedding portraits and marriage certificates. The Start of Happy Ever After.

But its not always, is it? The Start of Happy Ever After. Its not. And it took my newest find to put that thought firmly on the front of my mind. A couples HEA can end. Death? Distance? Indifference? Yeah...

Anyway...before my thoughts run away with me. Where was I? Oh yes, Its not always HEA and my find from last month proves it.

Our Bride is Eleanora and I inherited her history. Its so rare that I know about my Brides. Usually I just know a name or a little snippet (if I am lucky). With Eleanora, I got a lot more. In her box, (Goodness, that is so sad!) there are pictures of every stage of her life. Baby, girlhood, her First Communion, high school photo, Eleanora in her cap and gown. And finally, as a beautiful bride.

At first, I felt like a voyeur. An oddly specific one at that. I only wanted the wedding pictures and screw the rest. I dug more into the box with the Mr's encouragement and found the rest of my Brides story.  And it broke my heart. While I think Eleanora had a good, if ordinary, childhood, I don't think married life was good to her.

Snippets of her life were found.  Like a flipbook of her past. Receipts from deliveries, old mortgage papers, letters and pictures from friends. I went even deeper into the old Rubbermaid container and found more. And I wish I hadn't. I believe in Happy Ever After like a child. I love fairy tales and know most by heart, so to find what I found made me sad and my heart ache. Divorce papers. The end of a tale. The end of a story of two people once in love.

Eleanora must have believed in love...because there were two sets of those papers. Two different marriages. Maybe she tried a third time and it was her HEA. Or maybe she gave up. Who knows? But this is where her story ends for me. In that old, cracked Rubbermaid container, I hold her story.

I truly hope that the beautiful bride with eyes full of hope and love on her Wedding Day found her Happy Ever After with her Prince.

Eleanora.

May you find your Happy Ever After,

xoxo
Jane

And now, on with the Wedding

Here's the last two picture from the last posts Bride and Groom

Another of the Bride and Groom.

The Wedding Party.

I cut off a bridesmaid. It was a big picture.

Bride and Groom from Chicago

When the Mr. and I went to the flea market and found that treasure trove, we came across a whole set of pictures. Bride, Groom, wedding party. The whole shebang.

Made me sad, as it usually does, to see the box of memories being sold. Lucky they came to me. :)

She's a lovely Bride. 

However, I find that the head dress and the bouquet overwhelm her slender frame.

The Bride and her Groom.

What a handsome, well matched couple.

This is only two of the pictures from the set.