19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, June 14, 1914: Heard the details of a rather unusual wedding, which took place this morning. Lots of people went that weren’t invited. Ruth was one.
Attended church this afternoon. A supply preacher was there for the afternoon. He could make his eyes flash.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Hmm. . . Sunday morning seems like an odd time for a wedding. Why would people crash it?. . . Were the bride and groom very popular and friends of many of the young people? . . . Was there an awesome reception? . . . What were the wedding decorations like?
I wonder if Grandma’s sister Ruth kept a diary. If would be fun to read what she wrote about this unusual wedding.
___
What did Grandma mean when she said that the substitute pastor made his eyes flash? Was he preaching about hell, fire and brimstone?
Wow…flashing eyes! Sounds like he was fiery.
That’s what I thought, too.
I think she was smitten?
Maybe. . .
I also was curious about the “eyes flash”
It seems like a really unusual way of describing someone.
Well I looked up the phrase. Looks like the pastor’s eyes could have been flashing in anger or humor.
Thanks for looking it up. . . interesting that the eyes can be flashing in either anger or humor. I think that I’d tend to say that someone’s eyes were twinkling if they were being humorous.
Wow — quite interesting about unusual wedding; sure would be nice to know a few more details!
More details are definitely needed. 🙂
I wonder if the wedding was outdoors, so the uninvited could just gather around and watch? Would an outdoor wedding have been unusual in that era?
Maybe. . . that could explain how someone might crash a wedding. I have no idea how common outdoor weddings were a hundred years ago–though I know that my in-laws had an outdoor wedding in the 1940s.
So many questions left unanswered! Like others, it makes me wonder about the timing of the wedding and the wedding crashers. Guess that’s something we’ll never know for sure. Like your pictures of wedding ideas of the time! 🙂
It crossed my mind that maybe the wedding crashers may have just gone to the reception–though that’s not what the diary entry said.
It is odd that uninvited guests would show up at a wedding. Perhaps because it was Sunday morning? I can imagine people showed up early for church to congregate and socialize before services, so maybe when there was action, they just went into the building?
Diana xo
The scenario you describe makes sense to me. Since the church was “between ministers” people may have had to schedule weddings around the availability of the substitute minister.
Flashing eyes and wedding crashing. Not Grandma’s usual entry!
Definitely not the typical diary entry. . .It’s strange how there were recently a couple “nothing happened” days–and then several out-of-the ordinary events all got clumped together on one day. . . though I guess that’s how things often happen in my life, too. . . When it rains it pours. 🙂
Very interesting wedding…would loved to have been at that one to see what happened. Hugs
I would have loved to see what happened, too. 🙂
I’m with you on this. Why was this wedding unusual and why was it crashed? So may unanswered questions!
Sometimes pieces of the puzzle are answered by the diary. . . and other times I realize how many missing pieces there are. 🙂
Jewish weddings don’t take place during Shabbat: sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, so they often will be on Sunday, especially during summer months. Was there any kind of Jewish community in the area at the time? (I know, this is probably a long shot, but I thought I’d mention it.)
I don’t think that there was a Jewish community in the area. That said, there are a lot of last names in the the area that are common surnames of Jewish people (though the individuals with the names are typically Christian).
Flashing eyes would make for a very powerful sermon. I have a new fangled pair of glasses that flash blue when I get into the sunlight!
I’ve seen glasses with lens that get grayish or brownish in the sunlight–but blue is new to me.
Wow! Helena is suddenly very verbal! Maybe it is the flashing eyed preacher?
Could be. . . 🙂
Well grandma we sure would like more details…
I second that. . . more details please. 🙂
This is a great post, it leaves a lot of room for our imagination to fill in the details 🙂
You’re absolutely right. . . this entry lets my imagination go in lots of directions.
The prayer book bouquet looks a little like carrots but I’m sure they’re not. Maybe in a small town, you didn’t wait for an invite.
Your description of the bridal bouquet made me laugh. When I read it, I scrolled back up and looked at the picture again–and you’re absolutely right, they look like carrots. Strange. . .
My Mom used to say anyone could go to the wedding, but you needed an invitation to go to the reception. Jane
I wonder if it was something like that.
Now that you mention it, I can remember that when I was a child that the church bulletin occasionally contained an invitation to a member’s wedding. Our family would sometimes go to the wedding, but we won’t go to the reception since we didn’t have a “real invitation”.
Back at Bethesda Lutheran Church in Forestville, Connecticut — the days when refreshments were served in the church basement and the expense was for the gowns ant tuxes, anyone in the church was automatically invited to attend the wedding — and did.
Those were the days! I also remember when wedding receptions were held in the church basement. Typically the refreshments were cake and ice cream.
p.s. And, I believe, enjoy the refreshments in the basement afterwards. What a sense of community!
Sometimes I miss that old sense of community.
Good comments for follow up!
Great succinct words…so much mystery 🙂
Those are a couple of odd bouquets you’ve included.
I thought the same thing. I can’t figure out if they are just really poor drawings, or if they actually made bouquets that looked similar to the ones in the pictures back then.