Flower girl

Time for another blast from the past courtesy of Dad!

On July 11, 1949 Mom was the flower girl in a local wedding. There is a newspaper clipping somewhere that identifies the bride and groom, but I don't think I have it, unless it got mixed in with Mom's recipes. Anyway, as I recall it wasn't a couple that Grandma or Grandpa were that close to . . seems like possibly someone involved in the wedding age knew that Mom was just the right age to be an adorable little  flower girl.

There are some really neat 8 1/2 by 11 inch photos from the wedding and also from what appears to be the rehearsal dinner the night before.  The day before I left, during my last big visit I had with Mom (this would have been Nov. 15, 2011) Mom showed me a number of  important papers and assorted memorabilia that she wanted to make sure we all had access to someday.  Right on the top of the stack was a folder with these pictures, some of which I had never seen before.  So it was great to get these in the mail from Dad and I wanted to share them.

Dress rehearsal (presumably), photos are dated July 10, 1949:

Now, this is the way to do a rehearsal dinner!  Can you tell what the food is?  I think I see stacks of bread so I'm guessing it's a lunchmeat/sandwich kind of deal.  Also, doesn't this look like it was in someone's basement?  Very DIY, very cool.  Grandma looks cute with her sassy 1940s sandals and her braided updo.

And now Grandma has arrived with the food for Mom.  Look at that sweet, happy, little face!  She must be thrilled to be seated right next to John Turturo.  Also, here you get a different angle on the food table. Is that some kind of ring cake near the lady with the super high heels?  You can see Dad's root beer on the table, too.

What I love about these three wedding day photos is that Mom appears to have fully hijacked the spotlight away from the bride.  See how she photobombed what was probably going to be a lovely, reflective, bride-gazing-in-the-mirror-one-last-time pose?  So precious!

 And look--Mom is literally GLOWING here!  Forget the radiant bride, here comes the flower girl!

And of course, when you think of weddings and cake, you always think of . . . the flower girl cutting the cake, right?  Too cute!

Growing up, whenever I saw pictures of Mom with her hair like this it always made me think of the Betsy-Tacy books, in which Tacy had long, red ringlets.  And whenever I read those books and saw the cute Lois Lenski drawings of Tacy, I thought of Mom!

Of course, the flower girl dress went on to have a long life of its own!  (I think there are pictures of Leigh wearing it, too, somewhere).