A few years ago, an elderly relative passed away. Among her possessions were these three scrapbooks. (No, that isn’t dust.)
Each one contains old newspaper clippings of wedding announcements of couples in our local area.
The earliest ones date to 1948. As I looked through these, I recognized the names of several of my former classmates’ parents. I knew my classmates would appreciate having copies of the articles.
The first one I decided to share was that of Donna’s parents. Although I’d never made one before, I created a shadowbox for her, featuring her parents’ wedding announcement.
Since it was impossible to get a good picture of it in the frame (I had reflections of light no matter what I did), I took this photo of the items assembled, but unframed.
I found the pearl necklace and old glove at an antique shop, along with the little heart-shaped pin. The tatting was some that I had in my sewing box and was exactly the right length. Because I make my own greeting cards using rubber stamps, I had the word “love” in my supplies, as well as the fabric flowers.
The snippet of paper to the right was also in my card-making supplies and has this message:
“Love has nothing to do with what you’re expected to get; it’s what you are expected to give – which is everything.”
It doesn’t show up well in the picture, but the little torn slip of paper at the top is the definition of “marriage” from an old tattered dictionary.
Because January 26 was the date her parents were married, I really wanted to give this to Donna last week. So we met for lunch on Thursday. She knew I had something for her, but had no idea what it was.
When she saw the shadowbox, she gasped, then she cried. Then she hugged me. And cried some more.
One of her relatives, who’s also a friend of mine, told me that Donna was very close to her parents, both of whom are now gone. Giving this to her was so special for me; made even more so by the fact that she’d never seen this picture of her Mother before.
And now, my search for vintage bridal accessories continues: I have several more shadowboxes to make.
these days of mine 