The Day Before

The wedding's tomorrow!  June and Art concludes on September 1, 2011.

Friday, August 31, 1951:  It was a beautiful summer day in the Hamptons, with early morning temperatures in the low 70s climbing to 82° in the afternoon.  There was no rain that day.  For Saturday, the day of the wedding, the weather forecast called for a similarly nice day, maybe even a couple of degrees cooler.

People were traveling to Riverhead that Friday.  While many of Art’s relatives lived in the vicinity, June’s relatives were coming from both her mother’s home state of Virginia and her father’s home state of Connecticut.  Approximately 80 people had responded that they planned to attend the wedding.

Here are the names of the people who were definitely planning on attending a wedding at the United Methodist Church of Riverhead the following day:

(Tomorrow – June and Art concludes.)

© 2011 Lee Price

Much To Be Done

Two days until the wedding!  June and Art concludes on September 1, 2011.

These lists speak for themselves.  There were many decisions to be made, tasks to be assigned, and work to be done.  Doubtless, these three surviving lists only cover a small portion of the many components that went into the planning of June’s and Art’s wedding.

(Tomorrow – The day before.)

© 2011 Lee Price

Bridesmaids and Ushers

Three days until the wedding!  June and Art concludes on September 1, 2011.



Postcard from Shirl.



At some point, plans to have Shirl as Matron of Honor fell through.  The above postcard may have been the last that June ever heard from Shirl.

June asked Frances Martin, a friend from her job at the phone company, to be the Maid of Honor, and asked Jean Hulse and Art’s sister Dorothy Price to be bridesmaids.  June picked out gowns for the bridesmaids, described as “pale green nylon net with matching lace jacket.”  For the Maid of Honor, she selected a “light shrimp nylon net with cap sleeved lace jacket.”

Art asked Ray Lawrence, who was the husband of his mother’s sister and a classmate from Southampton High, to be his Best Man.  For his ushers, he asked his cousins Harry Price and William Price.

Wedding plan details.

(Tomorrow – The to-do list.)

© 2011 Lee Price

The Shower Transcript

Four days until the wedding!  June and Art concludes on September 1, 2011.

June’s wedding shower took place on Tuesday, June 26, 1951.  Someone recorded June’s expressions as she opened her presents and then later typed them up for posterity.  Here are some selections from the transcript:

“I have a pan!  Maybe Art won’t go hungry after all.”

“It begins to look as if people expect me to cook.”

“Oh-h-h!  A whole set!  Very nice!  M-m-m!”

(June’s mother:  “I was crocheting a tablecloth for June.  She wouldn’t take it.”

June:  “I didn’t know if it was a rug or a tablecloth.”)

“Oh!  And I love salads, too.  Isn’t that nice?”

“Gee!  I’ll really have a kitchen after all.”

(June’s mother:  “June, you have two pans.  I didn’t have more than that when I started.”)

“Oh!  What shall I open next?”

“All this lovely wrapping I’m just tearing off.”

“I am having trouble.  I’m the poorest opener of packages.  I can’t open your package.”

“Gee!  I can entertain ‘n everything!”

“I didn’t know Art kept secrets from me.”

“I thank everybody very much.”

(Tomorrow – Bridesmaids and ushers.)

© 2011 Lee Price

The Anderson Joyful Crier

Five days until the wedding!  June and Art concludes on September 1, 2011.

June’s friends Kay Atkins and Marie Murray prepared this roast-style mock press release for June’s wedding shower on June 26, 1951:

E  X  T  R  A

SPECIAL EDITION

of

THE ANDERSON JOYFUL CRIER

Editors:  Kay Atkins and Marie Murray

Riverhead, New York

June 26, 1951

Decorations from the
wedding shower on
June 26, 1951.

The first social event honoring Miss June Anderson will be given this evening at 126 Lincoln Street by friends of the bride.  Miss Anderson, only daughter of Theodore and Maud Anderson, will be married in the Methodist Church of Riverhead on September 1, 1951 to Arthur Price of Southampton.

The editors, interviewing the parents of the bride-to-be, learned many interesting facts which they will try to relate to you.

Twenty-two years ago last January 25, Miss June, a bouncing baby weighing 8 pounds 2 ounces, was born.  From that moment on, she ruled the household.  Her parents followed her first year with much interest.  At four months, June showed them her first tooth.  At six months, she created a major disturbance by swallowing a pacifier which thereby did more than keep her from crying.  (Need I say June’s parents never complained when she cried after that?)

June was a typical child when taken anywhere by her parents.  She wanted something when she went into the stores.  Parasols intrigued her.  One day in Charlottesville, Va., when her father was acting as nursemaid, she played tag, running up and down the rows of seats in the theater.

At five, June entered Kindergarten and celebrated by pulling the buttons off her teacher’s dress.  When she was in Second Grade, her parents moved to Riverhead and here she finished her Elementary and Secondary Education.  Through school, June showed much love for music, dancing and art.  At dancing school, she won a blue ribbon while circling the floor with Charlie McCabe.  Other blue ribbons were won on the athletic field in the High Jumping events.

Five years ago this fall, June left our town for Providence, Rhode Island where she entered Pembroke College.  Later she transferred to Traphagen School of Fashion where she was an outstanding student.  During this past year, some of her work in the field of Design has been shown to many interested people in the United States.

Now we are up to the summer of ’51, one of much excitement in the Anderson Home.  The bride has purchased her dress;  the bridegroom is successfully recuperating from an operation and time is marching on towards September 1.

The Weather Bureau predicts local showers tonight, but much fair weather and sunshine in the future.

(Tomorrow – The shower transcript.)

© 2011 Lee Price

The Bride's Book of Etiquette

Six days until the wedding!  June and Art concludes on September 1, 2011.

At some point, June received a copy of The Bride’s Book of Etiquette by the editors of The Bride’s Magazine (published 1948).  Approximately 95% of the content remains relevant today.  Here are a couple of passages that June may have thumbed through as she prepared for her wedding:

The Bride

“YOUR PRIVILEGES:  As a Bride, you are privileged, with the consent of your family, to choose the type of wedding you will have, to choose the time and place.  Within the bounds of tradition, you may pick the dress you will wear and all the accessories that go with it.  It’s your privilege to look as lovely as you know how…

“You are privileged to choose the flowers you want, the music you want, the reception you want.  You are privileged to make your wedding anything you want it to be.

“You are privileged to have all eyes center on you.”

The Groom

“The Groom is the other half of the raison d’etre for all this fuss and flurry.  He may feel completely out of things and very confused with all of the feminine running around that goes on.  However, he is a most important personage…

“No matter how hectic things may seem to him, he will try to observe every little tradition and courtesy dear to the hearts of women.  He will remember to thank the Bride’s parents for all they have done, and he won’t forget to tell his Bride how lovely she looks.”

(Tomorrow – News from the Shower reporters.)

© 2011 Lee Price

Wedding Responses

Seven days until the wedding!  June and Art concludes on September 1, 2011.

“Would be very glad to attend wedding of my cousin Arthur and your daughter June and nothing but fire, flood or sickness could keep me away…”

The responses poured in…

In the end, approximately 80 friends and relatives responded that they would be attending.  A small sampling of their replies is below.

(Tomorrow – The Bride's Book of Etiquette.)

© 2011 Lee Price