Glossy Time Capsules #37
Guide For The Bride
Fall, 1956
Price: 50 cents
All right, dime store Audrey Hepburn, tell me... was being a bride in 1956 something to envy?
Or should I thank my lucky stars I wasn't one?
Actually, I have a more pressing question...
How did prospective brides...
...ever manage make a decision...
... about silverware?
TOO MANY CHOICES.
But yeah, half of this magazine is ads trying to sell the soon-to-be-wed couple household items. And without a Target Gift Registry to be had, there were plenty of personal decisions to be made about...
Small appliances...
Furniture...
(All this can be yours IF the Price Is Right!)
Cookware and kitchenware...
And in order to have a perfect wedding night of holding hands, a good mattress is a must....
The average age for marriage in the U.S. in the 1950s was 23 for men and 20 for women, which almost accounts for the way this magazine assumes women don't know how to do basic tasks, such as organizing a closet...
having a job...
...home decorating...
... throwing a party...
....and, most challenging of all, going grocery shopping...
Of course, this magazine had plenty of advice to give on the wedding itself, including ads for, and information about, wedding dresses...
(I hope then-7-year-old Vera Wang was getting some serious inspiration from these pages.)
This magazine offered some pointers on what a wedding ceremony should look like...
And the magazine's advertisers definitely wanted you to pick (and pay for) a particular honeymoon destination...
Algiers?
No, wait... Miami Beach.
Versailles??
Nope... still Miami Beach.
Pocono...?
... yay, not Miami Beach!
In fact, it looks like Pennsylvania was trying to be a serious contender in the honeymoon game...
Meanwhile, back when Cuba was a viable option...
Oooh, Scotland...?
Nope. Miami Beach strikes again.
Curse you, Miami Beach!
Hey, let's check out some NEAT THINGS YOU SHOULD BUY!
Well, that's about it. But if this has inspired you to start planning your own wedding ceremony and/or run screaming, my job here is done.
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