Letters From The Time Traveler: Love and Marriage At The End of the World 2035

Dearest,

Do you remember our simple ceremony that took place at your father’s house? It was officiated by the Justice of the Peace. We dressed in our finest and celebrated afterward with a simple wedding breakfast with friends, family, and neighbors. It was a lovely affair in 1840, one I fondly carry with me. I do not have a photograph but I have your lovely face etched in my memory.

In the early years of our nation, weddings were low-key affairs, typically held in the bride’s home and attended only by family and close friends. Weddings were typically on a week-day morning, followed by a wedding breakfast. An announcement was made at the couple’s church — if they had a church — on the Sunday following the wedding.The bride did not often purchase a new dress, but wore her best.

By the 1840s, wealthier Americans in the East had started having more lavish wedding celebrations. Although brides did not always wear white wedding gowns, white was a popular choice, even before Queen Victoria’s wedding to Prince Albert in 1840. Queen Victoria chose a white satin dress with a lace overskirt. She selected these fabrics to support impoverished neighborhoods in London, and over the next decade or two, the custom of the bride wearing a white wedding spread across England and…