Weddingbee Blog

Remember when I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough old family wedding pictures for my “something old”? Well, I decided not to use them as table numbers, but instead to display them next to our guest book, but not because we didn’t have enough pictures—my family came through BIG TIME—just because I thought the effect was more awesome when they are all together. I picked up a whole bunch of mismatched frames on clearance at Target (ranging from $0.98 to $3.48) in mostly 5×7″ sizes (with some 4×6″ and 8×10″ thrown in for some variety) and went nuts.

Want to see? Here are a few of my favorites. I’ll start with the newest.*

(Photos by Kenny Backer and Ken Portnoy)

My mom was remarried this summer, and his daughter married just a few months later. I was in both of their weddings, which makes these two extra fun to display! These were easy to come by, since both were taken in the digital photo era. After these two, it gets more complicated!

A lot of my parents’ wedding pictures were discolored from age and looked very red and yellow. I wish I could have corrected the color after my stepdad scanned them for me (we printed all of these pictures at Costco on matte paper so that no one had to worry about their originals), but I almost am happier with the old, aged effect. It’s less obvious this way that we’re looking at a picture printed in 2010 instead of 1978. Just in case Papa Spaniel’s spiffy suit didn’t give it away!

These pictures were a little touchy to include—my parents divorced about five years ago and I didn’t want anyone to feel bad seeing them. I compromised by using smaller pictures (but using two of them… they are my parents, after all!).

Mr. Spaniel’s parents didn’t have any prints from their wedding, or any formal portraits. We had to take a teeny-tiny slide to a photo lab to get this one printed! It will be displayed next to the picture of Mr. Spaniel’s grandparents, one of only two originals that will be on display (so far). I think Mr. S looks just like his grandfather.

The couple on the left are my great-grandparents: the photo was taken on their fifth wedding anniversary in 1932 and was colored later as a gift to my grandmother. It’s the other “original” we’ll be displaying. I think I get such a kick out of this picture because it’s fun to see my great-grandfather—the lone blue-eyed blond in my family tree.

The woman on the right is my beautiful grandmother. Doesn’t she look great? She’s 80-years-old now and still looks amazing. This is the photograph that inspired me to give this project a life after the wedding, by hanging up the family wedding photos on our wall with our own wedding portraits. I kind of can’t wait!

Did you find a place in your home for any of your wedding “decorations”?

*All images in this post are personal photos, but the photographer of the original photograph is credited where known.