Thursday, 10 May 2018

Lorna Bessie's marriage to Lionel Laws 1919

My grand father Lionel Laws married Bessie Holmes in October 1919. Unfortunatley we do not have any photographs from the wedding but Trove as usual comes to the rescue with a writeup about the wedding.


Darling Downs Gazette (Qld. : 1881 - 1922), Tuesday 4 November 1919, page 3


A very pretty wedding took place on Wednesday, the 22nd October, at St. David's Church of England, Allora, when Miss Bessie Holmes; eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Holmes, was married to Mr. Lionel Laws, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Laws, Allora. Rev. J. Elliott conducted the ceremony. The bride, who entered the church on the arm of her father, and who subsequently gave her away, was daintily attired in a gown of cream crepe de chine and georgette; she also wore an embroidered tulle veil arranged in mob cap fashion with wreath of orange blossoms; she also carried a beautiful bouquet of white roses and asparagus fern. She was attended by two bridesmaids, the Misses Lynda Holmes (sister of the bride) and Jessie Laws (sister of the bridegroom), both wearing dresses of kobe silk and ninon with Leghorn hats to match. Mr. H. Mitchell, of Ipswich, acted as bestman, while Mr. V. Laws acted as groomsman. The church was beautifully decorated for the purpose by the bride's best girl friends, and at the conclusion of the service, Miss Emma Smith sang '0 Perfect Love.' After the ceremony Mr. and Mrs. J. Holmes held a reception at the Shire Hall when about sixty guests sat down to the wedding breakfast, the usual toasts being honoured. Later in the day the happy couple motored to Hendon where they caught the mail train en route for Sydney and Tasmania where they intend spending the honeymoon. The bride travelled in a dress of wedgwood blue taffeta, hat and mastic of vieux rose. (1)

This seems like an ordinary wedding write up but what made it special for me was the "veil arranged in a mob cap fashion" I had been given this "thing of tulle" that I couldn't work out what it was. However, after reading this description it was the mob cap style veil I think.  


 Notice the holes for threading ribbon along each long edge and the gathering in the middle that suggest to me it was the cap. What do you think? 
The other interesting  item in the write up was that they motored to Hendon to catch the mail train en route for Sydney and Tasmania.  Bessie kept a diary for the honeymoon and that makes interesting reading but more of that another day.
Another treasure that came to light was Lionel's hand written version of his speech at the wedding.

Here it is transcribed.

Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with a deep sense of pride that I rise to thank you all on behalf of my future wife and myself for the many kind things you have said about us and also for the many & useful presents. I can assure Ladies and Gentlemen that they will always be remembered among our treasures and they will remind us of this very pleasant evening & of you all as our many friends.  Bess & I are very thankful of the honour you have done us. I am sure Ladies  & Gentlemen we will never forget you.
Should any of you at any time be within reach of our home we will only ( be) too pleased to welcome you & may be able to help us use some of your gifts.

For your kind wishes we also thank you from the bottom of our hearts & I hope you will not gauge the depth of our thoughtfulness by the scarcity of my words. I can no more than that. I again thank you very sincerely.
Although we have no photo from the wedding between the veil and the speech we have treasures of their special day for us to cherish .

(1)https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/rendition/nla.news-article182944640.txt

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