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I've always been really fond of this picture. It was taken on the day of my grandparents' wedding in 1948. My grandmother was 21 at the time and my grandfather was 22. View full size.
I agree with with "they marry young now, too!" My mom married at 18, I got married at age 20 and our daughter just married at age 19. Before you ask: NO we didn't "have" to. If your plans in life do not require you to stay single why wait? Everything I've wanted to accomplish in life was able to be done with a husband.(I was sure to have a ride home from any party) I am quite successful and proud of the life I have. The difference as my mom put it once: "My children are growing/grown up and leaving. I am now old enough to afford the items I want in life and still young enough to enjoy them." I watch my 40 year old friends having babies and can't help but feel a closure to any travel or fun I would be able to have if I was just starting out. I want Greece and London now, not Legoland.
My daughter, now 28, has been married for eight years. Her husband was 21 at the time. Unusual, maybe. What is definitely the norm now, however, is for people this young (and younger) to live together. That was not in the cards back in Julie's grandparents' day!
Good God, people got married young back then didn't they. 21, 22 and they look so mature and confident. I know 40+ year-olds now who still act like teenagers!
He looks like equal parts Robert Young, Ray Milland and George Reeves.
Final scene: Cut to a rear exterior shot of the car as it drives into the distance, leaving a cloud of dust behind as it disappears over the hills and into the sunset (cue full-orchestral score by Erich W. Korngold, swelling over the end titles): "A Warner Brothers-First National Production."
We like to think that our grandparents' lives might have been like this, but they probably weren't. I'm still a sucker for a good old romance, though.
Well, Julie darlin', you obviously have a great gene pool in your background. I'm bettin' you're one beeauteeful 19 year old. All the best.
My grandma is still alive, and still pretty good looking for her age. Unfortunately, my grandfather died a month before I was born in 1990 (I'm a little young), so I never got a chance to meet him.
I don't think my grandpa served in the war. I don't know too many details about him, but I know he went to Washington and Lee University and was a junior when they met in 1947, so I don't think that gives him too much time to fight a war in between.
They look SO HAPPY.
And darn, has she got the best straight white teeth and sexiest lipstick ever.
Have a wonderful life, you guys...
How sweet! My parents were married in 1949, and my mama's dress was made of slipper satin, which is what your grandma's dress appears to be made from.
That's who he is. Any other old-timers remember him?
Looks a lot younger now that it did then, it seems.
Look how white their teeth are! And they didn't need all the jells, bleaches and dental lasers. Grandma was right....some good old fashion edbaking soda on a toothbrush does the best whitening job.
And they both have darn near perfect teeth.
They are a gorgeous couple but I didn't need the date to know when this was. The pose, the hair style, the dark red lipstick, the tulle veil and tiara to hold it. It could have been our wedding day since we have a picture almost identical to this taken just a couple of years later. It was (is?) one of the photographer's must-shoots.
What a beautiful, 'perfect moment' photo, Julie! We should all be so fortunate to have something this spectacular in our family albums!
If Grampa was 22 in 1948, he would have been out of high school in 1943 or '44 and probably been drafted or just joined up without waiting for his number to be called soon after. Two years of war, even if it was in a non-combat role, has a tendency to build maturity.
He's prettier than she is, and she's very pretty.
Julie, did your grandfather serve in WWII? Seeing as how he was 22 in 1948, it seems like he would have almost been too young, unless he just got in near the end, in '44 or '45.
Dave, you make me feel old. My Gramma and Grampa were married in 1899.
So... how do they end up? Are they still around? Any recent pictures? This is one of those moments where we have a chance to see the rest of the story... Thanks!
This wedding photo has "class" written all over it. Thanks for posting this fantastic photo of your grandparents, Julie!
How about John Derek and June Haver?
Grampa looks older, more mature, more confident than most 22-year-olds I see today.
Bob Hope and she looks like June Allyson. What a wonderful time in our history. WWII was over and millions of babies were about to be born. I was 2 years old.
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