Today is where I veer off my “grandma’s siblings” schedule. Instead, I’m sharing some photos of the wedding of one of my dad’s siblings. Uncle Frank married Aunt Dolly at 10AM on 12 April 1958 in Bellwood, Illinois, at St. Simeon Church (501 Bellwood Avenue). Bellwood is a Chicago suburb. At that time, Bellwood had a lot of residents of Italian, Serbian, and Polish ethnicity. Today it is about 70% African-American. Aunt Dolly’s family had originally immigrated from Poland.
My paternal grandmother made Dolly’s wedding gown, as well as accessories to go with the dress. My grandmother was the head fitter of the 28 Shop (couture) at Marshall Field’s flagship store. She dressed many celebrities and other prominent Chicago people. In this photo, my grandmother Marie is helping Dolly dress on the special day.
Uncle Frank passed away in the fall of 2019, about a year and a half after Aunt Dolly’s passing. They left behind one son, my cousin Dave. Dave’s family is not sentimental and not interested in hanging onto the family heirlooms. So Dave sent them to me. These packages he sent included the wedding dress itself. This is a photo of the detail of the seed pearls at the neckline.
Grandma also made the veil. The crown is the part of the veil that I received.
The garter is just one of several wedding accessories that came to me. This one was store-bought.
Although it wasn’t part of my family’s tradition, in Aunt Dolly’s Polish family, the dollar dance was an important feature of a wedding. My grandmother made this symbolic representation of a money dance apron for the wedding. It’s not only beautiful, but meant to be a fertility boost with pink and blue ribbons and little baby dolls sprinkled all over it. If you click on the photo, you can enlarge it to see the little dolls.
Dave also sent me a huge wedding album, as well as the wedding shower album. I’ve scanned all the photos and will be sending them to Dave for his family. Here is the happy couple. The bride is wearing the apron!
I’ll leave you with one last photo. Groomsman (my father), bridesmaid (my mother), and the flower girl (me), only 2 3/4 years old. Our dresses were blue. My most enduring memory of that wedding is the interminable time we spent waiting through the ceremony for them to get hitched. There was a full mass, and I was supposed to be kneeling the whole time with the bridesmaids. Aunt Dolly’s mother wasn’t too happy that I was so antsy and didn’t want to kneel. The photo was taken before the wedding, but that expression on my face is as if I knew what I was in for.
The Family Kalamazoo 
Nice. thanks for sharing.
I know it’s a long shot, but I thought about sending you the photos of people at their tables, etc., to see if you recognize anyone. I figure the majority are relatives and personal and business acquaintances of Dolly’s parents, but you never know.
That last photo is priceless
It is to me–to see our family as it was at that time. Plus, I remember the dress very well as I used to play in it until I was six or seven! But that look on my face. I look like the possessed baby in a horror movie.
🙂
Yeah, you had that chin jut thing going–not good.
OMG I laughed so hard at this. EXACTLY. That is exactly. getting mad, anxious, and 2 minutes from crying.
I’m sensitive to the chiin jut thing because I was told as an adult that I do it.
These are precious. Everyone wore something on their hair, even your grandmother.
Thanks, Joy! That was definitely the style! Probably also being the church. For years my aunt wore a “doily” on her head to go to church.
This is incredible! What an heirloom collection! I bet anything that the Chicago area museums would love to have this beautiful collection! You may want to reach out to them, especially with the provenance of the Marshall Field’s connection, the heritage, etc. WI would love to have something like this!
Mary! That’s quite an idea! And it gets better. I have my mother’s wedding dress which my grandmother made (I also wore it, but we did alter it a bit, unfortunately). And beautiful hankies that Grandma made for my mother and for Aunt Dolly :).
Also, I have the book about the history of the store they gave my grandmother when she retired.
I love the photos and the tradition. Thanks for posting.
Thanks, Jose! You’re welcome :). Hope you are well!
Beautiful story and photos. I particularly liked that it was in 1958, the same year I got married in Idaho. And I do have a small connection to the area as I spent the summer of 1957 in Chicago with my college roommate and her parents. Marshall Fields was a store we loved to shop at. How fortunate that your cousin sent it all to you!
Myrna, thank you so much! That is a coincidence: 1958 and the summer stay :)! Marshall Fields was such a gorgeous store. It breaks my heart that it’s gone. The flagship store was kind of the heart of Chicago for me. That and Stop N Shop and the Museum of Science and Industry. I really wish one of my aunt and uncle’s grandkids would say they want the stuff, but I am intrigued by Mary’s idea about a museum in Chicago–maybe in particular a “local” one that is interested in Marshall Field’s history.
Seeing you in the photo wearing that sweet dress, I immediately thought, what a great dress for playing dress-up! Good to know you did just that…
I loved it and had so much fun. I still remember the disappointment when I couldn’t squeeze into it any more haha. Do you remember Mr. Polonowski letting us perform plays after lunch in class? I remember so much about his classes. what a wonderful teacher.
oh, I remember…didn’t we do a play based on the poem, “By the shores of Gitchie Gumi, by the shining Big Sea Water….”
I definitely remember we wrote a script for Little Red Riding Hood and performing that. There was that little room behind his desk where he let us rehearse!
I also loved the way he read us The Oregon Trail and Pippi Longstocking. He was my favorite elementary teacher, by far.
You know, I remember reciting the Hiawatha poem as a group in summer camp at the conservation corps. I wonder if I brought that idea to our playwriting from that lOL or if it was Mr. P’s idea or what.
What a priceless collection! I love the photos and the clothing. Maybe you’re being a little hard on yourself as a child. I think the expression on your face is perhaps a bit apprehensive, but mostly just ready to get on with the show.
Thank you so much, Eilene! Hah, I was probably scared to death. Being made to be good constantly, a strange apartment (Dolly’s parents lived over their restaurant), a huge to me frightening church, and rules that I had never heard about. I definitely remember my mother calling me a Mexican jumping bean (do you remember those?) during the ceremony LOL!
Oh yes, I do remember Mexican jumping beans.
Luanne, our local history museum has an entire wedding gown and groom’s tux from 100 years ago. Museums now are worried about preserving our history from the last 30 years, because they are aware that people in the future will want to know. I sold my prom dress, then tracked it down and bought it back 5 years later. I intend to donate it to our museum, they are excited! I would include the Marshall Field’s book and your wedding dress, as well. Just a thought.
Yes, I will check into this, maybe in a few months, when I have a little time. It sounds like such a good idea. The whites are yellowing a bit so nobody is going to want to wear them again. But they could be kept in the condition they are by a museum.
Luanne, beautiful pictures of you and your Dad and your Aunt Dolly.. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Paula! Nice to hear from you!
Wonderful photos and stories. What a gift you received!
Thank you, Maryellen. I so agree!!!!
Hi Luanne – this was such a fun post to read. I LOVE the wedding pictures – my favorites. I never heard or new about these ‘aprons’ what a wonderful tradition. You’re adorable in your blue matching dress to Mom. You were gifted a wonderful treasure.
I so enjoyed this post! I kept going back to the detail on Dolly’s gown. Your grandmother was a very accomplished seamstress!
She was truly amazing. When I think of all those gorgeous clothes she made me. We didn’t save any. Even my Barbie clothes had details like this. Seed pearls on Barbie’s wedding gown and tiny copper beads on Barbie’s cocktail gown!
She must have had a real passion for sewing! Detailing Barbie doll clothes is way too fiddly for me.
I love the photos—especially of you and your parents! You were adorable!! And that dress—omg, your grandmother was so talented. And you are so lucky to have these heirlooms. How will you preserve and store them all?
I really like Mary’s idea of trying to find a museum in chicago that would want them, including my mother’s dress and the Marshall Field’s book they gave my grandmother–because of the MF connection. Nobody else is going to want this stuff and no way to store it properly at home.
I look pretty anxious in that photo.
Good ideas. I think you look more confused than anxious. Like — why is this guy taking this photo?
The dress and little apron are exquisite! I love the photos too and your facial expression and comment reminds me of the wedding of my aunt to my Polish uncle. I was a four-year-old bridesmaid and really shy. I got through the wedding somehow but then refused to take part in the photos and hid behind my parents.
Amazing photos, Luanne – I loved them all!
But that one of you as the flower girl is extra special!!
Your grandmother was an artist with clothes and really breathtaking talent – no wonder you have artistic DNA flowing through your veins!!
Thanks for sharing.
I loved the family photo with you as a little girl 🙂 My own daughter was a flower girl about that same age and I wonder if she’ll remember it. Might have to inquire this afternoon when we talk on the phone 🙂 Great post!
I’d love to hear if she remembers. Most people I talk to are amazed that I have so many vivid memories going back to the beginning of age 2. My grandfather was also like that. My daughter says she can’t remember anything before she was five.
I will be sure to find out next time we chat. I remember further back than my mother claimes to, but that may not be saying much lol Everyone’s different I suppose 🙂