A 1926 Wedding Comes to Life: Discoveries from a Book for the Bride
Nora Hoffman Macbeth: 1899-1994
I was recently sorting through family photos and memorabilia
and ran across a charming little book my grandmother Nora Hoffman prepared,
recording details about her wedding to Ivan Macbeth in 1926. I made scans of
several of the pages. Her notes, along
with a newspaper write-up of the wedding, provide a charming picture of my
grandparents’ special day.
Nora Elsie Hoffman was born on November 17, 1899 in Blue
Earth County, Minnesota. She was the fifth of William and Lena Funk Hoffman’s
six daughters, and grew up on a farm near Mankato. Her older sisters all
married local men over an eleven year span from 1912 to 1923, leaving Nora
living at home with her parents and younger sister and brother as she entered
her mid-twenties. She had a suitor who lived down the road just a couple miles,
but his age must have given her pause—he was four and a half years younger. I
have heard that her sisters teased her about her beau, suggesting that she was a bit
desperate since the three oldest of them had married the three Seltenreich brothers,
leaving no brothers left for Nora.
My grandfather Ivan was persistent, however, and they
decided to marry in the spring of 1926, when Ivan was 22 and Nora was 26. Ivan
was taking over his father’s farm, and his parents decided to move into a
Mankato apartment building they held an ownership interest in, leaving the
farmhouse open for Ivan and his new bride.
The wedding book was apparently given to brides, perhaps by
the store where she bought her wedding gown. I love the page that describes the
clothing worn by the attendants. All the photos that exist of the event are
black and white; I never would have guessed that her sister Edna’s maid of
honor dress was “orchid color georgette over pink silk” and that the flower
girls were in “yellow ruffled voile”. I loved the details that her sister wore
“tan slippers and tan silk hose”—the silk stockings and underskirt must have
felt soft and luxurious.
Nora described her own dress as follows: “a beautiful white
Georgette dress over white silk foundation. The dress was trimmed with Venice
lace, ribbon ruffles and white ribbon rose buds. I wore a white veil with a
bandeau of orange blossoms. I wore white slippers and hose and carried a shower
bouquet of pink tea roses, sweet peas and ferns. I had blue garters, borrowed
Jennie’s veil, carried the same handkerchief I had on confirmation day, in
order to have something old, new, borrowed and blue. I wore a white silk
chemise and slip. My nightie was peach.”
I love all the details, especially the shy little mention of
her peach-colored wedding night gown. Jennie, whose veil Nora borrowed, was the
last of her sisters to have married, back in 1923. I also love that the veil
had orange blossoms on the headband—such a traditional choice for a bride! The
photos show the amazing curled hairstyles the women all sported—it must have
taken hours, as curls came from rag curlers and curling irons heated on the
stove!
There are no photos of the actual ceremony, held on April 14 at 2:30 in the afternoon--an unusual time and date! The only reception photos are of the bridal party outside Nora's childhood home, so the newspaper’s write-up, which provided details, was a charming discovery. The
Mankato Free Press reported that the bridal party entered the church to the “strain
of the bridal chorus from Lohengrin, played by the organist…” The ceremony also
included a solo of “Holy Spirit Breath of Love” sung by Cecilia Stockman.
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| Beatrice Laird, Ivan's niece; Edna Hoffman, Nora's sister; and Stella Seltenreich, Nora's niece, in front of Ivan's car |
The reporter noted that the guests attended a reception at
the Hoffman home, where “an elaborate luncheon was served, covers being placed
for twenty-five.” The rooms were decorated in pink and white, and “a three tier
wedding cake, in a setting of sweetheart roses and smilax, was the centerpiece for
the table.”
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| Smilax garland--I had never heard of the plant! |
The little bridal booklet had additional pages for recording
details about wedding shower, and space to list the wedding gifts the bride and
groom received, as well as their first dinner at home and the first time they
entertained as a married couple. My grandmother filled all these pages out. Among
the wedding gifts were a chest of silver, two velvet rugs, a “fernery and three
ferns”, an “Aladdin lamp” and a set of sherbet glasses. The gifts give me an
idea of what was considered fashionable in the 1920s.
She sounded young and excited by this big transition in her
life. All the little details help me to imagine her not as the competent farm
wife in her sixties that I remember, but as a young 26 year old bride eagerly anticipating
her new life as a married woman.
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| Beatrice Laird, Ivan Macbeth, Nora Hoffman, Elmer Hoffman, Nora's brother, Edna Hoffman and Stella Seltenreich on April 14, 1926 |
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