Coventry Weddings

I got married at St Mary's Church in Hood Street in 1964. Our wedding reception, for 70 guests, was held at the Barras House Hotel, in Swancroft Road. We had a 3-course meal; a glass of sherry on arrival, wine with the meal and sherry for the toast, it cost my dad the grand total of £1 a head. Mum made and decorated the wedding cake (making and decorating cakes was her hobby). After the meal and the speeches, we had dancing, the music was supplied by a trio. I bought my wedding dress from Embassy Fashions in the City Arcade and my husband's aunt made the dresses for my three cousins, who were bridesmaids. The flowers were from a florist at Gosford Green, I think it was called something like Streatham Flowers. The wedding cars were from Maton & Sons and our photographs and album were from a photographer called Arthur Arnold. The whole day probably cost under £250. We went to the Isle of Man for our honeymoon, travelling by train to Liverpool and then taking the overnight ferry. We had booked a fortnight into what we thought was a 'posh' hotel on the sea front at Douglas. How wrong we were, the hotel turned out to be awful, a bit like Faulty Towers, terrible food, bad service and full of 'old age pensioners'!! So at the end of the first week we returned home, collected the car and went to one of our favourite places, Woolacombe in Devon. We are now looking forward to celebrating our Golden Wedding in two years time.

Wow, thats brilliant Tricia Do we get to see a wedding photo?

Sorry Tony, No. Husband's request!

Hi all. Our official photographs were black & white, but someone sneaked this one in.

Of course, marriage does have its little ups & downs. I am always prepared. We always have the jokes & the best man's speech, but I can tell you one thing with complete honesty. Pam has been & is always my best asset. It seems sterile to refer to someone in that manner, but as an accountant, I can tell you that there are not many expressions on a balance sheet that are superior to the quality of assets. Fixed or otherwise. My Pam is both!

Beautiful photo Philip. I like the expression 'best asset', like me you've got one of the best.

I finally got round to sorting the family album and promised Morgana a wedding photo from 1961. A bit late but here it is.

Hi Dreamtime Beautiful.

Thank you Philip. I hope you can remember every minute of your special day as I can still.

Another of my very unusual successful stories. The sun was shining on this day 57 years ago as I walked up the path to a very 'old church' in Coventry. Inside, the church was decorated in old fashioned Harvest Festival fashion as I waited for my young bride to join me. And so we married. But on the day we learnt that my father and father-in-law played for the same football team at twenty year difference. My mother-in-law and my elder sister had been in the same class at school. My young brother was a mate of my brother-in-law and had visited their house before I. And all but for three months I was twice as old as my bride (you can imagine the bric-bats I got about that). Today we still hold hands, support each other, me with a stroke leg, my wife with her tick-tock pace-maker. We are just off for a meal and drink to celebrate

Hi Dreamtime, great wedding photo, from previous photos of your parents running the Navigation I can see the likeness of you and your dear mother. Did you have your reception at the Navigation?

No Mr Blue Sky, We were at the Broomfield Tavern in '61 but as you mentioned it our reception was held at the Keresley Hall Hotel, as it was called then. Just a few years later my parents took over the Navigation.