Rita Brierley's wedding dress

Economy and marriage are linked for several reasons, but the root of this is a ‘fundamental social norm: that in English society getting married meant establishing a new household, a substantial investment decision.

“Two might live as cheaply as one”, but a young married couple could not live as cheaply as two single people each with their parents.’ Southall and Gilbert, Economic History Review, vol.49, no.1, 1996, p.40.

Rita and Geoffrey Brierley were married on 30th March 1963. Like many couples, they met at the Bolton Palais de Dance. The pair courted for two years and were engaged for a further twelve months before their wedding day.

During the courting and engagement period, Rita and Geoff lived with their respective parents. A single person living alone or sharing, when there was the option of living in the family home, was still unusual at this time.

Unmarried children who worked, contributed to the household economy, giving their wages over to their parents.  In return, they received spending money. Geoff explains:

"Most people who weren’t married lived at home. They used to call it boarding, at home, like chipping in housekeeping.  The rule was that you couldn’t  do that until you were 21, all youngsters started work at 15, and up to 21 you used to ‘tip’ your wage up, and got your spending money back.

"Seems hard to believe it these days, but that’s how it was.  And then after 21 you could start boarding.  So from more or less 21 onwards you could start saving up.… You could buy a terrace house for about £900, then"

Rita confirms this: “I had £100, and I thought I was well off.” 

Setting the wedding date for 30 March 1963 was a financial decision. Rita explains:

"In March, it was before the end of the tax year in April and if you got married in March you got the tax back for that year, the groom did…. it was a better time in October to get married, but 9 out of 10 people chose March."

By choosing a March wedding the groom could record himself as a married man and receive a tax rebate for the previous 11 months.

However, the practical implications of choosing such a popular time of year was that there was heavy competition to book the various venues and services.

In the early 1960s, few people in Bolton owned cars.  They had to walk or use public transport and therefore shopped locally. There was a limited selection of wedding venues, caterers, and of course dress makers. There were no bridal shops in Bolton, so buying a dress off the peg was not an option.

Unlike most of the other brides who were interviewed for this exhibition, Rita did not have a prior connection to Mrs Heaton.

"Most people had their dresses made, or they made their own. But I couldn’t sew." 

"She said you need 9 yards in your wedding dress.  Now that I can always remember, 9 yards in my wedding dress.  She also said I’d need Vilene to stiffen it."

Bridesmaids

Rita had her best friend and a young cousin as bridesmaids. Mrs. Heaton made their dresses also. Rita described her friend Joan’s dress as magic:

"it was a long straight dress to look at, and she kind of put an overskirt that was loose and she could wear it like a cape as well…. that was very, very modern…. It was turquoise blue. I’ve still got a sample of it in my wedding album and I’ve got a sample of mine too."

The dress she made for Sheila the young bridesmaid complimented the elders with a little stole cape.

In some respects the conventions of marriage in the 1960s had not changed since the Victorian period. A wedding was still seen as an opportunity for kith and kin to renew their bonds, and the bride’s dress was a way of displaying social status. 

Rita had originally wanted a straight dress, but her mother wanted her to have a full skirt and vetoed the choice. Rita did however find a dress style that caught her eye:

"I used to buy magazines, which all girls did then, and I found it in an American magazine.… We …showed her the photograph and she said ‘I’ll make that’.  And it was very similar, and I was very pleased."

Mrs Heaton based Rita’s dress on the American design, altering the neck line, and taking into account Rita’s petite shape. Rita requested short rather than full length sleeves, even though it was a March wedding because she never felt comfortable in long sleeves.

Rita’s other request was for a large bow on the back. Heaton added this to the design, but created a slightly more restrained size.

"I always wanted a big thing on the back.  And she did one as big, you know, for my size."

Parental prerogative

Wedding protocol was that the bride’s parents paid for the wedding. As ever, those who held the purse strings held the power to make the final decision, and couples often lost control of their wedding day. As in the nineteenth century, a wedding was seen as an opportunity for kith and kin to get together and renew their bonds. Rita recalls:

"I had to do it as they said.  Invite the guests that they said."

Geoff elaborates:

"What you’ve got to remember is that in that time parents paid for your wedding.… So if they’re paying for it- ‘we’re having what we want’ - to a certain extent.  That’s how it was."

By paying for the wedding the bride’s parents often took ownership of the event, to the extent that Geoff concluded that:

"As well as it being the bride’s day, it’s the bride’s mother’s day as well."

As the day of the wedding approached the couple became more nervous, realising how much they were to be on show. In particular, Rita was to be an object of attention in her wedding dress. Rita’s mother had informed all the neighbours about her daughter’s dress and who the dressmaker was.

When the wedding car arrived on the street all the neighbours congregated by the front door to catch a look at the bride in her dress. After the wedding reception a similarly public arrangement had been made for the couple’s honeymoon departure. However, by this time Geoff and Rita were fed up with being stared at and sneaked off from the back of the house, which upset Rita’s mother.

After her return from her honeymoon, Rita had her dress cleaned and then kept it on a high cupboard for “sentimental reasons”, and would not entertain having it cut up to make a christening robe. Every twelve months when she cleans the high cupboards she tries it on. The last time she wore it was just a few weeks prior to loaning it to this exhibition.