With the month of May upon us, wedding season has officially arrived in Upstate New York. It seems only fitting, then, that we take a look at several wedding photos recently found in our Richard M. Bloomer Glass Plate Negative Collection.
Having worked as a wedding photographer myself, I'm accustomed to contemporary brides and grooms smiling a bit more than the Davises and Schiavonis did. Nevertheless, there's no denying the fact that all of these folks have impeccable style. Everyone is wonderfully attired in these shots, and Mr. Bloomer's photos still look stunning more than a century after he took them.
According to newspaper records, Fortunato Schiavoni and Ida Giovanni (both of Hudson Falls) tied the knot at St. Mary's Church on July 6, 1919. Teresa Schiavoni and Ralph Leon acted as bridesmaid and best man, and the newlyweds headed to New York City for a two-week honeymoon at the Belmont Hotel. Afterward, they returned to Hudson Falls and took up residence in the McLaughlin Block.
50 years later, the Schiavonis once again made the paper—this time as they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Seeing that article side by side with their original wedding portraits is pretty special.
On a humorous side note, I personally like to think that everyone pictured above would have thoroughly enjoyed cutting a rug to Marc Ronson and Bruno Mars' 2015 wedding reception anthem, "Uptown Funk." Time and again, I've seen even the most staid wedding attendee hit the dance floor with complete abandon when a DJ spins that song. Something tells me that not even 96 years could change that!
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