Wedding 1973
Super 8mm film Colour Mute 29.04.1973 3:20
Summary: Wedding of Lyn and Richard Brookes
Title number: 19432
LSA ID: LSA/25810
Description: A table setting (rather blurred) establishes the situation - it is Richard and Lyn's wedding reception. The guests are already in the room when the bride and groom's parents arrive. The toastmaster in his red coat, white tie and white gloves walks in. He taps his gavel above his head to attract everyone's attention, as the bride and groom, in their wedding finery, smilingly enter the room. They pose with the family group and then sit with them at the top table in front of a large mirror on the wall. Everyone else is now sitting too, at tables decked with white flowers and candles, the men all wearing kippahs (Jewish skullcaps). A man blesses and cuts the challah bread. The bride and groom raise their glasses to the camera, then everyone stands and raises their glasses for a toast.
A young man standing behind the bride and groom reads into a microphone, then everyone stands again for another toast. Various other men stand behind the couple and read or talk into the microphone. Everyone smiles and looks pleased. Finally the bride's father makes his speech. Now the bride and groom take to the dance floor. They are joined first by their parents and then by other guests for some rather sedate ballroom dancing. Dimly, a small girl in a pink dress seems to be bopping away with a few other children (barely visible) at the edge of the dancefloor.
The film moves to the grounds of the Chateau de Fontainebleau in France. We see a line of trees, the gardens and lake around the palace, and the C18th Gros Pavilion buildings.
Credits: Richard Brookes
Cast: Lyn and Richard Brookes, their family and friends.
Further information: A home movie from Redbridge residents, Richard and Lyn Brookes. Richard and Lyn married in the US in 1971, but when they moved back to England two years later they married again in Ilford so their families could attend the wedding.
Beehive Lane Synagogue, founded in 1936, moved to its current site over 40 years ago, presumably not long before this wedding took place. The synagogue has what its website describes as a '1960s cathedral style' community building.
Kippahs are the the traditional Jewish skullcap, worn as a sign of respect.
Challah bread is a form of Jewish braided bread, eaten on the Sabbath and on special occasions.
Keywords: Weddings; Synagogues; Jewish; Palaces; Party; dancing; Park; Fontainebleu
In galleries: Love and Marriage
Locations: United Kingdom; England; Essex; Ilford; France; Paris; Fontainebleu
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