The J. Stewart wedding party, circa 1903
(The Fred Hullstrand/F.A. Pazandak Collection, Library of Congress)
Many of us still have among the family treasures an ancestral wedding portrait, a single photo of a solemn couple in a studio, often with dropcloth backgrounds or classical-looking plaster props. The expressions in these photos are straightforward and sober; was it because they had to sit uncomfortably long for the camera? Or because marriages were often arranged and couples were miserable, even on their wedding day?
Surprisingly, no. Our great-grands were actually being fashionable.
So how did we evolve from this solitary and stern formal photo as the only pictoral record of a wedding day to the thousands of digital documentations present-day couples require, and why do we look so much happier?
Here's the theory:
A century ago there was nothing like the full photographic wedding coverage we're used to today. The invention of portable handheld cameras changed all that, and (according to this article on saying "cheese" from MentalFloss.com) it also changed whether or not we crack a smile when someone points a camera at us.
By the 1920s one could crack a demure wedding-day smile.
(Robert Runyon Photo Collection, Lib. Congress)
Unsmiling Victorian couples didn't look that way because they weren't happy to be married; it's because the aesthetic of early photography mimicked that of classical portraiture where only children, drunks, and laborers were depicted smiling. Respectable adults of social standing wanted to look artistic and well, respectable.
In addition, standards of beauty at that time dictated a petite and controlled-looking mouth, so one London photographer would prompt his sitters to "say prunes" in order to achieve this look.
This all began to change around 1900 when Kodak introduced its $1 portable Brownie camera. For the first time photography was possible beyond the sphere of wealth, and cameras could easily be used outside a studio setting. Kodak ad campaigns depicted smiling people having fun posing for and taking pictures with their affordable new cameras, and this--coupled with Kodak's huge success in the photography marketplace--helped normalize the smile as a photographic must.
Advances in dentistry also reduced inhibitions about flashing the pearly whites--not always so straight or pearly before our age of modern orthodontia and cleaning techniques.
So when you're taking photos with your family and friends on your wedding day, don't worry if someone pulls a stern face; maybe they're a traditionalist who doesn't agree with our modern notion that photography is fun, or perhaps they have a dental defect they'd rather hide.
If saying "cheese" doesn't cause them to smile, try tickling the culprit and telling them that a puckered-up mouth is one that's begging to be kissed (though this might backfire and inspire certain sourpusses to "say prunes" for the rest of the evening.)
Until next time: may you always have reason to smile, and a sweet and long life to you all (now please look at the camera and say, "matrimoneeeeeeee…")
National Wedding and Marriage Examiner Elizabeth Oakes welcomes your feedback at weddingexaminer@gmail.com; please share this story or subscribe by clicking on the Tweet This! button at the top of this column or the "Share This!" button below, or read more of Elizabeth's stories by clicking here.
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Comments
Very interesting. In old photographs, in general, the subjects always looks serious. I've heard that Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest gets her name from the practice of saying "prunes and prisms" for an attractive (by 19th century standards) mouth.
Ah, I thought I knew everything about that play, yet I didn't know that Miss Prism was named for Victorian tight mouth exercises! Thank you for the enlightening tidbit; I'm sure Lady Bracknell would approve.
Boy, y'all are so learned! Here's my little piece i just learned. That eeeee sound, in cheese and pizza? There's something in the sound that relaxes us. And when we smile we think we're happy, so we smile more. So even those fake I can't believe I'm smiling bridal smiles help brides and grooms have a better day. Go figure! We can thank Olivia Judson for that bit of info! (and actually that ew sound in prunes makes you more agitated... and look, oh so very bored...)
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