Wedding on a Shoestring

The date was set, 5th July 1941 at St Clement's Church, Oxford. My friend Marjorie would be my bridesmaid and another friend would play the organ. By this time clothes coupons were in very short supply so I borrowed an evening gown from Marjorie and bought some matching material to make a jacket to go with it -- no bare shoulders at weddings in those days -- and another friend loaned me her veil. Marjorie's father, a confectioner, made a lovely two tier wedding cake, but he had no icing sugar, so it was chocolate coated, and it was decorated with little white ornaments, from my mother's wedding cake. A lovely wedding with all my friends and relations and a buffet reception at the Liberal Club in Crown Street. I remeber masses of sweet peas everywhere which had been grown for me by some of the compositors at the Oxford University Press where I worked. It was time for us to leave for the honeymoon in my smart new suit for which I had used my precious clothing coupons. Petrol was in very short supply but my brother-in-law, John, had a little and took us as far as Sandford-on-Thames where we left him and got a service bus to Dorchester-on-Thames, where we were to spend four days honeymoon. We arived safely, complete with a small joint of meat (the hotel couldn't claim rations for us because we were staying for less than a week). It was a lovely break and we really explored Dorchester and the area, in sunny weather, which was just as well because we hadn't an umbrella or raincoat between us. At the end of our stay we were happy to return to Oxford, by bus, to start work on our new home.

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