Queen Victoria's wedding influenced many Perth County brides

Queen Victoria’s legacy includes much more than a holiday weekend every May in honour of her birthday. For example, her choice in 1840 to wear a creamy white wedding dress embellished with lace and orange blossom continues to influence what many people think of as the typical outfit for a young bride. Her Majesty wasn’t the first royal bride to opt for a white dress, but her fashion choices were widely reported in the press and influenced international trends for years to come. Seen here in a portrait from the collections at the Stratford-Perth Archives, Olive Magwood, the daughter of then-Perth County sheriff Thomas Magwood, is “becomingly gowned in ivory satin with veil and orange blossoms” for her 1917 wedding to Harry Griffith.

More than 60 years after the Queen’s wedding to Prince Albert, the Mitchell Advocate of June 21, 1923, included this description of a local couple’s ceremony and celebration: “A very pretty and stylish lawn wedding was celebrated on June 13 at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John T. Ward of Logan, when their third daughter, Mary Ellen, was united in the holy bonds of matrimony to Mr. Norman David Harvey, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Harvey of West Monkton. The bride........

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