A Wedding Celebration

This is a nice photo postcard of a wedding dinner. The guests are in the middle of the meal. Their plates are full and one man can be seen passing a dish of food to another.

Besides being an interesting photo, taken from an unusual perspective, I like it because it was not raining and the family was able set up two longs tables in the yard for family and friends to celebrate the young couple’s marriage.

They would not be able to do that this year in this part of the country. If you are reading this and are not from these parts, we have had more rain this summer than I can ever remember. It is nearly impossible to hold any event out of doors around here this summer.

Undated wedding dinner photo postcard from the Germann collection.

Undated photo postcard from the Germann Collection.

The above postcard is from a group of photos that belonged to Viola and Edna Germann, so there was likely a Germann and/or Schumm connection, but I do not know who the couple was or when the photo was taken. There was nothing written on the back of the postcard, but it probably dates after 1907 because it has a divided back. There is a car in the photo, which could also help date it.

The bride and groom are seated at the right end of the lower table and the bride is wearing a rather distinctive veil. There were other wedding photos in the photo collection, but none that match this veil.

It appears the photo was not long enough for the postcard since there is a blank area on the right side. There is writing on the right edge of the photo, a reverse image that looks like it was written on a negative. I flipped the photo and was able to read the words “Wambsganss” and “group 30.”

Was it a Wambsganss wedding? Could be. There were a couple photos in the collection labeled “Wambsganss Brother’s Cousins.” I am not sure what they meant by that but there is a Wambsganss/Germann connection.

According to various vital records on FamilySearch.org, George P. Wambsganss married Elizabeth Germann around 1864. It appears George was a German immigrant, a teacher who lived and taught in Van Wert County about 1863. He evidently met and married into the Germann family during that time. This might be the marriage photo of one of their grandchildren.

There is also something written on what appears to be the leg of a windmill and looks to be some dimensions.

The Germann sisters had relatives in Long Beach, California, and the photo may have been taken there. Or it may have been taken in Van Wert County on a nice summer day. It looks more like an Ohio farm to me.

The photographer probably took the photo from a second story window or from a roof-top, creating quite a nice view of the wedding guests.

At any rate, it looks like they had a grand wedding feast.

Maybe someone will recognize this couple and will be able to identify them.

2 comments

    • Carol Schumm Piper on July 14, 2015 at 12:01 pm
    • Reply

    Hi Karen,

    I don’t know about date and model of the car, but the bride’s veil and some of the younger mens haircuts with hair on top and shaved at the side (undercut?) look very much like early 1920’s. Very interesting pic. I look forward to your posts each Tuesday!

    Carol Schumm Piper

    1. Thanks for the observations. I think you are probably correct. Hopefully someone will recognize the couple. It would be nice to know. Thanks for reading!

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