Story: Marriage and partnering

Leaping into marriage

Leaping into marriage

Gwendolyn Bayley and David Brown got married within three weeks of deciding to do so. Gwendolyn wore her great-grandmother’s nightie, and David wore jeans and sandals. The bridesmaid wore a muslin dress made from her bedspread. In 1973 this degree of informality was still unusual enough to prompt a photo in the newspaper of the couple leaping off a wall in their wedding outfits.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PAColl-7327)
Reference: EP-Social Customs-Marriage-01

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Megan Cook, 'Marriage and partnering - Loosening rules, expanding choices: partnering from the late 1960s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/30786/leaping-into-marriage (accessed 18 April 2024)

Story by Megan Cook, published 5 May 2011, updated 1 May 2017