You never know where you are going until you know where you’ve been. When so much of our future depends on our past, it’s important to pay tribute to that past. I grew up in a home surrounded by old family pictures, constantly reminding me of the source of my nose and the reason for my brother’s smile. Something has always warmed my heart about keeping your relatives alive in pictures. I want to make sure to pay special attention to these people on our wedding day by displaying their pictures at our reception.
This weekend, when visiting my parents, I had the opportunity to begin collecting pictures for our display. I am really lucky that my parents (aka my Mom) have kept so many pictures in such great condition. I cannot even begin to fathom how far these pictures have travelled and how many homes in which they have been displayed. I was lucky enough to be able to go back 5 generations. How amazing is that?
I scanned all the pictures, saved them to a flash drive and printed out copies on my parents’ photo printer (thanks Mom and Dad!). Unfortunately, I left the flash drive at my parents’ house so I only have pictures of pictures to show you (we’re pretty fancy here at Mr. and Ms. Adams). I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures but you get the idea 
Let’s start out with my Mom’s side of the family. Up first, my beautiful grandparents. My grandfather looks like such a stud in this picture.
My grandparents just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this summer. I can’t even begin to imagine how well you get to know someone after 60 years. I only hope Mr. A and I are that lucky.
Up next are my grandmother’s parents, so my great grandparents.
Then, I found a total treasure, a picture of my great great grandparents. They are the parents of the woman above. This picture is from 1888 and it even has the original frame with it. I can’t believe that something this old has remain relatively intact. Just goes to show what you can maintain if you keep things with love.
I also got really lucky with my grandfather’s side of the family. While I couldn’t find a wedding picture of his parents, I did find a portrait of them.
I could not find any pictures of their parents but I did find a picture of my great grandmother’s (the women pictured above) maternal grandparents.
I also found a picture of my great grandfather’s paternal grandparents. Oddly enough, this relative looks like a relative on my grandmother’s side. I joked with my Mom that her family was meant to be all along
All in all, I was really successful with my Mom’s side of the family. My grandparents have been studious and steadfast in maintaining our family’s history and relics. Everything that they pass down has a history and a story. And knowing them, I’m sure my other relatives (cough::Karen::cough) have more pictures that I could use.
My Dad’s side, on the other hand, ends pretty quickly. They are pretty much the opposite in terms of keeping records and old family pictures. Despite this, I can still go back 4 generations on their side.
First up, our my Dad’s parents. I love this picture. The colors are beautiful and vibrant and my grandfather’s face is so adorable. This picture is especially meaningful because I was never able to meet this grandfather. He passed away when my Dad was a child and very few pictures remain of him.
While I love the picture above, I think this next one is my all time favorite. It’s a picture of my grandmother’s mother and father, affectionately known as Mom Mom and Pop Pop. Both of them have played a huge role in my life, including babysitting me when I was a baby. Mom Mom still talks about the days when she and I would take walks around the block only to be greeted by Pop Pop sitting by the door waiting for us. Pop Pop died shortly thereafter, which breaks my heart. I am lucky enough though to still have Mom Mom. She turned 100 this year and has lived to see her great great grandchildren be born. But I’ll stop blabbering on and on about them, obviously this picture means much more to me than I can ever capture with words.
The last picture I could find from my father’s side is my great grandmother’s parents. I’m totally shocked that this picture survived because my great great grandmother passed away when my great grandmother was a child. This is literally the only picture that I’ve ever seen from my great grandmother’s side and I’m so glad I found it.
And just in case my Mom thought she was off the hook, I have to embarrass her with pictures from her wedding day (love you Mom!). My parents got married in a church and held their punch and cake reception in the church’s nursery school room. Just goes to show you, it doesn’t take a fancy wedding to produce a long lasting marriage.
I also found a picture of my parents on their wedding day with my father actually smiling. If you know him, you know that’s quite a rare occurrence. It might be one of three pictures that I can think of where he is smiling.
This concludes my trip down memory lane. I’m really happy with how far back I was able to find pictures. In total, these pictures cover over 130 years. All I can say is wow. I hope I will be as successful in finding pictures on Mr. A’s side but he told me not to hold my breath. I have a feeling that our display is going to be a little lopsided
Do you plan on displaying family pictures at your wedding?
Follow our newlywed journey through love, laughter and happily ever after. I'm Mr. Adam's best friend, a wedding fanatic, a health food nut, a yoga fiend, an arts & crafts-ers, a DIY-er, a wannabe world traveller, a pinterest addict and a Jesus lover. I hope you enjoy our wedding/newlywed/travel/food/healthy living/crafting adventures.
A-mazing post! I love love love this post… it made me a little teary-eyed.
We are definitely planning on displaying family pictures at our wedding. We are getting married on the beach and you have to walk under these trees in order to get to the ceremony site, so if the weather permits, we home to hang framed pictures from the trees…. to create a literal memory lane!
@ Miss JD- Thanks so much for the sweet words. I absolutely adore your idea. It's going to be amazing. I can't wait to see it!