Artist: Constantin Alajalov; Title: Breakfast in Bed; Date: June 3, 1961; Copyright: 1961 SEPS. All Rights Reserved.;

In Honor of June Brides

Oh my. There seems to be a conflicting view of married life already, and we’re only at the altar. In artist Constantin Alajalov’s June 1961 cover, the dreamy groom is visualizing a blissful married life, complete with breakfast in bed. Isn’t that the way marriage is? But it seems the lovely bride has visions of sugarplums served in bed as well, as no doubt he promised. We’re guessing reality is not far away for this charming couple.

In the montage Story of Love, also by Alajalov, there is the whole, well … story of love. We see “Miss Efficiency,” as the editors dubbed her, hard at work at her desk. Ah, but you never know what’s around the corner. In scene two, she is introduced to Mr. Right himself, then we see several dates and a wedding by scene six. Then a honeymoon, joyous bounce over the threshold, followed by Miss Efficiency, er, excuse us, Mrs. E., back at her desk again.

Philip Boileau, Post cover artist in the early 1900s, showed us a lovely (or a bit haughty) bride on the June 12, 1909, cover, and we’ve highlighted charming brides over the years, particularly striking examples being W. Haskell Coffin’s bride of September 25, 1926, and Ellen Pyle’s fetching bride with bouquet aloft on the October 13, 1928, cover. Do not fear that all was grace and charm in the early Post covers, dear reader. Artist Albert W. Hampson’s June 5, 1937, cover shows a bride kissing the best man … and a groom looking none too happy about it. We certainly hope there isn’t trouble in that paradise.

But we’re rather fond of the wedding realism of the 1950s. John Falter’s Backyard Wedding of June 24, 1950, is delightful, and Earl Mayan’s 1956 cover of “before and after” shows a wedding rehearsal in striking contrast to the actual event. In the top frame, well, we don’t want to say “what a bunch of slackers,” but we have a couple of yawns, a lady applying makeup, and a flower girl playing with a yo-yo (these days it would probably be a hand-held video game). But out of jeans, T-shirts, and without crossed arms and other expressions of “when is this going to be over?” the wedding party cleans up real good, as they say. We’re happy the wedding turns out beautifully—our hope for all June brides.

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June 20, 2009