Margaret B. “Peggy”
Wesp’s Wedding Plan – June 20, 1970
As I was
going through stuff from the attic in my house, I have encountered many
treasures: professionally framed oil paintings by my maternal grandmother that
she created after she retired to Mesa, AZ and perfected her craft; photographs
of long-gone relatives of Connie’s throughout the decades; and, a scrapbook
that Connie began to build on or shortly after the day we first met. More about that last later in another
installment.
First, I want
to share the prize that I found today in the form of a yellow pad, a number of
envelopes, and, within those envelopes, receipts for nearly everything
associated with our wedding reception! That’s right, my mother-in-law (or my
wife) never tossed out the minutiae that chronicled that precious day in our
lives!
So, I’m
going to share with you what I found (and never knew before today, 47 years
after the event!)
The Kingston
Volunteer Fire Company provided their hall. I did not find a bill so I would
have suspected that, since Connie’s mother, Peggy Wesp and her maternal
grandmother, Catherine Brabson, were members of the Ladies Auxiliary, there would
not have been a charge for the use of the hall.
However, the budget lists $40.00 for the Firehouse and $15 for the use
of the kitchen.
Joseph
Scasserra of 1096 Ottawa St., North Brunswick, NJ 08902 provided the following:
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128 Dinners @ $4.60 per person
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$588.80
|
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Rental of tablecloths & napkins
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$20.00
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Paper Cups for punch
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$3.00
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Rental of punch bowls
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$5.00
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ICE (via Mr. Teague of Princeton)
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$10.00
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TOTAL
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$626.80
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Cake
Specialties of 161 Throop Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ provided the all-white
wedding cake. Their part was $106.25 – the cake cost $65.00 with an added
charge of $5.25 for the vanilla custard filling. They also delivered $36.00
worth of cookies (no amount specified). The hand-written budget mentions “Santisi’s
Cake Shop.”
Ken Smith
Studio was our photographer. He hailed from Hendrickson Drive in Princeton
Junction, NJ 08850 and his fee included the price of the service plus:
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Wedding Album
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$215.00
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One 8X10 in a folder
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$10.00
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Four 4X5 prints in Folders
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$14.00
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One Parents Album
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$29.50
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Subtotal
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$268.50
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Sales Tax
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$13.43
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Gross Amount
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$281.93
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Less deposits paid
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$150.00
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Amount due
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$131.93
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There are
receipts for two $75.00 deposits paid before and after the wedding itself. A
hand-written note on the itemized list above reads, “Paid. Ken Smith. Thank You”
No wedding
would be complete without a florist and this one was no exception. Flowers by
Evelyn, at 117 West Ward Street, Hightstown, N.J., lists the following items
(without dollar signs):
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Bride’s Bouquet
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15.00
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3 attendants 12.00 @
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36.00
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Bride’s mother carn. & roses
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3.50
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Groom’s mother carn
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2.50
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2 Grandmothers carn. & soc
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5.00
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6 carn. Bouts.
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3.00
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Altar flowers
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20.00
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White carpet
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15.00
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13 centerpieces 2.50 @
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32.50
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4 white candles
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1.00
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133.50
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Tax
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6.68
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140.18
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The most
impressive document is the “Contract Blank” from the American Federation of
Musicians of the United States and Canada. My father-in-law, Phil Wesp, was a
union carpenter all his adult life, so one would expect him to honor the union
tradition and hire only union musicians!
This “Band or Group” called the “Johnny Ray Orchestra” belonged to Local
Number 204. The location and the date are listed, as well as the following notation:
“Music to start at 6 PM to 10 PM.” The “WAGE
AGREED UPON $” (yes, it’s all in upper case letters on an otherwise mixed case
document) is $135.00.
Another
piece of yellow pad lists the amount for the Music by Johnny Ray as $175.00. Apparently,
the Wesp’s final budget did not allow for an extra hour, which would have cost
an additional $40!
Did I
mention that the envelope with the contract bears a common error? It’s addressed to Mr. Phillip West, rather than Wesp! The smiling left
profile of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, embossed on a 6 cent United States postage
stamp helped the misprinted envelope find its way from 3142 Highway 27, Kendall
Park, New Jersey 08824 down the road a couple of miles to Laurel Avenue in Kingston.
Other items
on the budget sheet, in Peggy’s perfect Palmer Method script list $35.00 to St.
Paul’s Church (which I suspect was the honorarium for the priest), Wine @
$17.00, Liquor @ $130.00, Anne Tocco (for playing organ) $25.00, and a brief
memo to “ask Armand for glasses.” The bartender budget was $20 for the 4 hours
of the reception.
Additionally,
there are reminders to get “Pretzels, Pot. Chips, Drips (sic), Crackers.” All
this was to be delivered to the firehouse by 12:30 PM on Saturday, June 20,
1970.
Peggy and
her daughter were inveterate list-makers.
Their list also included the invitations, stamps and place cards,
although no amounts are evident. I found about 30 place cards but kept only a
few as “souvenirs” since I don’t remember ever seeing them before!
The menu was
quite nice, on paper, although my recollection of the actual meal is pretty
sketchy. If it didn’t show up in the wedding album, I’m probably not likely to
recall much about the details of the day!
I can’t remember whether I had anything to drink which might lead to
memory loss, or if I just don’t remember because it was a long time ago.
Whatever.
Here’s what’s on the yellow pad:
- ·
Fresh Fruit w/Sherbert (sic)
- ·
Tossed salad w/French Dressing
- ·
Roast Beef
- ·
Baked Potato Mashed Pot (yes, the original
starch was scratched out and replaced)
- ·
French style Green Beans w/almonds
- ·
Vanilla Ice Cream
- ·
Wedding Cake
- ·
Coffee
- ·
Rolls & Butter
- ·
Celery, Olives & Radishes
Apparently,
they changed the guest list and knocked off 5 people because the menu caps out
at “123 Dinners” vs. the 128 above. Or perhaps 5 more were added after this
list was written. We’ll never know!
Recapping,
the total cost of our shindig (not including any incidentals that are not
detailed here) works out to be about $1,572.16. For 128 guests, that works out
to a seemingly frugal $12.28 per person!
Just for
kicks, I looked up the US Inflation Calculator website to see what $12.28
corresponds to in 2017 dollars. (
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com)
is the site. That same dozen dollars
would require an expenditure of a reasonable $77.39 – because, according to their
algorithm, the cumulative rate of inflation since then works out to be about
530.2%!
