Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy by Lisa Larsen (1953)

Lisa Larsen (1925-1959) was one of LIFE’s poioneering female photojournalists. Born in Germany, she moved to the United States as a teenager. She started out as a picture file clerk at Black Star, but soon became a freelance photographer for many publications, including Vogue, The New York Times, Parade, Glamour, Charm, Holiday, and LIFE.

After 1948, the bulk of Larsen’s photojournalism was contract work for LIFE. In the beginning of her career at the influential magazine, she was assigned mainly entertainment and fashion stories, such as photographing the Vanderbilts, Kennedys, Bing Crosby, and the Duke of Windsor as well as the Greenbriar Hotel (source).

Bouvier and Kennedy were married on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island, in a Mass celebrated by Boston’s Archbishop Richard Cushing. The wedding was considered the social event of the season with an estimated 700 guests at the ceremony and 1,200 at the reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm. The wedding dress, now housed in the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, and the dresses of her attendants were created by designer Ann Lowe of New York City.

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, John and Jacqueline Kennedy at Their Wedding Reception, September 1953 via

Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy as a Young Couple by Orlando Suero (1954)

In January 1954, the handsome junior senator from Massachusetts and his glamorous wife moved into a three-story townhouse at 3321 Dent Place in Georgetown. Although they would live here for only five months, the house was their first home after their wedding— the society event of the decade—and a place from which they could begin to prepare for the next step in their lives, one that would take John and Jacqueline Kennedy to the White House.

In May of that year, Orlando Suero, a photographer with the Three Lions Picture Agency on his first major assignment, spent five days with the Kennedys. In more than twenty photo sessions, Suero documented a typical week in the young couple’s life. He enjoyed their full cooperation and the intimate access that would later, as Jacqueline became more anxious about her family’s privacy, be denied to all but a few.

Suero’s photographs capture the idyllic quality of the young couple’s lives during their months in Georgetown. Not yet hounded by the media, John and Jacqueline in these images seem happier and more at ease than they would ever be again (source).

Jacqueline Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy by Orlando Suero, 1954 via

Vintage Bride Wearing Pearls

Photo of vintage bride wearing a pearl necklace. One tradition says wearing pearls on your wedding day will ensure your marriage is happy and you won’t shed tears during it via

Dazzling Vintage Bride

Dazzling vintage bride posing on her wedding day via

Vintage Photos of Malt Shops Scenes (1940s-50s)

Lana Turner in”Slightly Dangerous”, 1943 via

Date at the malt shop, 1940s via

Teens gather at the counter of a local malt shop, 1947 via

Teen Couple Playing Juke Box in Malt Shop with Other Teens in Booths, 1950s via

Teenagers on a date in a malt shop, 1950s via

Vintage Photos of Ava Gardner & Frank Sinatra Wedding (1951)

Ava Gardner married Frank Sinatra on Nov. 7, 1951, at a friend’s home. Sinatra had left his wife, Nancy, for Gardner. Sinatra was blasted by gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, the Hollywood establishment, the Roman Catholic Church, and by his fans for leaving his wife for a noted femme fatale.

The marriage was turbulent, with many well-publicized fights and altercations. During their marriage Gardner became pregnant twice, but aborted both pregnancies, the reason being that MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies. Years later she said:

“We couldn’t even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?”

The couple formally announced their separation on October 29, 1953, through MGM. Gardner filed for divorce in June 1954, at a time when she was dating matador Luis Miguel Dominguín, but the divorce was not settled until 1957. It was Gardner’s third and final marriage.  She would later say in her autobiography that Sinatra was the love of her life. Sinatra continued to feel very strongly for her, and they remained friends for life. He was still dealing with her finances in 1976.

Frank and Ava at their wedding in 1951. (Photo Credit: Getty Images) via

Frank and Ava at their wedding in 1951 via

Frank and Ava at their wedding in 1951 via

 

Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding (1952)

On 21 December 1952, aged 18, Brigitte Bardot married director Roger Vadim in Paris. The couple met after the bourgeois Bardot appeared on the cover of a magazine and the director Marc Allégret, who Vadim was assisting, invited her to do a screen test. When her family forbade the teen from seeing the much older Vadim, she attempted suicide.

In the sixties, Bardot paved the way for the off-the-rack, no-fuss, leg-exposing bride. On her weddding to Vadim she wore a high-collared, bustled dress accessorized with muff and veil. According to the groom:

“Brigitte designed and chose the material for the white, handsewn wedding dress from Madame Ogive, the dressmaker on the Rue de Passy.” (source)

The couple divorced in 1957, but remained friends and collaborated in later work.

Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via

Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via

Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via

Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via

Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim’s wedding, 1952 via

Brigitte Bardot’s Wedding to Actor Jacques Charrier (1959)

On 18 June 1959 Brigitte Bardot married fellow actor Jacques Charrier, her costar in Babette Goes to War.

The wedding took place in Louveciennes, France. The bride wore a coquettish pink gingham shirtwaist by Jacques Esterel as her wedding dress. When the actual marriage was to take place photographers burst into the registry office and formally asked Brigitte for permission to photograph the ceremony. Brigitte allegedly stamped her foot and shouted ‘Non, non, non.’ Then buried her face in her hands and burst into sobs.

Bardot and Charrier divorced in 1962. They had one son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, Bardot´s only child, born in 1960. Nicolas was raised in the Charrier family and did not maintain close contact with Bardot until his adulthood.

Brigitte Bardot’s wedding to actor Jacques Charrier, Louveciennes, France, 1959 via

Brigitte Bardot’s wedding to actor Jacques Charrier, Louveciennes, France, 1959 via

Brigitte Bardot’s wedding to actor Jacques Charrier, Louveciennes, France, 1959 via