Did anybody get married in 1981?

[marinerkk2]

It's my parents Ruby Wedding coming up and would like to get some photos/things together from when they got married in 1981. Did anybody else get married that year? Apart from Charles and Diana... Can you remember what you had on your gift list for example or what food you had at the reception? Just to help them have a trip down memory Lane. I know they still have the dinner service they were given on their wedding day 😀

Food, can you still get volauvents? I remember trying to fill them on the morning of my wedding, hand was shaking so much it was a bit messy! Cheese and pickle onion or pineapple stuck in a half grapefruit covered in foil. Also cocktail sausages on sticks. Dishes of crisps, salted peanuts etc
Sandwiches were tinned tuna or salmon if posh, cucumber, ham, meat paste, corned beef, cheese. Ritz crackers with various toppings. Mini sausage rolls.
Always black forest gateau, trifle, blancmange in a rabbit mould, arctic roll and Swiss roll. Battenburg cake.

@MsDastardley

I first got married in 1981. Can’t remember what we had at reception, but I think there nay have been Black Forest gateaux!

This www.google.com/search?q=marks+and+spencer+dinner+set+1980&rlz=1C9BKJA_enGB866GB866&oq=marks+and+spencer+dinner+set+1980&aqs=chrome..69i57.22589j1j7&hl=en-GB&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=kNb5kvBBLim2LM design from Marks and Spencer was very popular. I had a fondue set too, probably only used once.

I had some sort of flick going on with my hair, I think everyone did whatever the length.

There weren’t that many places to eat out. Berni Inn was ver popular!

I was working on a market stall in 1981 that sold M&S seconds and all the linen of that design were very popular

I got married in 1979, so a little before. For our wedding meal we had melon for starters, ham salad for the main meal and apple pie for dessert. Our toast was pomagne!

I still use some of wedding presents. We had a brown washing up bowl that I now use in the garden when weeding. We had a lot of pyrex dishes which have contained many shepherd's pies and still live on. We had kitchen and bathroom scales and lots of towels and sheets - we really were grateful for any gifts. A lot of smoked glass.
Everything was brown!

Shit - merrily reading this and just realised that my parents are also due their ruby wedding anniversary this august!!!

My youngest uncle married in 1981 and I know they had prawn cocktail as a starter

My sister got married today, 23 May, in 1981. I remember her having a salad spinner as one of her presents. I gave her a bread board (I was 11 and a bridesmaid in a dress she made out of Laura Ashley curtain material). And lots of her presents were Denby china. She had a T shirt with "what wedding?" on it, because it was the year C and D were married.

@CormoranStrike

I think everyone had Eternal Beau as their wedding china, or was that later in the decade?

I just came on to say this...I got married in 1982 and had already started my Eternal Beau collection...got the rest as wedding gifts 🥰 I still think of it fondly 🤣

To totally derail the thread. My bedroom was external beau ....

Food for my reception was -

Starter: Prawn cocktail (I thought this was DEAD DEAD posh 🤣🤣)

Main: Chicken wrapped in bacon...which caused something of a stir in the style of Peter Kay's "Garlic Bread! Garlic...and Bread???"

Pudding: Choice of apple pie and custard or Black Forest Gateaux (apple pie won most votes!)

We had an evening 'buffet' which as you can imagine was very 'traditional'...right down to a cheese and pineapple hedgehog 🤣 I loved it!

Reminding me of my wedding presents with the brown theme.

Our bathroom suite was Kashmir beige and we got brown pedestal mats and brown towel bales.

Also got a set of Vision pans which were brown glass (see through) - bugger to clean.

Also got an Eternal Beau dinner set, table cloth, place mats, tea set, napkins and napkin rings.

Four carriage clocks from Argos (identical), Ali baba laundry basket and step ladders.

Oh and a dark brown macrame plant hanger thing - it was my favourite present.

We had mushroom soup starter. Roast beef main. Black Forest desert.

Finger buffet (Kashmir beige) for the night do and a crap DJ Who was stuck in the 50s/60s.

@PickAChew Thanks so much for that link to the Argos catalogues. Just spent ages browsing through them. Can't believe a telly cost £289 in 1981!

This is brilliant! I'm pretty sure a family member has an eternal beau set knocking about so that would be good!
We're doing a bbq but wanted to do a little retro section, prawn cocktail and cheese & pickled onions on sticks are brilliant.
I thought if I could maybe print out some pictures of traditional gifts- towels, ashtrays, toasters etc it would be a bit of a talking point for the guests too. I think she has some slides from the morning of the wedding so going to try and print them out or put them on a cd for her.

@CormoranStrike

I think everyone had Eternal Beau as their wedding china, or was that later in the decade?

I got married in 2980 and still have my eternal beau crockery... 😂

Don't forget the Vienetta!

@CormoranStrike

I think everyone had Eternal Beau as their wedding china, or was that later in the decade?

That was about 85/86

Instead of online wedding lists I remember people passing round a little book with the gift list written on it by hand. You tore out the gift you were going to buy and then passed the list on to the next guest

I was very keen on weddings as a child in 1981 - party dresses and cake

Coffee percolator and Teasmade spring to mind!

I got married in 1981. We had lots of Pyrex dishes, towels and a set of Kitchen Devil knives that are still going strong.

Not sure if you can still get them but I seem to remember Hedgehog flavour crisps being a thing...and Hofmeister lager ( thanks to the bear in the famous ads). Asti Spumante was the Prosecco of the 80s, I think too....sorry my memory is crap!

If anyone fancies dropping up their Eternal Beau collection there is an antique shop in Magdalen Street in Norwich with stacks of it on rows and rows of shelves!

I remember loving it (I was about 13) and thinking that I'd definitely have that when I got married like my mum's younger friend not my mum's boring Wedgewood. Now I love both of my mum's 70s Wedgewood sets.

My aunt and uncle did. 40 years today actually

We always had pomagne not sure show to spell it. But I think it was fizzy pear juice maybe a little bit of alcohol?

We had asti spumante too that felt really elegant and grown up!

As it was the era before mobiles,you could take photos of the day on old style instant cameras ( the disposable ones are readily available still). Then give them an album of all the developed photos as a keepsake.

We got married in 1980. Like PP a random coffee jug and matching cups as well as bramble pattern dinner service, and serving dishes etc (cream and brown), smoked water jug and glasses. A heated Salton tray, which we still use for Chinese takeaways and an electric carving knife , a couple of salad spinners, the 2nd one gave up the ghost last year, we also had 2 carpet sweepers.. I gave one to my brother and I might have the other somewhere.
Can't remember what we had at the reception.