Weddings today v. yesterday

The Little Brown Church
is little, brown

These days, being married is less common, but getting married is usually a massive to-do. There may be some causal connection.

To get a sense of how things have changed, consider one wedding that took place not far from where I grew up. I would sometimes walk past a church called, aptly, the Little Brown Church. It's made out of wood, has virtually no decor, and is extremely little. It's belltower is about 13 feet tall. Seating capacity might be 60 people. It's the least pretentious church imaginable.

Where are the other 14 people?

Yet, it was the site of a 1952 wedding that turned out to be of historic importance. Ronald Reagan married starlet Nancy Davis in the Little Brown Church on March 4, 1952.

The best man was Sunset Boulevard star William Holden and the matron of honor was Holden's wife Ardis.

You call that a wedding cake?

A small reception followed at the Holdens' house in Toluca Lake. The bridal couple then went to the fanciest hotel in Riverside, CA, then on to Phoenix to visit Nancy's parents on their honeymoon.

It was Ron's second marriage, but Nancy's first.

It's hard to imagine anything like this today.