The Wedding Cake (Digital Woodcut)

Last week I posted a black and white version of this photo of my parents at their wedding reception (April 4, 1943). My cousin David gave me an 8 x 10 version of this photo in September when I was visiting New York City. I wanted to add color, but decided to talk to my aunt first to see if she what she could tell me about my mother's outfit. My aunt confirmed that this was my mom's "going-away outfit" and that my mom had changed from the pink dress she wore to the ceremony. I learned that the suit would have been a neutral color (gray or beige) due to war time constraints. My aunt wasn't sure of the color of the blouse, but thought it was a red color. I had been thinking of going with teal blue for the blouse, but after talking to my aunt, I decided on darker pink or plum, and a gray suit with a blue cast. (Of course, when I added posterizing and woodcut effects, the colors changed anyway.) Then the problem was to integrate the color scheme with my dad's uniform. I tried to use the 1940s print of the curtains to pull some of the colors together, and to create a bit of continuity between both parts of the background. It took several tries to come up with a solution, but I am happy with this one. The color scheme reminds me of the wall paper and drapes in my childhood home. (My aunt confirmed that both the ceremony and reception took place at the Vail Hotel in Pueblo, Colorado, and there were only 40 guests.) I really enjoyed spending time thinking about my mom and dad and their wedding and talking to my Aunt Edy about it.