On its face, marriage seems like a simple proposition. A couple meets, falls in love, decides to spend the rest of their lives together, and plans a ceremony to make their choice official.
And broad societal changes aren’t the only things that have impacted marriage over the past 100 years. Trends in weddings themselves have reflected technological changes and advancements as they have happened, with photographs replacing portraits, camcorders supplanting photographs, and Instagram—and its accompanying wedding hashtags—making it all visible and archived on the internet.
After World War I, formal weddings became increasingly popular. And those without social secretaries to manage the details of these increasingly-elaborate affairs began turning to a new type of organizer to handle everything from the flowers to the food—the wedding planner.
After two banner American literary weddings, the British royal family took the title for wedding of the year in 1922. The most important nuptials that year were those between Princess Mary of England and Lord Henry Lascelles.
Another mid-century icon tied the knot the following year, when Marilyn Monroe (then Norma Jean Baker) married her 21-year-old neighbor James Dougherty. Monroe was just 16; Dougherty was a Los Angeles police officer.