Earling – Bright Vintage Wedding

Marion Earling weds Edgar J. Bright, May 8,1954

Manny, [Marion] and Pepper [Edgar] Bright met in college – she was in school in New York and her beau at the time, not Pepper, was on the Yale tennis team. Yale seems to be a recurring theme in this story: Manny’s dad and Pepper and his dad all had gone to Yale.

Manny went to watch a tennis match between the Yale and Columbia teams. Both her beau and Pepper were on the team and when she saw Pepper, it was all over! He was much cuter with his handsome face, shock of red hair, great personality, his Emmett Paré forehand and a dagger tattooed on the inside of his ankle. [He wore socks to bed every night when he was home so his Mother wouldn’t see it!] They met when they were 18 and the wedding took place five years later. Pepper went to the Korean War and Manny worked in New York until he returned.

They were married in Milwaukee, Wis., so all of the New Orleans group came up on the Panama Limited. The rehearsal dinner was at the University Club and Mrs. Bright surprised everyone with boxwood topiaries accented with gardenias and Louisiana strawberries, that she brought on the train. Each table had a touch of the South.

The wedding reception was held at the Milwaukee Country Club and Mrs. Earling continued the Southern theme by having magnolias flown in. Guests danced to a Dixie Land Jazz band and all of the bridesmaids had gardenias in the hair. Manny’s dress was lace and very southern. After singing and dancing the night away, the couple was off to their honeymoon in Chicago where they stayed at the Ambassador West Hotel. Manny and Pepper have been married for 55 years!

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