Reports of weddings usually appeared in local newspapers, along with a list of the presents received, including those the bride and bridegroom had given to each other.
Most brides had been engaged for two or three years and had built up quite a sizeable 'bottom drawer' containing all the items for the new home.
Gifts from aunts and uncles, friends and workmates were usually luxury items connected with entertaining which most people did in those days.
One wedding list published in the Reporter in 1937, included a solid silver tea set, solid silver cake dish, dinner waggon, bon-bon dishes, tea knives, breakfast set and tray, silver fish servers, solid silver tray, silver soup spoons, china tea service, canteen of cutlery, tea cloth and serviettes, fruit set, afternoon tea-table, cake basket, cut glass butter dish and knife and crystal water jug.
Couples nearly always married people from their own town or village, usually from the same school, workplace or youth club. Many met at church, or the local dance hall, or simply while walking around the local park, or having an ice cream in Caddy's Ice Cream Parlour, or walking on the 'prom', as it was called in those days.
Most of the receptions were held in church halls or the Park Mansion or in the bride's home with the catering being done by family and friends.
Wedding reports in old Reporter newspapers give a fascinating insight into how people lived, and show the important role local newspapers played in letting people know what was happening to friends and neighbours.
Many couples had lived up the same street and grown up together and after their marriage they went back to live in the same street, almost next door to their parents.
In the Reporter for September 1937, Mr Thomas Hargreaves and Miss Kathleen Marsden, who both lived in Victoria Street, Batley Carr - were married and after their wedding, they went back to live there.
They had a nuptial Mass at St Joseph's Church, Batley Carr, conducted by Dean McMenamin, and the wedding reception was held at the home of the bride.
The bridegroom worked at Taylor's Mill in Batley, and the bride, who was in service with Mr Oswald Jones, of the Reporter, wore a gown of white satin trimmed with orange blossom.
Miss A Marsden, sister of the bride, was in mauve satin with hat to tone, and Miss B Shepley, a small bridesmaid, wore an ankle-length dress of pink silk with headdress to match.
The bridegroom's gift to the bride was a pearl necklet and an ornamental brooch, and her present to him was a pair of cuff-links. The bridesmaids were presented with necklets as mementoes of the occasion.
AT THE wedding the same week of Miss Wreatha Whiteoak, of Garden Road, Ravensthorpe, there were six bridesmaids in mauve, pale green and white, and a page-boy in white.
Miss Whiteoak had also married someone living nearby called Albert Boothroyd, from neighbouring Garden Terrace, and the couple both worked at Jas Smith's, dry cleaners, Ravensthorpe.
The bride was a charming picture in an ankle-length gown of white satin and a veil surmounted by a coronet of orange blossom.
The wedding took place at St Saviour's Church, Ravensthorpe, and the 70 guests attended a reception in Ravensthorpe Parochial Hall.
Numerous presents were received, including an oak clock and linen basket from the directors of Jas Smith's, and an overmantel and a pair of chromium plated candlesticks from the employees.
THE same week a couple who had met while taking part in amateur dramatics with the Dewsbury Technical
College Operatic Society, were married.
They were Mr John Martindale, of Gregory Springs, Mirfield, and Miss Jessie Hewitson, of Crossland Moor.
The ceremony was conducted by the Vicar of St Mark's Church, Dewsbury, the Rev C A Maughan, and the bride wore a white satin gown, cut on mediaeval lines with full skirt and high fitting waistline. She had four bridesmaids and a page-boy who were all dressed in blue.
After the reception, the couple left for a honeymoon in the Lake District, the bride travelling in a blue linen two piece suit with a navy dyed camel hair coat, capella calf handbag and shoes, blue hat and gloves.
The bridegroom's present to the bride was a capella calf handbag and fitted dressing case, and she gave him something more practical - a trouser press.
THE same week two Dewsbury Wool Queens were married - one at Dewsbury Parish Church, and the other at the Church of Christ, Liversedge.
Dewsbury Parish Church was full and there were crowds outside for the wedding of Doris Smith, who was Wool Queen in1935, and James Arthur Hey, of Hebble Street, Ravensthorpe.
Miss Smith, who was a cashier at the Pioneer Cinema, had also held the title of Miss Yorkshire in 1936.
Mr Hey, a joiner and contractor, was a member of Dewsbury Amateur Swimming Club and a life saving instructor as well as a member of the swimming club's squadron and polo teams.
The bride wore a gown of pink crepe trimmed with pink and rucked satin and carried pink carnations, and after a reception at Hagenbach's Cafe, the couple left for a honeymoon at Morecambe.
The bride travelled in a crushed strawberry coloured suit, and wore a gold bracelet, the gift of the bridegroom, and among the many presents they received were a case of cutlery from Mr Horace Masterman, manager of the Pioneer Cinema, and a pair of chromium vases from the Pioneer staff.
Telegrams of congratulations were received from the mayors of Scarborough, Bridlington, Harrogate and Morecambe.
THE second Dewsbury Wool Queen to be married that day, was Miss Betty Stead, who was married to Mr John Fletcher Wiggins, an international varsity swimmer from London.
The bride, who lived in Liversedge, wore a gown of heavy white Duchess mousseline satin, cut on classical lines with a train, and her four small bridesmaids were dressed in old-world gowns of spotted taffeta with net caps trimmed with rosebuds. She carried a double sheaf of lilies, white heather and purple gladioli.
The couple spent their honeymoon in the Isle of Wight and the bride travelled in a heath blue tweed two piece suit.
THE same day Miss Dorothy Johnson, of Sunnybank Road, Mirfield, was married to Mr Alfred Windle, of Wellhouse Avenue, Mirfield, at Christ Church, Battyeford..
The bride wore a silver and pique cloque dress with train, and silver rope girdle. Her veil of Brussels lace, had been loaned by an aunt in New York, and she carried an ivory prayer book with a spray of flowers. She also wore a diamante clip, a gift of the bridegroom.
Her three bridesmaids were dressed in pink, and a little page-boy wore a mauve satin suit with pink shoes.
Following a reception at the bride's house, the couple left for a honeymoon at Bridllington, the bride travelling in a two-piece costume of blue and fawn tweed with hat and shoes to tone.
The bridegroom's present to the bride was a cheque and a python skin handbag, and she gave him a wireless set.
The bride, who was formerly employed at Jas Smith's Ltd, was presented with an eiderdown from staff, and the bridegroom, who worked for the Yorkshire Post, was presented with a canteen of cutlery.