The 1988 Wedding

When I was born in 1988, I wonder if my parents thought about what my wedding day would be like, who I would end up marrying, and what I would be like when I got married. Did they picture me in a shoulder-padded wedding dress, dancing to Def Lepard? I assume they never could have dreamed up dubstep or T-Pain in their wildest dreams. Weddings in 1988 were a lot different than weddings in 2012. And now for a trip down memory lane...

 

Image via Zazzle

In 1988, this dress pattern was purchased by DIY brides who were into the whole high neck, poofy shoulder look.

 

Image via Copperton Lane

Little girls (who are now probably brides themselves!) made their Barbies marry Ken while wearing this monstrosity:

 

Image via Karen's Toys on Amazon

A popular slow dance at a wedding reception might have been "Never Tear us Apart" by INXS (according to this website):

 

And a popular fast dance? None other than Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." (Hey, some things never change!)

 

Lots of celebrities got married in 1988 (most of whom are now either divorced or has-beens or both), including Todd and Sarah Palin:

 

Image via Gawker

The Palins in the olden days. Looks like the 80s to me!

Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks also tied the knot in 1988.

 

Image via Life / Photo by Ron Galella/WireImage

Love the peplum!

And so did Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick.

 

Image via Life / Photo by Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

The median age for men to get married was around 25.5 and for women it was around 23 (I interpolated using this data from Info Please). The median age in 2010 was 28.2 and 26.1 for men and women, respectively. So I guess Mr. Unicycle and I are more in line with the 80s in that respect!

I imagine wedding cakes looked more like this:

 

Image via Weddingbee member jillfedewa in this thread

And the decor probably looked like this:

 

Image via Wedding Reception Centerpieces

What else happened in 1988? Besides shoulder pads, the aforementioned celebrity nuptials, and my birth, there's an entire list of major evens that happened in 1988! Rain Man won best picture, we had a leap year, the winter Olympics were held in Calgary, and Windows 2.1 was released, among other things.

 

Image via Wikipedia

What, no Pinterest??

Brides in 1988 couldn't read Weddingbee because it didn't exist yet. They also couldn't change their relationship status on Facebook (Mark Zuckerburg was 4 years old!) and they couldn't just email vendors to ask for price quotes and availability. How the hell did people plan weddings in the 80s??

When my parents pictured what my wedding day would someday be like, I'm guessing they didn't picture colored shoes, mismatched bridesmaids, Ke$ha, paper flowers, or me blogging about my planning for strangers to read about! 

What year were you born, and what were weddings like back then? How many of you actually remember 1988? If you have a daughter now, what do you picture her wedding day being like?