Industry News


Vintage Love: A New Show of Century-Old Nuptial Cabinet Cards Opens in New York City

June 29, 2017

By Stacey Goldberg

While some of the core values of marriage—love, trust, loyalty—are as true today as they were nearly a century ago, the look and feel of the wedding celebrations that commemorate these values have changed drastically. In “I DO, I DO,” an exhibition on view from June 29 to September 9 at Ricco/Maresca Gallery in New York City, a collection of 100 vintage nuptial cabinet cards ranging from 1885 to 1900 showcase just how far wedding style and photography have evolved over the last century.

The cabinet cards, all produced by studios in Wisconsin, “exist forever frozen on the threshold between the private stories they conceal and the rigid conventions of the genre,” writes the gallery in a statement.

Not only has camera technology enabled photographers to advance the craft over time, but cultural shifts have enabled brides and grooms to more freely celebrate their true selves and styles, too.

Needless to say, modern wedding imagery wouldn’t be quite as radically different without the work of fearless photographers and camera manufacturers who are willing to push boundaries and break the norms; and we’re sure that this trend will continue. We can only imagine how wedding imagery a century from now will look…

(Scroll down to see 20 of the of 100 featured cabinet cards, and click on each one to see them individually in higher resolution.)

All photos courtesy Ricco Maresca Gallery