Wedding cake

Date

• March 23, 1942

Summary

• In this photograph taken March 23, 1942, newly married Dorothy Derry Laing and Ensign Edward L. Bruce are seated at a dining table in the Hotel Manitowoc, with a small two-tier wedding cake on the table in front of them. The bride wears a corsage on her suit jacket; the groom wears his Navy uniform. In what was termed the “first Naval wedding in Manitowoc,” the couple had been married earlier in the day at First Presbyterian Church, and were holding their wedding dinner at the hotel. Both were from Seattle, Washington. Ensign Bruce had been stationed in Manitowoc for about a month, working in the submarine building program at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company. This wedding took place shortly before sugar rationing was implemented in May, 1942. Thereafter, throughout the rest of World War II, brides faced the challenge of accumulating enough sugar ration coupons to make their wedding cakes. This picture was published in the April, 1942 issue of Keel Block, the employee newsletter of the Manitowoc Company.