Food Historian Sarah Wassberg will discuss food and its relation to wedding traditions. In her talk, she will illustrate how American weddings went from families in the parlor to today’s lavish dinners with dancing.

Topics covered include wedding cakes and the peculiar tradition of souvenir cake, at-home wedding breakfasts and standing receptions, especially the preponderance of sweetbreads on wedding menus prior to 1950, and the post-war professionalization of the wedding industry.