a typical Bermuda wedding, with the entire family pitching in to help prepare.

Married October 20, 1949, they were together for almost 40 years. "I was 16 when I got married and he was almost five years older than me,'' she said.

"We had dated for just about a year and we had just celebrated our 39th anniversary when he died the next month.'' Mrs. Weller said that she and her future husband first crossed paths one Good Friday, at his home in St.

George's. "He had a cousin who came to Bermuda from the States who was staying at his house,'' she said. "I got friendly with her and she invited me to their house for Good Friday. We were standing outside looking at the kites and he was inside and he looked out and saw what he later said was, `this tall girl'. "From then on, he made every excuse he could to come out to Ferry Reach. I have a brother who was the same age as he was and they played music together. So I met him that way.'' Unlike many weddings today where couples are fighting soon after the ceremony, their wedding day, remembers Mrs.

Weller, was wrought with humour. "I remember he was running around and getting things ready. He thought of everything but the wedding ring. In those days you got married on a Thursday when stores closed at half a day. He managed to get there just before closing. It was a little funny that I almost didn't have a ring. "I was very shy, and in church after the minister pronounced us man and wife and said `You may kiss your bride', he had to fight with me to get a kiss. He said I was pulling away.'' There were noted differences in the events surrounding the occasion as well, said Mrs. Weller.

"Nowadays when people get married and use a horse and carriage it's such a big thing, but in my day it was common. And we sometimes had receptions in the home rather than hiring big halls. We had the table set up in the dining room and streamers coming down from the ceiling made of twisted crepe paper and of course, we had probably a bell or a bow in the centre of the ceiling. "All of the family would get together to make all the cake and the sandwiches. We didn't have all the catering that people have today. Also, everybody then wore white although the styles haven't changed that much. We never had a lot of the loud music that they do at many of the weddings today. We may have had live bands at some of them though.'' Financial expectations and the changing role of the female in the home contribute to many of today's break-ups, said Mrs.

Weller. "It's so sad, many of the marriages today. To me, it seems so difficult nowadays. There's so much pressure on both parties. Both have to work. My husband was a good provider, he never missed a day of work and he wanted me to stay at home and look after our children and I did it and I loved it. I feel sorry for the young people today who have to go out to day care.

"But I think women of today are more career minded than they were years ago.

Women today have to do a lot to help financially and because of it, they will have their say.'' PHOTO Marie and Clifton Weller 1949