09 March 2010 – Correction! This couple was mis-identified. It is not the Tiernan-Zawodny wedding. It is the wedding of Joseph Bergmeister and Helen Pardus. For more info on why the identification was wrong, see Why Photographs Should Come with ID Tags.
This month’s Smile for the Camera carnival theme is “Wedding Belles”! Last June for the “Belles and Beaus” theme I submitted a family wedding photo that featured the marriage of my grandmother’s sister – and included my grandmother as the maid of honor. For this year’s wedding theme, I have another great wedding photo that features their sister and her husband!
John Tiernan and Helen Zawodna, 1923
Helen, the second oldest of the Zawodny children, was the first to get married in 1923. The wedding took place in Philadelphia, PA, most likely at St. Adalbert’s Church. Helen was 17 years old and her husband, John Tiernan, was 22. They would only have one child together, a son they named Thomas after John’s father. Sadly, young Tommy died as a child.
I would like to continue to post photographs of the weddings of all six children of Joseph and Laura Zawodny, but this and the previously posted photo are the only ones I have (I do not even have my own grandparents’ wedding photo). One that I am trying to get from cousins would make an interesting companion to the above photo. In 1934, another Tiernan-Zawodny wedding took place. This time it was Stanley Zawodny, Helen’s younger brother, and Elizabeth Tiernan, John’s younger sister. Stay tuned to see if I can get a copy!
[Written for the 14th Edition of Smile for the Camera: Wedding Belles]
What's Past is Prologue 
I’ll definitely look forward to your being able to get a copy of Stanley and Elizabeth’s wedding photograph. I’m afraid none of my ancestors had such elegant wedding attire. Thank you for sharing this with us, Donna.
I am struck by her headpiece! I have never seen one like it before. Thanks for posting this photo.