Bunting and Bonding: Martin Parr’s Wedding Parties

2 minute read

As supermarkets sold out of baked goods and bunting—one chain sold 300 miles worth—Britains, from posh St. John’s to working class Hackney, celebrated the wedding of Wills and Kate. With some 6,000 road closings, over 800 in London alone, even the Prime Minister held a street party, serving up egg sandwiches, cupcakes, orange juice and natch, tea, in the middle of Downing Street. In Kate’s hometown of Bucklebury, residents gathered under a tent to watch TVs broadcasting the couple’s vows, while Morris Men performed folk dances, and children had their faces painted. And here in the industrial town of Walsall, Martin Parr, a Magnum photographer who has documented contemporary British life for most of his career, captured some of the 175,000 residents holding their own street party, complete with cupcakes frosted with St. George’s crosses and home made signs reading “Congratulations Will and Kate.”

The tradition of a good British knees-up in the middle of the road has been traced back to the “peace teas” held in the wake of the signing of the Versailles treaty in 1919. Ever since, the British have set up tables and cakes and enjoyed a pot-luck part with the neighbors. They’ve had street parties to mark VE Day, the Queen’s jubilees, the millennium, and of course, the wedding of Prince William’s parents.

Some revelers kept the festivities going all night long, with fireworks, ‘knights and maidens’-themed contests and dancing. Today the supermarkets must be selling out of Alka-Seltzer.

You can see more of Parr’s work showing the Brits at home in Signs of the Times; under umbrellas in Bad Weather and at play in Think of England.

—Deirdre van Dyk

Red, white and blue balloons are raise into the sky at a Hobart Drive Street Party in Walsall, England.Martin Parr—Magnum for TIME
Andrew Woollaston and Sharon Symonds at a Hobart Drive Street Party in Walsall, England.Martin Parr—Magnum for TIME
A street party on Westbourne Street in Walsall, England.Martin Parr—Magnum for TIME
A couple decorated their house in celebration of the Royal Wedding in England. Martin Parr—Magnum for TIME
Cakes on Westbourne Street in Walsall, England.Martin Parr—Magnum for TIME
An anti-royal fan enjoying a barbecue in the back country of England. Martin Parr—Magnum for TIME
Cutting a cake celebrating the Royal wedding on Clare Road in Walsall, England.Martin Parr—Magnum for TIME

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com