Married Ted Hughes at St George's, Bloomsbury

On June 16, 1956, in the quiet town of Bloomsbury, London, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes were married in a small yet significant ceremony. Their union, a fusion of two brilliant poetic minds, would go on to shape the literary landscape in profound ways. Yet on this day, away from the grandeur of their future fame and the storms that would later define their marriage, they stood together in an intimate moment of promise and passion. The wedding took place at St. George the Martyr Church, a modest and historic Anglican church in London. It was a quiet affair, arranged hastily and in secret, as Plath’s mother, Aurelia, was the only family member in attendance. The reason for the secrecy was practical—Plath, an American, needed to marry Hughes to extend her student visa at Cambridge. But beyond bureaucratic necessities, the ceremony itself was deeply personal, reflecting the intense and private world they had created together. Plath wore a pink knitted dress, simple yet elegant, while Hughes stood beside her in his best suit. The choice of a small wedding contrasted with the passionate and almost mythic way they had fallen in love. Just four months earlier, their first meeting had been electric—Plath famously bit Hughes on the cheek during their first encounter at a party. Their love was immediate, fiery, and all-consuming, and now, on this rainy June day, they made their vows in the dim glow of the church’s interior. The ceremony was brief, and as they stepped out of the church, the London sky wept with rain—a poetic blessing or an omen, depending on how one chooses to see it. In her diary, Plath later wrote about the intensity of their connection, how she felt they were two poets bound together in destiny. After the wedding, they celebrated with a small gathering, the simplicity of the day belying the grandeur of what they both aspired to achieve in literature. Plath’s mother, Aurelia, though supportive, harbored quiet concerns. She admired Hughes' brilliance but worried about the emotional toll their passionate relationship might take on her daughter. For Plath, however, this was a moment of triumph—she had found her equal, a man who matched her intellectual and poetic fervor, someone who would challenge and inspire her in ways no one else had.