These Couple Photos Are as Lovely as They Are Awkward

Going for the Gold

We start to wonder if there is some sort of competition for couples to take the most awkward photos possible. If so, this one must have taken home the gold because boy howdy. This is the sort of thing that gets discovered fifty years after the fact, and then it’s either hidden deep in a box in the attic, or it’s proudly displayed for all to see.

Holidazed

Getting your pic taken while wearing an ugly Christmas sweater is becoming a fun little tradition for many people. A way to cast off the aspersions and forget that you have to look perfect all the time. This couple has quite the outfit prepped for their fun holiday picture, and the lens flares add another dimension.

Trained Him Early

This picture is a classic, all the way from 1965. A young couple had been spending some time on the beach, and once they were finished, the guy took the time to clean off his gal’s shoes. The look she’s giving the camera tells us that she’s fully aware she’s picked the right man – not everybody will be so caring.

We’re Not Going to Apologize

We’re told that this photo comes to us from the early sixties, though the outfits look like they belong square in the previous decade. However, the expressions and attitudes are universal. A couple is macking on the deck of a ferry, totally oblivious to the fact that they might be disturbing the other passengers.

Everybody Knows Red Hair Is Fake

This is the kind of picture that looks…well, we aren’t going to say it isn’t awkward because it clearly has that look to it, but it’s the kind of thing that is SUPPOSED to be awkward. The dead stares, the uncomfortable cat, the kitschy sweaters, the uncomfortable hairdos…it all stacks up to this being a staged, awkward photo. Which is fine!

We Are Royalty of the Forest

Here we can see Italian actress and TV presenter Sandra Mondaini in a stunning white dress with her leg lifted up – she’s helped by her husband, fellow Italian TV host Raimondo Vianello. He is wearing a wig for some reason. This pic is from 1974, at which time the couple hosted the TV variety show “Tanta Scuse.”

Staring Into the Cameraman’s Soul

We’re going to guess that this picture is the real deal – it wasn’t staged or played up for fun; it was just a true and proper picture that a young couple wanted to take to remember their relationship. And you know, it’s not really that bad.

They’ve Seen It All

This picture comes to us from the fifties or sixties, and given the ages of the couple, it’s likely that these two have gone through quite a number of tumultuous events. The Great Depression is almost a given, though they might have been young when it began.

Go on, Guess the Decade

Why yes, it was the seventies – how did you possibly know? It’s true. This happy couple comes from the grooviest decade when styles were big, colors were brown, and glasses covered the entire face. This pic is of German actor Thomas Astan and his girlfriend, in the garden, enjoying a little bit of sunshine as they laugh.

Getting Their Groove On

If you were a married couple during the seventies, you got your boogie on. That was just what you did. In fact, you got your boogie even if you weren’t a married couple. That’s just the kind of decade it was. These two are long past their courting days, but it looks like they’re having plenty of fun getting down on the dance floor despite that.

Taking Us Back

You might see this elderly couple and think they’re from the sixties, fifties, or even forties, but the truth is they’re from now-ish. Around this time. This couple decided to wear some of the classics as they took a stroll along a Beirut waterside in Lebanon.

Bringing Back the Awkward

It seems there’s a trend going around that has couples trying to get the most awkward photos possible. This one is from some time during 2021, which means they try as hard as they can to be cool while also being awkward – and that just makes it seem even more awkward.

Headed to the Rodeo

The time? The nineteen seventies. The place? Nebraska. These two hip cats are on their way to the social event of the season – the rodeo. We’re sure you can tell from the fancy duds that are part of their getup.

Hard to Place

We don’t have a date for this one, but it doesn’t jump out at us as being from any specific decade. Maybe the sixties? Maybe the seventies? It’s possible that this isn’t from a retro period – it could be a staged photo that is just used as something to evoke those awkward times.

The Whole Package

They have the white picket fence, the big flower bushes, and the smiles. These two are living the American dream, and they’re even managing to do it in California during the fifties. While the lady looks like she’s a classic fifties housewife, the guy could be from modern-day California, except instead of being married with a house, he’s living with three other tech workers in a two-bedroom apartment that costs $5500 a month.

We’re Getting All Mixed Up

This hip and happening couple is ready to hit the sock hop or the soda fountain with their friends in a jalopy, and…wait, what? Is it actually a picture from the eighties at a fifties-themed costume party? Well, that’s just confusing.

Something We’ve All Seen Before

When a couple goes on vacation, they don’t always have to have tons of events planned out. Sometimes they can just sit and enjoy the sun. During a holiday in Blackpool, this couple is stretched out in the fresh air.

Throwing Us Off the Trail

You might think that this photo is from deep in the seventies, and you’d almost be right. According to our sources, this image was taken all the way back in…2012. They got a couple of models dressed up to look like they were from that storied time in the twentieth century, and they did pretty well.

Old Love

We’re told this picture was taken on the thirty-first of December, 2049, but we’re going to guess that’s a mistake. It’s likely exactly a hundred years older than that, even if the outfits in the photo look like they could be even older. Maybe they’re getting dressed up the way they did when they were young, or they were bringing back the old styles.

Not Your Average Wedding

Most photos of weddings have the groom in a nice suit, the bride in a brilliant white dress, and the rest of the wedding party arrayed around them. This isn’t the case here, with a photo that shows us a couple from the seventies posing right before or after their nuptials.

At the Top of the World

Climbing is never an easy feat. If you have to get stuff like crampons – the metal spikes that are on their boots – to reach the top of a mountain, you know you have a challenge on your hands.

Wrapped and Ready for Christmas

We all love to put on some goofy holiday sweaters for a party and take some pics, but this one is a little more awkward than normal. The two halves both have their mandatory ugly holiday attire on, and they’re posing with some puckers that look a little too put-on to be real.

Taking Cover

Somewhere in the Czech Republic, during some time in the seventies, this picture was taken of a couple of lovebirds who were just looking for a little privacy while they locked lips. We assume that’s what they’re doing, anyway. That is a huge guitar. How are you even supposed to play something like that? With two people? That makes sense.

Could We Try Another Angle?

A little bit of awkward family photography works for everybody, but we do think this one could have used a professional touch. Taking it from a different angle so that the gal wasn’t hiding most of the guy is a first step. There’s also the angle of the woman’s head looking over her shoulder. It’s just not the best framing, that’s all.

We Think These Two Are Famous

We’re not sure if we’re able to correctly call any picture that has Kim Kardashian in it awkward. Weird, annoying, or heavily edited, yes, but awkward? The jury is still out. Here she is trying to reach her famous lips up to her then-husband Kris Humphries, who was married to her for a grand total of 72 days before Kim filed for divorce.

Scary, but for a Different Reason

This picture comes to us from the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in New York City during the nineteen eighties, and while these two might not have scary costumes, we’re still a little put-off. They might just be mugging for the camera, but we’d still be reluctant to approach these two if we saw them on the street.

Not Where You Normally Grab

Some guys feel awkward holding onto a girl. We get it – you don’t want to get anybody angry. We do wonder what the thought process was behind this particular handhold, however. Maybe the guy was just trying to be funny because he knew there was a camera taking a picture from the back, maybe this was something for an ad shoot, or maybe she just likes having her hair held.

A Mirror in the Middle

No, you aren’t seeing double – you’re seeing identical twins Mike and Jamie Major, who are in a picture with their respective girlfriends at the time, Julie and Clare Wyatt, who are also identical twins. The picture is from 1989, and while we’ve done some research, we can’t say for certain if either of these relationships went the distance.

Are We Sure This Isn’t from “Stranger Things”?

While we don’t think this is Max Mayfield and Lucas Sinclair, it looks like this couple has made their best impression of that young couple. Prom photos from the eighties – or photos that are supposed to look like that – are a treasure trove of awkward moments.

That’s Not Where You Kiss

We might not have a degree in kissing – not yet anyway – but we’re pretty sure that’s not how that works. In fact, the space under the nose isn’t even a part of the body. Maybe a part of a personal bubble, which can still be intimate, but okay.

All Smiles

A British couple starts their lives together in a dapper gray suit and a classic white wedding dress, and the bride is giving the biggest grin of her life to the camera as the groom hauls her off to the honeymoon suite. This comes to us from the eighties, and while the new missus is there to say goodbye to the crowd and to thank them for celebrating, hubby clearly has some other things on his mind.