Mihail Mihaylov and Matilda Mihaylova with relatives

This is a photo of my parents. I suppose it was taken in Sliven before 1923. At that time my sisters and I were not born yet. My father Mihail Mihaylov is in the first row the first from the right, my mother, Matilda Mihaylova, nee Kohen, is behind him. In the first row on the left is a relative of my father, I think a cousin of his, and behind him is his wife. My mother finished high school in Sofia. She always dressed fashionably. Her family was modern and could afford to dress well. My parents' wedding was arranged: my father's sister, Klara, who was married in Sofia, introduced my parents to each other. My father and grandfather needed modern machines to improve the production at their factory, and my grandfather decided that my father should marry a woman with dowry. So they introduced my mother to my father. My mother had another suitor in Sofia, but his family wanted too big a dowry. My parents liked each other; besides they were both very good-looking. Their wedding was in Sliven, probably in 1922. My mother went to live in my father's house in Sliven. After they married, they needed money in order to renovate the factory, which my grandfather passed to my father. My mother's dowry was very welcome: they used it to buy many modern and bigger machines to make socks, which increased the production. Around 60 people worked in the factory. This was how our family earned their living before World War II.