Happy 65th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Today's podcast and blog post go hand in hand! We're spending the day paying tribute to my parents, who celebrate 65 years of marriage today!

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Sixty-five years is a long time, isn't it? I don't know many couples who can say they've been married that long, and mostly because Ryan and I were so old when we got married, we may never get to reach that milestone ourselves. I would actually have to make it to 99 to reach 65 years with him. Hey, that's doable!!! Let's shoot for that, Ryan, mmmkay?

I've shared some of these pictures on the blog before, but in honor of their anniversary, I'm sharing them again today. I discovered a few years ago that Ryan and I had some pictures from our wedding that were similar to Mom and Dad's wedding pictures, so I made comparison collages.

Here are Mom and I as brides. I was twice as old as she was when I got married, but I like to think we both look pretty fabulous in our bridal gear. Mom carried a Bible in her wedding, and I carried a lantern in mine, though it's not pictured in this photo. I feel like our veils were fairly similar. The dresses...well...not so much, other than being white. And the backgrounds were very different, weren't they?

Walking down some very different-looking aisles. Mom and Dad were married at the church where I grew up, though at the time of their wedding, it met in a different building than it did by the time I showed up. I attended that church until I was 19, and in truth, one of the hardest parts for me about leaving was thinking about NOT getting married there. I have no complaints that I was able to get married on a sandy beach instead! Hey...there's my lantern!

I think this picture from Mom and Dad's wedding was the one that made me look for similarities to begin with, because I knew we had a similar one from our wedding. We both had evening weddings, as well, though Mom and Dad's was significantly later in the day, according to the newspaper write-up. It said their ceremony was at 8 p.m. We were married at 4:30 - a time chosen to coordinate after-wedding photos with the sunset.

If you listen to the podcast, you'll hear the jokes about how we weren't sure my Dad was actually present AT the wedding (he wasn't mentioned much in the newspaper article) but I suppose this picture proves he was there. Though Dad and Ryan now sport similar hairstyles, Dad had quite a bit of hair when he and Mom got married.

Our bridal parties! My twenty-something wedding plan intended for my party to be even bigger than the one Mom and Dad had, but when you get married far from home, you scale back pretty much everything. We loved our little wedding party and felt perfectly complete with just two couples!

Mom and her girls...and me with mine.

Dad with his guys...and Ryan with his.

I guess even an 8 p.m. wedding didn't negate a reception. And we had one too! So of course, we have cake pictures:

Pretty sure Mom and Dad didn't have a coffee flavored cake. And we both had bride/groom cake toppers, but ours was actually an acrylic silhouette cutout of the two of us.

So happy anniversary, Mom and Dad! Congratulations on making it to a milestone that very few reach! We love you!