Fiftieth Marriage Anniversary

On Saturday I had the honor of attending my best friend’s parent’s fiftieth marriage anniversary, it was such a beautiful ceremony that I had to devote a post to it.  It was full of sentimental touches and signs of God’s providence.  The bride wore a wedding dress because when the couple got married fifty years ago she was unable to do so.  So, her very thoughtful daughters suggested she wear a beautiful custom gown this time around.  As the couple walked hand-in-hand down the aisle she looked radiant in her very deserving white dress and tiara.  The husband looked dashing in his hazel suit.  The renewal of vows was extremely beautiful, Father gave a great homily and the grandchildren served as altar helpers.

 Their whole family walked down the aisle before the couple.

Big Smiles.

 Loved that daughters wore bridesmaid dresses.

Renewal of Vows.

The reception was no less special.  After dinner, there was a short slide show of the couple’s life together these past fifty years with short videos where the bride and the groom shared their love story.  It was so neat to hear how they fell in love, started a five-year courtship, got married and were blessed with four children.  

During the toast all their children got to say a few words, one of the daughter’s shared a reflection that made me cry.  She shared how she and her sister were so focused on planning the event that throughout the months of planning they would call each other and check to see how they were getting along with the arrangements.  Usually, one would say to the other, “We still need this, don’t forget to do that, etc.”  Then the Tuesday leading to the big day my bestie called her sister to tell her that their father was in the hospital after suffering from a fall and they were keeping him for observation since he had hit his head pretty hard.  The whole family was shaken and forgot about the anniversary party focusing on prayer.  My best friend’s sister hung up the phone and headed to her local parish, where she knelt beside the Blessed Sacrament to ask God to forgive her because in all their planning she had forgotten to invite him to the celebration.  She remained there praying until she was ready to turn it over to God, “God heal my dad, but your will not mine.”  God, of course, offered a quick recovery for their dad and the party took a new meaning one of a family with God as their head.  We all toasted to God for the multiple blessings.   

From there things moved on to the traditional first dance which was too sweet for words.

Then another beautiful moment the throwing of the bouquet and garter.  The twist only married women and married men could participate and who ever caught the bounty received well wishes for a long, happy marriage.

 A lot of good laughs!

It closed with a lot of dancing and merriment.  I left the party feeling so blessed to have shared in such a sweet moment and full of hope in God’s providence.