50th Anniversary Surprise

My parents 50th wedding anniversary was this past weekend. My sisters, my Dad and I all planned a surprise party for my Mom in honor of the occasion. All of the family came to town, and assembled in their house on Saturday morning to yell "Surprise!" when my parents came home from their usual weekend grocery shopping routine. After the initial surprise and tearful greetings, we told my mom we were bringing in their pastor for a marriage vow renewal ceremony and my Dad asked her to "marry him again". We sent them upstairs to get all dressed up for the ceremony, and then they came back down for some family sharing time during which my Dad read my mom a special poem. Then we had the ceremony, followed by cake and champagne. The rest of the afternoon was filled with all of their friends and loved-ones coming by the house to wish them well. It was a crazy, exciting and wonderful day!

A slideshow of the key events of the day is below. Click on the button at the bottom of the slideshow that says View All Images to view the pictures one at a time, and in a larger format. . .