Somewhere along the seven decades that they spent together, the couple learned the secret to a long and happy marriage.
Nancy Lubbers, 87, first met her husband, 91-year-old Melvin, at a skating rink, when she was just 16. That, for them, was the start of something new. Melvin soon proposed to her in a ballpark, and since then, there was no looking back for the couple.
Now, the couple who have just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, has five children, 12 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and almost a lifetime of memories to look back on.
To mark the special occasion, the teenage sweethearts decided to conduct a swoon-worthy photoshoot featuring the bride in her original wedding dress, according to PEOPLE.
The beautiful photoshoot took place in the family garden, and to make the occasion even more special, the pictures were captured by their youngest granddaughter, Anna, who works as a professional wedding photographer.
"My grandparents only have a couple of photos from their wedding day," Anna told Caters, according to PEOPLE. "I came up with the idea to take photos of Grandma in her dress and then my mom, Melissa, found Grandpa's Korean War Army suit for him to wear."
Nancy originally purchased her dress for about $35 and her veil for $15. When asked how she felt about getting to don her wedding dress once again, Nancy said, "It really was an honor that I could still get in it."
"My dress was something special and I loved it, so I just preserved it and kept it all these years," she added. "It felt really good to wear it again and we had fun reminiscing about our wedding day and the photo shoot was a lot of fun."
"Oh boy, that certainly brought back some good memories," Melvin said of seeing his wife in the gown again. Even though Melvin keeps joking about how he got his loving wife a ring from a gumball machine, the truth is that the two of them were capable of paying for their own wedding, including a reception in the basement of the church, where they celebrated with ice cream and cake for dessert.
Soon after they became man and wife, Melvin was forced to go fight the Korean War as a tank commander for eight months, which meant that the two of them had to bid farewell sooner than expected and forgo their honeymoon.
Once back, Nancy worked in a grocery store and Melvin worked as a salesman and maintained a hobby farm. They also expanded and took care of their family in the meantime.
And somewhere along the seven decades that they spent together, the couple learned the secret to a long and happy marriage.
"You won't always agree, sometimes you have a disagreement, but when you have one of those you sit down and talk about it and come up with an answer — and once it's resolved, don't bring it back up," Melvin shared. "Always respect each other even when you don't agree," Nancy added. "Just make the best of your life."
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Cover Image Source: Instagram | Anna | MinnesotaPhotographer (@anna.behning)
