Friends, I am so honored to share this story with you today! My darling great aunt and uncle have been married for SEVENTY years. Seventy years!!! Their local newspaper, in Chesapeake, Virginia, wrote a touching, beautiful article about their story and their anniversary (August 5), and I would love for you to read more details here. Mag and Don, my great aunt and uncle, are two of the sweetest, most loving, most generous, and fun people I know, and I am so grateful to know them! Reading this article opened my eyes up to some specifics and details of their love story that I did not already know, and it’s so touching and deeply inspiring to read. At the ages of 92 and 91, and after being married to each other for seventy years, Mag and Don have a wealth of knowledge about building a truly successful foundation for marriage, how to get through the difficult times, what matters most, and what they love most about one another. They are so wise! I love that Aunt Mag said “Our marriage has lasted because we wanted it to last.”

One of the reasons I love working in the wedding industry so much is not simply because of the wedding day. It’s because of THIS. It’s because I believe in true, long-lasting love and inspiring love stories. A wedding is a beautiful day, but a marriage is forever. A strong marriage builds a strong foundation for family, and a strong marriage can be life-changing. I want to help my brides plan their wedding so that they can enjoy the season of their engagement and intentionally plan for their marriage. It’s not easy work, but it’s so incredibly special and worth it. I wholeheartedly believe in committing yourselves to each other day in and day out, and the result can change lives. Love is so worth it, and I can only pray to have a marriage as beautiful and strong as this one day!

Thanks, Aunt Mag & Uncle Don, for sharing your incredible, inspiring, beautiful love story! I sure do love y’all.

PS: I have to brag, because it’s so amazing: My darling grandma & grandpa (Don’s brother and sister-in-law) have surpassed sixty years of marriage themselves!! And my other grandparents are just about to hit sixty years! I am so thankful for all of these family members to look up to.