At the request of this sweet couple, we held off on sharing their photos as we didn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone receiving their Christmas cards. We could hardly contain our excitement as we waited to blog about their very special milestone sessions. Terry and Kathy recently celebrated 50 years of marriage! Their golden anniversary made for the perfect opportunity to capture this beautiful chapter of their story!
I actually first shot photos of Terry and Kathy at a 2019 Valentine's Day event held at The Barn III in Goodfield, Illinois. As they began to look ahead to this special anniversary, they remembered me and reached out to ask if I'd commemorate their milestone with an extended family session. They wanted a large print of the whole family to put over the mantel. It was my pleasure to help get them that print!
As it's often fun to take a look back at where a story began, I wanted to share some fun details that I learned while working with this wholesome and fun-loving family. Terry and Kathy were first introduced by Terry’s best friend because they both drove Corvairs and went to the same junior college. Those commonalities likely gave them plenty to talk about on their first date as they went to see Easy Rider at the Rialto Theater in Peoria. On their first date, Terry and Kathy perhaps also talked of a hope to travel together. They now love to travel and see new things, but their top places to visit are Gulf Shores in the winter and Ireland. Since that first date, this couple has shared a lifetime of memories, but they tout the births of their two children and the births of their two grandchildren as their favorite shared memories together. And after over 50 years of marriage, the accomplishment this couple is most proud of is what amazing people with strong values their children have grown to be. Another super fun fact about this family is their tradition of singing Happy Birthday twice in a row, the second time very fast and ends with singing “without a shirt!” Adorable, right?
Early in the summer, we shot formal photos of Terry and Kathy in Washington so they would have a photo to submit to the newspaper for an anniversary announcement, and then when the whole family was in town visiting them for their actual anniversary, we went downtown Peoria for extended family photos. Their children and grandchildren were just as pleasant and enjoyable to photograph as Terry and Kathy! Cheers to this lovely couple and their family! Celebrating their past, present and future story through photography is another one of those "my job is pretty special" career moments for me.
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