Successful marriages don’t just happen overnight . They require constant work and attention, and renewed commitment toward your partner each and every single day.
This is a fact that married couple Nancy and Melvin Lubbers know all too well, having recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary .
The Lubbers’ granddaughter/professional photographer Anna Behning decided to commemorate the milestone with a photoshoot — with her grandmother wearing the same dress she wore more than 70 years ago .
Photographer Anna Behning understands the importance of preserving memories.
Anna’s goal is to help couples preserve the romantic and adventurous moments in life. The Minnesota-based artist understands that her job isn’t just to take pictures, but rather help to preserve memories .
Recently, Anna was paying a visit to her beloved grandparents, Melvin and Nancy Lubbers.
Earlier in the year, Melvin and Nancy celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary . Anna brought her trusty camera along for the trip and decided to inquire whether or not her grandmother still had her old wedding dress.
“Grandpa then went searching through their tubs in the garage to dig out the dress,” Anna explained in an interview with PetaPixel.
It took a while, but after enough time spent scouring the garage, Melvin returned to his wife and granddaughter with the dress in hand.
“I asked Grandma if she would model it for us and to my surprise, she agreed!” Anna said.
After seeing how well the dress still fit, Anna’s mother decided to go back into the house and retrieve Melvin’s old army outfit.
With both Nancy and Melvin suited up, Anna whipped out her camera and decided it was time for an impromptu photo shoot.
“I think grandma especially loved the photos ,” Anna recalled. “Grandpa wasn’t as thrilled to smile for the camera.”
Despite her grandfather’s stoicism, Anna said that the photos are a gift her family will cherish forever.
Anna is quick to point out just how much her grandparents sacrificed for her, and that her photos were but a small token of the love and gratitude she has for them.
“I posed grandpa and grandma through this shoot,” Anna added. “But some of the photos were more candid and expressed their genuine love for each other!”
Photos such as this one reveal how much these two truly love one another, even after spending more than 70 years together.
As soon as the photoshoot was finished, Nancy couldn’t wait to share the pictures with her friends and family.
Melvin, on the other hand, was a little less eager. According to Anna, his “ only comment was that he looks old !”
Self-deprecation aside, Melvin was thrilled to see his wife wearing her dress once again.
“Oh boy, that brought back memories – they were good memories ,” he said with a glint of emotion welling up in the corner of his eye.
Nancy still remembers purchasing her dress from Jarold’s Shop in Mitchell, South Dakota — all the way back in 1952.
As incredible as it sounds, Nancy’s dress at the time cost only $35 and her veil was an additional $15.
Before heading home, Anna asked her grandma what compelled her to hang onto the wedding dress all this time?
Without missing a beat, Nancy said ” It was something special and I liked it really well, so I just preserved it.”
Nancy and Melvin were then asked to give their best marital advice for young couples, and each had something valuable to bestow.
” Forget and forgive and make the best of your life situations,” Nancy stated. Her grandfather, surprisingly enough, had a bit more to say on the subject.
“You won’t always agree,” Melvin resoundingly told his granddaughter.
“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 – don’t bring it back up .”
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It’s this kind of sage advice that helped Nancy and Melvin to raise five children of their own.
The couple also has 12 grandchildren, as well as 21 great-grandchildren. The family reunions and holidays must be an all-out madhouse!
But through it all, in good times and in bad, Melvin and Nancy remain committed and positively in love with one another.
Melvin and Nancy are an inspiration. May the love that they’ve fostered together continue to grow and evolve for another 70 years.
