35th Wedding Anniversary Surprise Party

On June 16, 1973, my parents were married in a simple ceremony/reception in Watseka, IL. They did the entire event with $500, and my dad was too poor to afford their wedding rings (he was in medical school, my mom was in nursing school), so my mom had to buy them ($30 each). How things have changed!

This past Saturday my brother, sister, and I wanted to mark their 35th milestone by hosting a surprise party held at Rachel's house. The entire party was successful, from the event being a complete surprise, to the many other little surprises throughout the evening. Here, mom and dad pose with a chocolate wedding cake (like they originally had) that Rachel made for them. You see a bouquet of red roses like my mom carried, and, yes, that is a bottle of Boone's Farm "wine". My parents met in college at a party when my dad approached my mom and asked his famous line "Whatcha drinking?" And it happened to be Boone's Farm apple wine.

The party went outside for some games of baggos. Until Ethan decided to be a part of every game and sit on top of the board and use the bean bags to shoot baskets into the hole.

Me and the kids hanging out on the swing.

My sister has collected stuffed animals in the past and this big duck has always been a favorite of Ethan and Olivia's.

Our dinner was reminiscent of my parent's rehearsal dinner. They had "bear burgers", chips, beer, and homemade vanilla ice cream. We decided to copy the rehearsal dinner food rather than the wedding food due to the fact that neither my mom nor dad can remember what they ate at their wedding. If anyone who was there 35 years ago can remember be sure to pass that along to my parents! Rachel and Thomas brought their original menu a bit more up to speed with burgers, grilled corn, roasted potatoes, homemade vanilla ice cream, and the chocolate wedding cake. Here is Olivia enjoying the meal.

Of course we made them cut the cake in the traditional style! And no, they did not smash the cake into each other's mouth. Other surprises for them included a painting purchased in the Iowa City artisan's gallery by an independent artist and Luke singing an original song that he composed for the event titled "Whatcha Drinkin' Renee?". I videotaped this event, but I didn't think that anyone would really want to watch a 5 minute video!