Mom + Dad = Beach Anniversary Session!

Emerald Isle Anniversary Session  |  Darla + Ron  |  July 5, 2020

This Anniversary Session is EXTRA EXTRA special for so many reasons – the first one being that it’s of my CUTE PARENTS!!!! This is also the FIRST TIME I’ve photographed a little “session” of my parents – (they always just want family photos and never ask for photos of the two of them!) One more reason why this is so special is because we’re celebrating their 40 YEAR Anniversary!!!! 🙂

My mom and dad’s actual 40th Anniversary isn’t until September 7th – but my parents had originally booked us all (our first!) cruise to Bermuda over July 4th as their celebration instead of having a party! Sadly, due to COVID-19 our cruise was canceled, so we all packed up and went to the beach instead! (Thanks A & B for letting us stay in your beautiful home!!!)

My sisters and I decided to SURPRISE mom and dad with both a Family Session and also an Anniversary Session while at the beach to celebrate. We went shopping to find mom dresses, and raided their closets to pack their clothes without them knowing!!! 🙂

We surprised our parents with the session – and let’s just say that one of them (mom) was MUCH more excited to get photos taken of just the two of them than the other one was (*cough cough* DAD) Hahaha!!! Thankfully a cool shrimping boat was going by, so I promised him a photo of it if he posed well for me HA!!!! 🙂

Thankfully we had an absolutely perfect night on the beach – no crazy wind, mild summer temperatures, a beautiful sky, the water LOOKED like we were in Bermuda, and for the DAY after July 4th celebrations – there was barely anyone out on the beach!!!! How cool is that?

Ya’ll – my poor dad was dreading these photos so much that he got ready 2 HOURS EARLY and just walked around the beach house waiting on the 4 of us girls to do makeup, hair, and pack up hahaha. He asked me if we were going to just take “one photo” of him and be done? (Sorry Daddy!) But once we finally got onto the beach, daddy was a great sport (for the 10 minutes he let me pose him HAHA) and I even got some REAL smiles out of him!!!! I was really proud of him!!!

Mom on the other hand was LOVING ITTTT and was the absolute cutest!!! She was posing like a pro, and even coming up with poses to do all on her own! We even had an outfit change for her when it was time to do family photos to switch things up!

I’m so grateful that my adorable parents were good sports to let me capture what FORTY YEARS of marriage can look like. 🙂

I know those 40 years were NOT always easy (my dad is a head basketball coach and was always on the road, my mom stayed home and homeschooled 3 girls, they lived states away from ANY family their whole marriage, my dad went through cancer, they’ve gone through the grief of being caretakers and losing all 4 of their parents and other family members, they raised 3 crazy daughters on 1 income – they have literally been through it all.) But they’d both attribute their marriage to their mutual faith in God getting them through these really hard times (and the really good times!) together.

I’m so blessed to have this legacy of marriage – and the example they’ve set for my own marriage to Phillip! Thanks mom and dad for sticking out the hard times no matter what. We love you both so much!!!!

I hope you enjoy my favorite photos from their (early) 40th Anniversary Session below!  P.S. ya’ll be sure to tell my Daddy that he did a great job – especially since I took more than “one photo!” hahaha