A couple re-created their wedding album exactly 50 years later – at the same church in the same DRESS.
Carolyn and Kelly Gay, 70 and 76, got married in March 1971 with a white wedding at their local church.
To celebrate their golden anniversary the couple returned to DSM First Church in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, to recreate their pics, exactly 50 years later to the day.
The church had the same alter, cross and candelabras as was present at their first ceremony so many years before, so the photos were a perfect match.
Grandmother-of-four Carolyn spent three years growing out her hair for the shoot and was even able to wear the same dress she wore in her 20s.
But Kelly, who works in safety solutions, chose a similar but different suit.
The new photos were taken by Sam Hoyle from Two Hoyles Photography – who even managed to edit in her late father, Rolland Strain, walking her down the aisle
Carolyn from Cumming, Iowa, said: “I sit here and look at the pictures and I see a lot of wrinkles.
“Sam has very good equipment because it shows every line in my face!
“I was pretty sure I was within five pounds of my weight as to what I weighed back when I was marred, so I thought ‘I think I can get in that dress!’
“I sent out invitations for our bridal party, to my kids and my grandkids, before I even tried the dress on!
“It took about an hour to an hour-and-a-half, to take the new pictures and it was just a fun time.
“It was so much fun to recreate them.
“They’ve even had the church painted a couple of times since but not long ago they scraped it back and taken it back to the original colour.
“It’s amazing as it was the same colour as 50 years ago.”
As part of the shoot they dug out receipts from the original big day and rediscovered the entire thing – including honeymoon and feeding nearly 200 guests – came to around $340 (£247).
For the big day on on March 12 1971, her dress cost $46.35, with an extra $8.24 for alterations, while catering for 193 guests totaled $63.82.
Flowers – the biggest expense – came to $131.84, while their four night honeymoon to New Orleans came in at $91.20, with $0.36 for gas.
Retired estate agent Carolyn was inspired to set up the shoot for the anniversary after finally getting the chance to grow out her hair, and it took place on March 12 2021.
A lifetime of medical procedures and anaesthetics had damaged her hair, she said, meaning she would frequently cut it off.
She also suffered with breast cancer.
She said: “On our second anniversary I had surgery to remove an ovary so I cut my hair after that, and the following August I had my first child so I had to cut my hair again then.
“I have one wedding picture I really, really loved when they took it from in the balcony overlooking all the people that came, and you can see a picture of Jesus overlooking the wedding.
“I wanted so badly to recreate that picture in particular.
The overlaid image took weeks to produce after the wedding, because it was a novel photography technique, but this time the photographer “whipped it out in no time!”
For an image of Carolyn’s hand wearing the wedding ring she tucked her thumb underneath, as she remembered having a broken nail in the original photo she had hidden.
Carolyn hasn’t made plans for the 60th anniversary because “we’ve got to get there first”.
