Karen Elise and Justin just celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary just 5 days ago-! These two currently reside in a suburb of Chicago (with Karen Elise originally being from Niles, Michigan just about 15 minutes from South Bend, Indiana), but Karen Elise remembers fondly that prior to marriage when they met and Justin had been head over heels in love with her from the start. He'd drive she and her friends to a banjo club in Chicago and have great time. At some point Justin found out that he got in to Law School at the University of Notre Dame. In a semi dejected tone he called Karen Elise to tell her the news since he felt they may not see each other anymore adding something like "Well, you're going off to Europe for school anyway, so I guess you'll be doing that." Karen Elise was taken aback. She was freed, but because of that finally realized that he loved her so much that he was telling her to continue on with her path. In a rush of emotions she immediately called him back, told him to where to meet her, and she hopped on a train to meet him. The two were wed at age 22 at the back of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame 50 years ago and the rest is history!
Justin gifted Karen Elise a beautiful University of Notre Dame necklace (pictured above), so we had to capture a photo of it and him putting it on her!
Over the past week their daughter Melissa in Wisconsin reached out to us a day and a half before their anniversary after finding us online and told us that she'd love if her parents could get some anniversary photos at Notre Dame. She passed our emails on to her parent with information about an hour Portrait Session at Notre Dame (i.e. the Basilica that they were wed at 50 years prior) and they called us on their way in from Illinois on Thursday! They stayed at the Morris Inn on campus just a few minutes from us and were hoping to have some one-on-one time for the momentous anniversary prior to heading home to a family party for them with a 50th Anniversary Portrait Session on their anniversary Friday. It was Notre Dame's Spring Break last week (which we didn't know since we graduated college 10 years ago), so the times of the Basilica being opened and having masses were different, so we did rush over there on Thursday just prior to closing to find out the times it was opened. There were mixed answers on whether it'd be 4 p.m. or the usual 9 p.m., so we moved the Portrait Session time up from 5:30 to 3:30 to ensure that it would be opened if it closed at 4 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. Though it wasn't sunset as originally planned, the Session on their 50th Anniversary was still gorgeous.
We even got to re-create some of their wedding day photos from 50 years ago! The above photo at one of the lakes at Notre Dame was a recreation of one of their post-ceremony wedding photos (to the right!). Other photographs we re-created from their wedding day 50 years ago were photos of them inside the back of the Basilica kneeling to pray (from their wedding ceremony). One of those is the middle photo below as well as photos of them leaving their ceremony at the Basilica (the photograph directly below that)!
During their 50th Anniversary Portrait Session, Karen Elise and Justin recounted for us what the nation had been like at the time of their marriage. They told us how the nation was in a bit of disarray what with President JFK being assassinated just years prior, then Martin Luther King Junior being assassinated just a couple weeks after their wedding, and everything ongoing with the Vietnam war and drafts. We also talked about current times with mass shootings and the state of global warming, then turned back to speaking about their relationship and happier things. They spoke about how they had their kids while they were younger in their mid to late 20s, then had time in their 50s to spend together one-on-one which they very much enjoyed. (*Jenny says from her experience 22 isn't considered young in the Midwest still and is still considered a common marriage age- at least Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan where she's lived. That's when people graduate college and marry their college significant other- the latest to get married often being 25 years old still since the priority is to have children before age 30. In California where Jason is from it is considered young to get married in the early 20s, though many never marry or marry in their early to mid-30s out there).
A third photograph that we re-created was a photograph of Justin and Karen Elise holding hands facing each other. This photo was originally taken 50 years ago on their wedding day as they were standing on the steps of the Basilica after their wedding ceremony as the photographer stood inside the Basilica. We love how this new one turned out! Karen Elise brought along 3 scarves which worked well to harken back to her veil! (Fun fact: The white furry coat/ cloak that she had on in the outdoor photos throughout the day was actually the exact coat she wore on their wedding day 50 years ago!) We love that she got dolled up in Notre Dame colors of blue eyeliner and gold nail polish and that the stripes of Justin's shirt mimicked the stripes on her beautiful skirt. They were dressed to the nines!
Karen Elise not only has partaken in their successful 50 year marriage with Justin (soon to be 60, then 70!), but is also a psychotherapist who often works with individuals on their relationships and imparted some wonderful advice for us and all couples alike: It's easier to fix minor problems together than throw away everything you two have worked on, never put blame on each other- rather work together as a team through good and bad times, and finally take time together one-on-one for anniversaries and the like.
Justin and Karen Elise: We hope you two had wonderful rest of your stay at Notre Dame for your intimate 50th Anniversary and that your home party in Illinois with the rest of your family including children and grandchildren was equally wonderful! We had an absolutely fantastic time with you two and are so thankful that your daughter found and contacted us! We cannot wait to make your physical album!