40th Anniversary Party Weekend - Part 1: Mackus

I am so proud to say that my parents have been married for 40 years!  As I grow older, and I hope wiser, I definitely appreciate more and more all the love, patience, understanding and mutual respect that it takes to keep a marriage strong - things that my parents have demonstrated throughout my entire life.  They are wonderful role models to Matt and I, as well as those around them.  Congratulations and thank you, Mom and Dad!  Love you!

Aren't they a good looking pair?!

To celebrate this special occasion, Kristin and I threw them a tropical themed outdoor party at Frame Park, on the shores of the Fox River in Waukesha, with all their family and friends.  Kristin & co. couldn't make the trip since Sebastian was newly arrived on the scene, but they were there in spirit:)  Everything went swimmingly.  All of our carefully laid plans came together and all seemed to have a wonderful time, most importantly our guests of honor.   It felt like a wedding, with so much build up and so many loved ones together at one time.  The evening was over too soon, but it felt great to know that our parents felt loved and appreciated and had a lot of fun, too.  Thanks to everyone who helped make the night a success!

The invitation

Three generations - hopefully Claire will be as lucky in love as Mom and I have been!

We rented a tent in case of inclement weather, which turned out to be very helpful as it rained the first hour of the party!  After that it was pretty nice, and the sun even peeked out for a bit.  We also had a last minute addition of lighting, since we realized it got dark so much earlier than we had been thinking it would.  That was certainly helpful during clean up.  

We rented a selection of surrey bikes for our guests to tool around the lovely park in throughout the party. 

Carpenter's holding down the fort at the guest book table.  

Photo collage - one picture of my parents each year they were married, even a few of the years they dated!

Close ups for those who are curious!

Matt was a GEM, as always, and basically watched the kids all night so I could be the hostess with the mostess with the caterer and music and guests.  They had a great time on these bikes!

Melissa also watched Claire a lot and was our designated "safety officer" to give the rules of the surrey bike to the people taking them out for a spin.

Bahama Bob, our steel drum performer was amazing and really helped make the evening feel tropical and fun!  Love him!  If anyone ever needs a steel drummer, please reach out to me about booking awesome Bahama Bob

We had a tropical themed menu catered by Zilli Hospitality Group and the food was really delicious.

Tropical flowers on every table.  

The cutting of the cake!

Mike and Kaitlin on a ride.

Claire couldn't get enough of the banana coconut mousse!  I didn't blame her!

Ended the night with a very special gift from all the Mackus extended family - a custom poem and 12 bottles of liqueurs, one for each month of the year of their anniversary.  What a thoughtful and awesome idea!