We all love a genuine love story that defies all odds and is strong enough to move mountains and cross vast seas. A love that surpasses time and gets you through the hard times so you can enjoy the good ones. We have been able to have the privilege of witnessing a love like this. A love that has passed 50 years of marriage and will continue to burn brighter and brighter with the coming years.
Vince met Inge when she applied for a nanny job through a business he was working with. Inge was born in Austria, where she was raised and lived most of her life. She flew out to the United States in search of a job and a future in California. In search of better work, she took up an add in the paper for a nanny position through a placement agency. That's when she met Vince.
Vince was born in Cuba in 1941. When he was 19 he was urged to flee from Cuba to the United states as Fidel Castro started to take over control of Cuba. In search of a better future he fled to the U.S. where he started working at the placement agency.
When Inge came in to apply for a position she met with Vince. Vince was immediately taken by her beauty and after the interview asked her to dinner. They talked about their dreams and ambitions. Inge talked about growing up in Austria and all the trips she would take across Europe with her friends and what brought her out to California. Vince shared about his upbringing in Cuba and about the family he had to leave behind to seek out a better future in the U.S. for himself. Upon many conversations they had, one was about the future family they both wished to have one day. Vince asked Inge if she were to have a daughter what would she name her. This caught her off guard and Inge just blurted out the first name that came to her mind, “Susy.” Vince liked the name and said, “Agreed, if we were to have a daughter we shall name her Susy.” Naturally this caught Inge off guard and she thought Vince was crazy. But this didn't stop her from seeing him again.
They dated for 2 years before VInce proposed to Inge. At this time, they both had very little money. Inge had left being a nanny and started her job as a waitress at the Brown Burby. and Vince was now working at Burger King and making his way up through management. Their wedding was a small and modest one. With only some friends and no family in attendance. They rented out a time slot at a local wedding chapel in Los Angeles where they would be able to have their ceremony. They were so tight on money that they couldn't even afford flowers. Vince, being the businessman who never missed an opportunity, walked up to the couple that had just finished their ceremony before them and offered to buy her bouquet from her for $50, just so his future wife had some flowers to hold on her wedding day.
They had an intimate wedding ceremony with their close friends and went back to their hotel room afterwards. No big party, no reception, not even a wedding cake. They had just enough money that day to be able to go over to their local KFC and get a bucket of chicken for dinner. So there they were, a determined immigrant from Cuba working his way in the world sitting across from his new bride who he met by fate in California from Austria; sitting on the floor of their hotel room together as husband and wife, sharing a bucket of KFC chicken. It may not sound glamorous or a dream wedding to you, but to them, they were in heaven and most importantly, they were together.
Fast forward some years of struggle and hustle of Vince working his way up through management of Burger King. He was doing so well that a friend and a franchise owner came to him with an offer to co-buy a store together. He accepted and started working to improve the fast food restaurant. He did so well that Burger King offered him his own restaurant, and then another one. Soon he branched off into owning a Denny's. He then sold his Burger Kings and made the switch to full time being a franchise owner of Denny's. One restaurant turned into two restaurants. Which then turned into five, then eight, and now eleven restaurants. A humble boy from Cuba, who fled for his life in search of safety and prosperity found the girl of his dreams and worked his way from being a Burger King employee, to an owner and finally the owner of eleven successful Denny’s restaurants throughout the United States.
But their success didn’t stop there. They had that daughter they talked about on their first date. Vince, being a man of his word said they would name her Susy. By that time, Inge had moved onto other favorite names but Vince was firm with that name. That's what she said she would name her and that’s what her name would be. So on March 17, 1971 they had their little Susy.
In 2019 Vince was named Franchise of the Year for Dennys and he continues to run his restaurants to this day. Visiting them as regularly as he can and even volunteering to roll up his sleeves and go work in the kitchen with his cooks. Cooking and preparing the food himself for his customers. That turns out to be one of his favorite things today and even at 79 years of age he does not stop. Vince and Inge are now proud grandparents of two successful granddaughters and live in Las Vegas where Vince continues to work today.
On August 8th, 2020 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and to celebrate they wanted to renew their vows in a special way. They had always loved the outdoors and traveling and wanted to renew their vows out in nature. They chose to elope for their renewal. This is where we had the privilege of coming into their love story and being able to capture this love in an authentic way.
Age doesn't matter when it comes to eloping. Ability doesn't matter either. You don’t have to make it a 15 mile hike to the top of a remote mountain. It can be as extreme or as simple and elegant as you want. They wanted to have their own private ceremony alone together out in the mountains of Red Rock Canyon. We went out to the canyon and walked out to have their own private ceremony together where they could focus on one another and reflect on the crazy journey they have gone through together. Two souls from different ends of their earth, finding one another in a random office in California.
They had their private ceremony out in the beautiful mountains and then went back to their house where they invited friends and family to join them in their celebration. They had so much fun with their private ceremony that they decided to do a second one in front of their friends and family.
We love having couples that like to mix it up. That's what elopements are all about. You can have both just like Vince and Inge did. They were able to have their own escape and adventure out to the mountains where they could be alone and focus on one another. They didn't have to worry about playing host at that time and they were able to really focus on each other and reflect on their journey together. Then they went back home and were able to include their family in their celebration. No one felt left out and they were surrounded by all the people that loved them and were impacted by them through their lives. This was a love story unlike any other and we had the privilege of being able to tell it and to capture this amazing landmark in their marriage for them; just like their journey through life that brought them here. They did their Vow Renewal THEIR way with THEIR rules. That's the power and beauty of Elopements. It doesn't matter your age, ability, story and where you want it. Love knows no bounds and neither do Elopements.
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