A beautiful wedding present






 50 years ago next week, DiAnn Ehler and Gary Svenson married in Ossian, Iowa. The couple's wedding present from DiAnn's mother, Bertha Ehler, was their magnificent 5-tier wedding cake, pictured in these photos. Bertha paid $60 for the cake in 1972, which amounts to $425.13 in 2022 dollars. The wedding cake was s light indulgence in an otherwise quite practical wedding. 


In the first photo, Gary and DiAnn can be seen making the traditional first cut of the cake together. The second photo offers a broader view of all the cake's layers and includes the clergy who performed their wedding service, Father Charipar on the left, and Monsignor Peters on the right. The third photo is Willis Wangsness's capture of the cake itself. Feel free to click on the photos and scroll for a closer look. 

25 years later, in 1997, Father Charipar came to Decorah to celebrate a special service marking Gary & DiAnn's 25th anniversary, a surprise party organized for them. 

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