When Abigail Lydick, of Abigail Gingerale Photography (a wedding, boudoir and lifestyle photo business she runs with her husband, Andy, in New Jersey), surprised her grandfather, George Brown, and her grandmother, Virginia “Ginger” Brown, with a wedding-style photo shoot in Allentown, New Jersey, for their 60th anniversary, it was beyond anything any of them could have hoped for.

Abigail’s grandparents traveled to New Jersey from their home in South Carolina knowing that their granddaughter wanted to dress them up and take them out for their anniversary while they were in town; they knew nothing of the photo shoot at the time.

“We contacted some of our vendor friends, including the ladies at Bridal Suite Boutique, Ivy On Main Florals and Christine Swope, who provided not only hair and makeup, but a hair cut and style for Granddad too!” says Abigail. “Everyone pulled together to get all the details for their very own anniversary shoot.”

Adds Abigail, “Grandmom was more nervous than anyone—she had never gotten any kind of professional hair and makeup done, let alone fancy pictures, so we had to reassure her that she was going to rock this thing! Granddad wasn’t quite as nervous and he was cracking jokes the whole time. We dressed him up into one of Andy’s suits (because amazingly, they are the same exact size in everything), and he looked SUUUUPER dapper!”

Abigail says that initially it was a sunny day, but then the clouds rolled it and the bright sun that was coming through the trees dissipated. “I broke out my trusty AD200, slapped one full CTO in the MagMod gel holder and had my VAL (Voice Activated Lightstand, a.k.a. my little sister who is my assistant) stand about 15 to 20 feet back behind them. I positioned myself so that the flash was off to the side of their heads so that I could get the sunny haze, without ruining how sharp the image would be. I set the flash to full power because of how light the day still was. I am so happy with how these turned out (even though it could always be better) because it was an extremely hot and humid day and we had only a few minutes to get these shots.”

After Lydick shared photos from the shoot on her Facebook page, the post went viral and had 27,000 shares at the time—it is now up to 42,000 and counting, with 46,000 likes.

(Shot with a Nikon D750 and Sigma 135mm lens at f/2, ISO 640 and 1/360 of a second.)

Dress & Jewelry provided by – Bridal Suite Boutique
Bridal Dress Designer – Maggie Sottero Designs
Bouquet & Flower Crown designed by- Ivy on Main
Hair & Makeup – Christine Swope Makeup
Photography – Abigail Gingerale Photography

Check out more Photos of the Day, and email submissions to rangefinder@emeraldexpo.com.