50th Mountaintop Wedding Anniversary Is a Family Affair

It was a very special occasion for retired business owners Denise and Frank Rindsberg — and this time, a simcha of their own. The Rindsbergs, formerly of Johannesburg, South Africa, emigrated in 1983, starting again from scratch and are now retired from their companies, Let’s Celebrate and Rindsberg Electric.

Frank and Denise Rindsberg celebrate their 50th anniversary with family at a memorable mountain lodge.

The Rindsbergs are not a couple to miss an occasion, so when it was time for their 50th anniversary, they chose the Smoky Mountain Villas in Tennessee for a family-wide celebration. Denise said, “Besides it being so memorable, our anniversary also fell on Sept. 6, the first night of Rosh Hashanah. We could not dream of a better way to celebrate the Yom Tov with our children and grandchildren. We selected the Smoky Mountains since our family lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and the rest live in Atlanta. It made sense for us to meet on the way, as none of us were comfortable flying with the current COVID situation. Our family consists of 16 members: three sons, three fabulous daughters-in-law and eight grandchildren.”

They started planning the celebration in June, feeling excited because, as Denise said, “this was such a huge milestone in our lives.” Besides being a holiday, it was also Denise’s 70th birthday a few days later. “We chose the mountains, since the lodge was on Lake Douglas for the water sports, tubing and zip lining,” she recalled.

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A beautiful cake was the centerpiece for the evening, along with gold embellishments and personalized toasts.

“Preparations started soon after booking. It was a perfect opportunity to order two gold glittered tablecloths to add to the festivities. We then ordered a beautiful anniversary cake from the local Publix. Small frames were purchased as party favors, where we inserted our wedding picture for each guest. When picking up the cake, we purchased white flowers, which we set in clear vases, and to add extra pizzazz, a set of votive candles. Also personalized name tags, which we made ourselves, of course, with gold embellishments and rhinestones. Not to forget Rosh Hashanah, candles were lit, prayers were said, and we even brought down a kugel to celebrate.”

Frank proposed (again) to Denise — and she said yes!

The evening started off with each member of the Rindsberg family sharing with the couple their favorite thing about them. “We laughed and cried and truly felt that our 50 years of marriage brought us to this ultimate point in our lives,” Denise said. “We barbecued with all the grandsons having a cooking lesson, and a feast was had by all. There were three very emotional highpoints in this evening. Frank made a beautiful speech to me, which was very heartfelt. He then got on his knees and proposed again, giving me a round gold bracelet that resembled a wedding ring. I then read to him the story of our 50 years together, which was long, so we handed out gold-covered chocolates as an additional party favor. Let me say, there was not one dry eye after all our speeches. The kids then presented us with an art canvas of our family tree. We shed a tear or two and the grandchildren rallied around us with super big hugs.”

For Denise, “The most beautiful part of the weekend, which we will never forget, is how our kids all got together within the last three months and planned all the activities and gifts. We were presented with personalized mugs, and Frank had t-shirts printed when he started Rindsberg Electrical 35 years ago. They had t-shirts re-created exactly as they had been, and a special memory. They had rock painting lessons and even got us all involved in tie dyeing, s’mores, games and trivia questions about their nana and papa. We finished off the evening with a video show, which we all loved and thoroughly enjoyed. Just watching all our kids and grandkids loving each other made 50 years of hard work worth it.”

The Rindsberg family: (L to R) Jeff, Jamie (Atlanta), Emily, Denise, Jack (next to Denise), Frank, Michael, Ryan, Benni, Emily, Zachary, Meryl, Jamie (Cleveland), Lenny, Max, and Nathan

“We have always instilled hard work, honesty, loyalty, laughter, courage and most importantly, the love of family,” Denise reflected. “The week prior to us going away was full of stress and deep prayers. One of our grandkids was exposed to COVID, so she was quarantined until testing negative. Another grandson had a terrible sinus infection, and we were convinced it was COVID. Nevertheless, everyone got tested, and thank goodness, all negative.”

The Rindsberg family tree was the heartfelt focus of their 50th-anniversary celebration.

The Rindsbergs are now enjoying retirement, though each has individual interests. Frank has become a wonderful artist, plays pickleball and golf. Denise loves rhinestoning, mahjong and crafts, and keeps herself very busy with freelancing in the event industry. They still laugh at one another, are close to all their kids and grandkids, and are blessed with wonderful in-laws.

“The best part of anniversaries is that you can pat yourself on the back and look back at all your accomplishments,” Denise said. “Marriage is a two-way street; it takes sharing, compromising, loads of laughter, loyalty and definitely looking after one another.”