When you first become engaged to be married, it’s easy to be distracted by all of the details of planning the wedding and honeymoon, but every couple realizes the same thing eventually: it’s the actual marriage that needs some preparation!
That process can sound daunting, sure, but asking your spouse-to-be important questions brings you even closer together, and getting advice from other older and successful couples? Now that’s just fun— especially when they’re as delightful as Selma and Kenny Furst!
Who are Selma and Kenny? Just two of the most delightful grandparents to ever attempt to record a wedding toast, that’s who! We first found out about the pair – who have been married, incredibly, for over 75 years – from our friends over on Awkward Family Photos. They shared a recording of the couple making a wedding toast, and as is usually the case when family and technology get involved, Grandma Selma and Grandpa Kenny’s attempt at sharing some video advice with their grandson groom is a tiny bit awkward, pretty darn funny, and a whole lot of sweet.
Their grandson, Mike of Awkward Family Photos, tells us, “the video was created because they couldn’t make it to my wedding. They were both getting older at the time and the travel was too much. So, I asked them to record a video toast we could play at the wedding. They decided on 5 tips to a long and healthy marriage . . . I played it at the wedding and the response was amazing.”
The response wasn’t limited to the guests at the wedding, either; after extending the audience to Awkward Family Photos fans a few years ago, Selma and Kenny found themselves becoming Internet celebrities in their nineties! Their fame quickly spread, with The Today Show, The New York Times, and even Dr. Oz coming calling, “which worried my grandmother,” Mike says, “because she wasn’t sure why a doctor was calling her!” Thankfully, it was just to admire the wonderful couple and their marriage.
Of course, too, the pair aren’t exactly strangers to the toast-giving spotlight. In fact, that’s how their own marriage got started! As they told The New York Times:
The Fursts have a history of disruptive toasts. As they explained in an interview from their home in Tamarac, Fla., the couple became engaged during remarks at a wedding in 1940. “Kenny made a toast to his brother and new sister-in-law,” said Mrs. Furst, 91. “Then right in front of everybody, he turned to me and said, ‘How about we be next?’ And I said yes!”
So why has Selma and Kenny’s advice resonated so much with everybody? It might be because the rules are such good sense. It might be because the way the couple delivers those rules is so delightful and FUNNY. Or it might be because, as Selma and Kenny show us, breaking the rules is just as important— even if you do it while making a toast. Raise a glass, take a look, and take notes!
Selma and Kenny’s 5(ish) Rules for Marriage
- Be good to each other.
- Make sure you have food in your Frigidaire.
- Help each other in every way financially. Put away a couple of dollars, even!
- Always keep a clean house. (Should we throw things on the floor? Yell at each other for throwing things on the floor? Maybe!)
- (Or 4 again. Who’s counting?) Travel— but watch your husband though! And maybe take pictures.
- Don’t argue with each other— or maybe do, if you can do it like Selma and Kenny!
The only thing we’d add? Always kiss each other like you’re 25 years old.
Did you receive any wedding advice from your grandparents? Do you have any of your own to share?