Couple celebrates 60th wedding anniversary, with the bride wearing her gown once again

SEATTLE -- This is a story about a love that stands the test of time, and about the dress the bride wore when she walked down the aisle 60 years ago.

A local couple recently celebrated 60 years of marriage by saying "I do" all over again. And Carol Bates wore the same dress from her wedding.

"I wore it in 1957 and our daughter got married 29 years later and wore it, and then I wore it for my 50th anniversary and that was 10 years ago."

Earlier this month, she and her husband, Bob Bates, celebrated their 60th anniversary ... and just like she did for the 50th ... Carol wore her wedding gown. It's a way for these 'newlyweds at heart' to relive and reflect.

"I was just in awe," Bob said of their marriage in '57. "I don't recall if my knees were shaking up at the altar, but to quote my mother-in-law, I looked scared.

"It was a great day, very good."

This dress sure has seen its day. Several of them, in fact. Their daughter Kim also wore it for her wedding.

"When I put my mom's dress on, I mean it was just like, wow, and it just felt so full and beautiful and timeless, and that is what the dress is -- timeless," Kim Olson said.

Timeless -- just like a good love story should be. For every fitting, Carol goes back to the same place she bought it -- The Wedding Bell shop in Tacoma.

"It's very special to us that we ware able to keep that dress in the condition and just make the changes as needed," a shop employee said.

And while the measurements of the dress have changed over the years, for better or worse, the meaning behind it remains ever the same.

"We've been blessed to be able to laugh and cry and do everything in between," Carol said. "Stories of love and humor and telling life as it really is -- that was the start of 60 years."