Under an archway covered with artificial lilacs, lace and tulle, John and Florence Bourn renewed the wedding vows they spoke 56 years ago and promised once again to love and cherish one another until the day they die.

A lot has changed for the couple since Hurricane Katrina. After evacuating from the Jefferson, La., home where they had lived together for 49 years, they moved into an assisted living facility in Vicksburg.

&#8220It wasn’t necessarily what I wanted to do, but we’re here now,” said John Bourn, 83, a Hattiesburg native and World War II Army veteran.

But the one thing that hasn’t changed is their love for one another, and family members say the two are more in love now than they ever have been.

&#8220They’ve been through thick and thin together over the years,” said the couple’s only daughter, Barbara Bourn, 55.

&#8220They’ve made adjustments and made things work. That’s what marriage is all about. They give each other strength,” she said.

About 75 people, including friends and family members from Vicksburg, attended the ceremony Thursday at Covenant Health and Rehab.

&#8220This is just so special. Thank you all so much,” said Florence Bourn, 82.

The renewal ceremony was the idea of the couple’s niece, Ginger Rebert of Vicksburg.

&#8220Fifty-six years is a long time. They’ve been through so much together. I just thought we should do something special for them,” Rebert said.

Florence Hosemann Bourn, a Vicksburg native and a 1941 graduate of St. Francis Xavier Academy, married her sweetie Jan. 2, 1950, after two years of dating.

&#8220We met through mutual friends. Every Friday night he’d take me bowling,” she said.

They still remember their wedding day as if it were yesterday.

&#8220We got married at St. Paul’s Catholic Church here. There weren’t very many people there – just family,” Florence Bourn said.

But plenty were present to watch them renew their vows, as the dining room-turned-wedding chapel was full of nurses, staff members and fellow residents.

An eager John Bourn, decked out in tuxedo and lavender bow tie, waited patiently under the archway for his bride. He was joined by his best man, Kenny Frazier, recreational therapist at the facility.

The music started and the maid of honor, Viola Moore, a friend of the couple, started down the aisle with her walker.

Then came the first chords of &#8220A Bridal Chorus,” and in walked Florence in a beautiful lavender dress carrying a bouquet of the same artificial lilacs that adorned the archway.

When she reached the arch, John greeted her with a hug and a kiss and, through tears, he said, &#8220I love you, Baby.”

The two sat as the Rev. Rose Kellum, a family friend and pastor of Christ Episcopal Church in St. Joseph, La., officiated the ceremony.

&#8220Do you renew the promises you made when you bound yourself to one another through holy matrimony?” she asked.

After each answered the standard, &#8220I do,” Kellum blessed their wedding rings and pronounced them, once again, husband and wife.

The couple kept with tradition with the groom not seeing the bride until the time of the ceremony, although John Bourn didn’t necessarily see the point.

Rebert joked that when she explained to her uncle the bad luck behind the superstition, he simply said, &#8220When you’re my age, who cares about luck?”.

But there were two main differences between the wedding and renewal ceremony. The couple never took any photos of their big day the first time around, but that was remedied Thursday as cameras snapped left and right.

And the pair never had a honeymoon, but Covenant staff members had taken extra care to decorate a honeymoon suite for them after the renewal – complete with two separate beds like it would have been in the &#8220olden” days.