Man Surprises Wife With 50th Anniversary Corn Maze of Their Wedding Photo

Courtesy The Derthick's

One Ohio man took an unconventional approach when it came to a golden anniversary gift, surprising his bride of 50 years not with an oh-so-expected piece of gold jewelry but with 17 acres of golden corn carved into a maze outlining their wedding portrait.

"He did it with the kids. They kept it a secret," Marie Derthick, of Mantua, Ohio, told GoodMorningAmerica.com of her husband's elaborate plan.

Phil Derthick, 72, and wife Marie Derthick, 75, have been hosting corn mazes for the past seven years at their 181-acre farm.

"Last year we did John Glenn, because he had his 50 th anniversary of going around the world, and in 2010 we had the Twin Towers in honor of the 10 th anniversary of Sept. 11, and we've done the Steelers and the Browns because, of course, they're our favorite," Marie Derthick explained.

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This year, however, she had no idea what her romantic husband had in store.

"It was the end of June when I finally did find out," she said. "I thought they were nuts, but it's actually turned out very well."

Once the initial shock of her 17-acre face wore off, Marie Derthick admitted that the maze, designed to include their wedding portrait, the church where they were married and her husband's favorite antique tractor, is definitely her favorite of all their cornfield creations.

"I was surprised, because they put it together very nicely with the church where we were married at the top, and our wedding picture of the two of us in the middle and the old tractor at the bottom," she said.

The personalized corn field, which shockingly only took the design and cutting team, Maze Play, one day to construct, has three different mazes, the longest measuring 4.4 miles covering the Derthicks' faces and the church.

But when asked how these two lovebirds could ever possibly top this corn maze next year, Marie Derthick said, "I don't know, but we've got to come up with something good."