Obamas Celebrate 30th Wedding Anniversary With Endearing Tributes

The Obamas are 30 years strong.

Barack and Michelle Obama celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on Monday with photos showing how far they’ve come on their journey together.

“After 30 years, I’m not sure why you look exactly the same and I don’t,” the former president captioned two photos of the couple on Twitter, one from their wedding day and one taken more recently. “I do know that I won the lottery that day—that I couldn’t have asked for a better life partner.”

Miche, After 30 years, I’m not sure why you look exactly the same and I don’t. I do know that I won the lottery that day—that I couldn’t have asked for a better life partner. Happy anniversary, sweetheart! pic.twitter.com/sYGKPOff1O

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 3, 2022

The former first lady shared similar snaps on her Twitter page while calling the last three decades of their marriage an “adventure.”

“These last 30 years have been an adventure, and I’m grateful to have you by my side. Here’s to a lifetime together,” she tweeted.

The couple first met in their 20s in 1989 while they were both working for a Chicago law firm.

“I remember being struck by how tall and beautiful she was,” Barack Obama recalled in 2007. “I asked her out. She refused. I kept asking. She kept refusing.”

Happy anniversary to the man I love! These last 30 years have been an adventure, and I’m grateful to have you by my side. Here’s to a lifetime together. I love you, @BarackObama! ❤️😘 pic.twitter.com/HcDjbLl2x6

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) October 3, 2022

Finally, he said, “she relented” by agreeing to a first date at a museum, followed by a movie and ice cream. Two years later, he surprised her by proposing while they were having dinner to celebrate Barack passing his bar exam.

“I was completely shocked,” she recalled to ABC News, describing how she found an engagement ring in the waiter’s dessert tray. She gave an enthusiastic yes and the couple married in Chicago on Oct. 3, 1992.

The former president has widely credited his wife with much of his success in life.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attend the Inaugural Ball at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2013.

Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“Obviously I couldn’t have done anything that I’ve done without Michelle. … Not only has she been a great first lady, she is just my rock,” he said in a 2011 interview. “I count on her in so many ways every single day.”

In terms of their marital success, Michelle has said it requires work and more than just feeling “love at first sight.”

“It has to be a true partnership, and you have to really, really like and respect the person that you’re married to,” she said in 2011. “If in the end, you can look him in the eye and say, ‘I like you,’ and, you know, I stopped believing in love at first sight. I think you go through that wonderful love stage, but when it gets hard, you need a little bit more.”