When a couple ties the knot, the goal is to stick together until "death do us part."
And while for some this might seem like a fairytale, some love stories do stand the test of time.
When Aleida and Antonio Hernandez met at a small dance party in Caraballo, Cuba, it was young love. She was 15 and he was 18 and Aleida took his breath away.
"I saw her and thought she was very pretty, so I asked her cousin to introduce me," Antonio said. "She didn't even pay attention to me at the party, but the next day I rode my bike by where I knew she was working and I smiled and waved to her. To this day, I don't know if she liked me for my smile or for my bicycle."
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And just like that, their courtship began.
With shared laughs, Aleida said she was a serious girl and her parents did not allow her to do much. Every date was chaperoned and she needed her parents' permission to go on a date.
"Her two other sisters had boyfriends too, so all three couples would sit in the living room and their mom sat in a chair on the side of the room to supervise," Antonio said. "Can you imagine?"
The couple dated for a little over two years and got married on February 19, 1960. This year, they will celebrate their 63rd wedding anniversary.
"She was dying to marry me," Antonio lovingly joked.
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After having their son Eduardo they faced many hardships, but they never lost faith in each other or their marriage.
Together they persevered and in 1980, they immigrated to the U.S. in the Mariel boatlift.
The Mariel boatlift was a mass migration of Cubans who traveled from the islands' Mariel Harbor to the United States between April and October of 1980.
More than 200 people boarded the boat that brought the Hernandez family to South Florida, and when they made landfall, it was a struggle to settle and begin their new life.
Nearly 63 years later, Aleida and Antonio have grandchildren and great-grandchildren and a life they are extremely proud of.
So how does one stay married for over 60 years? Aleida and Antonio shared four tips with NBC 6 that they said are the foundation of their happy marriage.
#1 Respect each other
"I'd say the first tip is to respect each other and understand that a marriage is about two people," Antonio said. "If there is no respect in the marriage, there is no way the relationship can continue."
Antonio added that open communication and understanding each other in a respectful way is the cornerstone to a lasting marriage.
"It can't be all about the man or all about the woman," he added. "You need to check in with each other on important decisions and talk."
#2 Go into a marriage with a similar mindset
Aleida and Antonio said that one of the keys to a lasting marriage is that they went in with the same mentality: to create a loving family together.
"You have to talk to your partner. If you both go into it with the mentality that you want to settle down and build a loving family, it will last a lifetime," Antonio said. "But if you go into it thinking 'well, we'll see how it goes' or that the relationship should feel like a honeymoon all the time you are setting up to fail."
Relationships, they said, take work, but if your goals for the relationship are aligned, you can overcome any obstacle.
#3 Travel together often
Throughout your marriage, the Hernandez's advise traveling with your partner often.
"Everyone thinks that you wait until you're retired to travel," Antonio said. "Travel while you're young. Old age is for grandkids and great-grandkids. Travel together, drink together and dance together."
#4 Be willing to make peace when you are angry with each other
In the heat of the moment, someone might say things that they will later regret or they might feel like they can't even look at their partner.
Aleida and Antonio said that when that happened in their marriage (even now) they found that one of the two must initiate a reconciliation.
"Someone has to give in," Antonio said. "You cannot remain angry forever because there needs to be peace in a marriage for it to work. You won't agree all the time, but at some point, one has to initiate the reconciliation and open the conversation to forgiveness."
Bonus Tip: 'Happy wife, happy life' is true
Antonio told NBC 6 that although typically in a marriage we're thought to think that "the man wears the pants," he said the woman is the one who is in command of the home.
"Any man that thinks he is in command of the marriage is just kidding himself," Antonio said. "Women are by far much more mature than men. Even at a young age, most women are much more mature than men, but when a woman decides to marry, she looks long term. She is prepared to create a loving home for you and your family."
And he makes sure to keep Aleida happy.
"She loves when I take her shopping," Antonio said. "And to this day, I take her shopping. I sit outside the store and I make sure she feels special."
