Big Macs, fries and 50 years of love: Georgia couple returns to McDonald's to celebrate anniversary

A metro Atlanta couple is celebrating 50 years of marriage beneath the Golden Arches.

Mike and Susan Burks married in 1976. During the early years of their marriage, they frequently ate at the McDonald's on Northside Parkway.

"When we first got married, we lived around the corner in Vinings, and Susan didn't cook much. She sort of does now," Mike Burks joked. "But out of necessity, we came down here twice a day."

"Probably five times a week and sometimes twice a day," Susan Burks said. "We love McDonald's."

Now, decades later, the couple is marking their golden anniversary at the restaurant with their favorite meal.

"The usual is a Big Mac, fries and a Coke," Mike Burks said.

"There wasn't a lot of choice back then," he added. "All the stuff that's around here right now, you didn't have all of that back then."

Mike said he knew almost immediately that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Susan.

"We met at a bar up on Roswell Road at 2:30 in the morning in 1975," he said. "I said, 'I just met the girl I'm going to marry.'"

The Burks say the secret to a lasting marriage is simple.

"Don't give up, and lots of laughs through the tears," they said.

They do not eat at McDonald's as often as they once did, but the Burks chose to celebrate their milestone at the place that helped shape their earliest years together.