Your Wedding Anniversary Gift Guide

As much as you’d like to put all the stress and decision-making behind you once your wedding day has been and gone, I must tell you that the strain of choosing correctly doesn’t end there! Yet, this time, it is all to do with your wedding anniversary years and selecting an appropriate gift as per tradition. So, what wedding anniversary is 1 year, 10 years, 50 years??

We’ve provided a handy list to help you pick a fitting gift each year.

Wedding Anniversaries By Year

Your first decade as a married couple will probably be your most memorable but, unfortunately, as tradition would have it, you won’t say the same for the presents you exchange. As you’ll see from the list below, the year by year conventions appear nothing more than ordinary so it is up to you to use your creativity in coming up with a thoughtful gift.

• 1^st Anniversary – Paper

  Meaning: A blank sheet of paper

• 2^nd Anniversary – Cotton

  Meaning: Intertwined threads

(www.notonthehighstreet.com)

• 3^rd Anniversary – Leather

  Meaning: Protective and durable

• 4^th Anniversary – Fruit and Flowers

  Meaning: Blossoming and ripening

• 5^th Anniversary – Wood

  Meaning: Strength and wisdom

(www.notonthehighstreet.com)

• 6^th Anniversary – Sugar

  Meaning: Life is sweet

• 7^th Anniversary – Copper and Wool

  Meaning: Warm and comforting

• 8^th Anniversary – Bronze

  Meaning: Combined strength

(etsy)

• 9^th Anniversary – Pottery or Willow

  Meaning: Beauty in Art

Celebrating 10 years and beyond

Give it a few more years (or two dozen!) and things start to get a little more exciting. Everyone loves receiving a thoughtful piece of jewellery on a special occasion and, after 25 years of wedded bliss, you can look forward to something shiny. Of course, the longer you have been married, the more special the trinkets become.

• 10^th Anniversary – Tin

  Meaning: Preserving and prolonging

• 15^th Anniversary – Crystal

  Meaning: Clarity

• 20^th Anniversary – China

  Meaning: Standing the test of time

(www.amazon.co.uk)

• 30^th Anniversary – Pearl

  Meaning: Hidden beauty

• 35^th Anniversary – Coral

  Meaning: Wards off danger and illness

• 40^th Anniversary – Ruby

  Meaning: Love

• 45^th Anniversary – Sapphire

  Meaning: Loyalty

(www.etsy.com)

• 50^th Anniversary – Gold

  Meaning: Prosperity and strength

• 55^th Anniversary – Emerald

  Meaning: Growth

• 60^th Anniversary – Diamond

  Meaning: Love, wealth, invincibility

(www.ebay.com)

• 70^th Anniversary – Platinum

  Meaning: Endurance

Showing your affection and gratitude

Now that you are up to speed on the wedding anniversary guide, you can start to think ahead about what you can give your loved one to show your affection. You can’t be expected to plan fifty years into the future, granted, but it is worth giving those first five years or so a think as, ideally, you want to start your life as newlyweds on a high!

A fun and creative way to begin exchanging presents is to set up a challenge amongst you… Who can top the other’s gift in terms of thoughtfulness? Who can spend the least yet produce a truly sentimental gift? It’s time to put on your thinking cap!