Your Wedding Anniversary 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.

How good are you at buying presents on a scale of 1 to 10…?

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!