Celebrating a wedding anniversary

Wedding anniversaries should be celebrated every year. It is important to remember that you met, you fell in love and you decided to say “I do!” and love him forever. Let’s recall our first date to rekindle the flame and give special attention to that lovely person who shares our meals every day.

The origin

Wedding anniversaries are celebrated since the 18^th century. First celebrated by the urban bourgeoisie, the tradition has spread to the countryside. At first, only the multiples of ten (10^th, 20^th, 30^th) were celebrated with the family and then couples started celebrating privately every year.

The lists that we know today are pagan and we don’t know their exact origin. They appeared in the 19^th century in France and in Russia and evolved in different places so the lists can vary from one city to another. Here is the classic list. Consider yourself lucky because the French have a uranium 85^th anniversary. It would be quite an adventure to find an appropriate gift…

 

 

 

 

Celebrate

Since anniversaries are represented by simple elements, we can easily find an original and appropriate gift every year. A book, a ticket or a cuckoo clock for the first anniversary, bedding sets for the second, leather chairs for the third… You can find something to share, a night out, a trip or something for the house. You can also exchange gifts.

Since anniversaries celebrate YOUR couple, those of you who have specific passions can reinvent the list. Sports lovers can celebrate the wedding of skiing, parachute, kayak, hiking… Travellers can plan anniversaries of Vegas, Carcassonne, Mexico, Bora Bora… For their part, artists could celebrate a Pop Art or a Louvres anniversary. Finally, musicians could book a guitar workshop for the first anniversary and travel to Tokyo to see a Japanese pop music gig on the 10^th, why not?

Other couples decide to renew their vows for various reasons. Some plan the wedding of their dreams, the one they could not afford the first time. Others love each other so much that they would say “I do!” over and over again and some want to show that they can still rely on each other after all this time. Renewing vows is gaining popularity and many options are available from Las Vegas to the French countryside.

The important thing is to have fun and remember how much you love each other. Once, I saw a couple celebrating their 54^th anniversary and I caught the husband kissing his wife on the nose with a cheeky look. He said, laughing, “I can’t believe I was stuck with you for so long”. At that time, I realized that the simplest expression of love could be enough to remind your partner why you love her or him… until the next anniversary.

Did you know that in the Commonwealth realms, you can apply at the Governor-General’s office to receive a message from the monarch on your 60^th, 65^th and 70^th wedding anniversaries?

He likes it a little, a lot, not at all…

Fortunately, all men are different and we wouldn’t like it any other way. However, it means that the knack of celebrating romantic traditions is not given to everyone.

Some men will forget about it and appreciate little reminders that will give them enough time to prepare something, other will hate those punctual marks of affection and, like at Valentine’s Day, they will find it grotesque to celebrate a love that should be obvious at all times. Maybe your husband has something planned and will be ready months in advance…

Pay attention because sometimes little attentions are enough to make the day perfect and if it is not enough for you, ask him out!