Ever wondered what each wedding year means and gift you should receive/send to your partner? We’ve got the list prepared for you, from the first year of marriage to 90 years of marriage.
Year One:
Paper – Paper represents your new marriage as like a blank sheet ready to be coloured in!
Gift Idea: Anniversary card for each other, or tickets to an event, show, concert etc ..
Year Two:
Cotton – Cotton is made from lots of thread woven together and the longer you are married the more your life becomes intertwined. It represents how marriage brings couples closer together and the material is both strong and flexible, symbolising adaptability and a strengthening relationship.
Gift Idea: Matching PJ’s or personalised bathrobes, with your married surname/wedding date.
Year Three:
Leather – Leather is durable, strong and has a sense of resiliency – three things that a marriage should also have. Traditionally, it has been used as a material to protect things, like couples protect one another. As your marriage matures your relationship becomes much stronger, so giving your partner a leather gift for 3rd wedding anniversaries is a perfect way to represent this. It represents the durability of a marriage or relationship.
Gift Idea: A leather wallet or handbag
Year Four:
Flowers – As your marriage blossoms following four years of marriage, flowers are the perfect anniversary gift.
Gift Idea: Roses represent how much your love blossomed, or what about purchasing your wedding bouquet/flower type again for this special date.
Year Five:
Wood – The idea of using wood to celebrate comes from the fact that trees were seen to be strong and symbolised wisdom. Your marriage is solid and you have deep roots that are entwined. How wise you both are by the time you celebrate this wedding anniversary!
Gift Idea: Favourite bottle of wine, in a personalised wooden box to cheers together.
Year Six:
Sugar – Life is thought to be getting sweeter by the time you reach your sixth wedding anniversary, so you and your partner can indulge in some sugary treats.
Gift Idea: Favourite chocolate bar or sweet treat for each-other.
Year Seven:
Copper & Wool – Copper and Wool are the traditional 7th anniversary gift and have been chosen for their ability to conduct heat. After seven years together, your marriage is warm and comforting
Gift Idea: New wool jumper or wool blanket/throw for in the house.
Year Eight:
Bronze – Bronze is very strong – in fact, it’s a mixture of two metals (copper and tin) that are stronger together than separately. Traditionally, it was said to hold healing powers and represents good health and the sustenance that you give each other as a couple.
Gift Idea: Sentimental item made out of bronze, it could be a statue for the house, or even a bronze jewellery item.
Year Nine:
Pottery – Pottery is moulded by hand and the painstaking process results in a work of art, whereas willow is flexible but strong and can be woven to create beautiful things – representing teamwork and harmony within a relationship.
Gift Idea: Pottery making class.
Year Ten:
Tin – Tin was used to store and preserve things which is why it is used to mark ten years of marriage. When another metal is coated in tin, it prevents it from corroding and can prolong the life of what it’s storing.
Gift Idea: Tin pot for in the garden to watch a plant grow until the next 10 years of marriage.
Year Eleven:
Steel – Steel is valued for its durability and strength. Congratulations on entering a second decade of marriage.
Gift Idea: Steel cocktail maker, you could re-create one of the cocktails from your wedding day to cheers together.
Year Twelve:
Silk – The elegance of silk and its interwoven threads symbolise the way a couple’s relationship has strengthened over 12 years and reminds the couple to luxuriate in the finer things in life. This luxurious material symbolises protection, security, comfort, and the strength of a relationship, represented by the interwoven threads silk contains.
Gift Idea: Silk PJ’s or a silk pillow case.
Year Thirteen:
Lace – Lace is chosen because the interlacing fibres of lace (and the modern equivalent of textiles or fur) represent the close bond that couples have at 13 years into their marriage.
Gift Idea: Lace clothing
Year Fourteen:
Ivory – Ivory represents the stability, patience and dignity inherent in a long marriage, and the colour ivory having an association with weddings. (You may have worn an Ivory wedding dress on the day).
Gift Idea: Ivory clothing, Ivory home-ware.
Year Fifteen:
Crystal – Crystal is the traditional pick for couples as it’s a luxurious product, chosen for its clarity and purity: as a transparent product it represents how the couple sees each other clearly after 15 years together.
Gift Idea: Crystal/Crystal jewellery
Year Sixteen:
Wax – Wax represents how you’ve moulded your lives together after this many years; wax can melt, bend and change shape, just as you have to be flexible to make a marriage work.
Gift Idea: Luxury candle, this could even be your wedding scent if this is something you had on the day.
Year Seventeen:
Furniture – Represents how you are both now ‘part of the furniture’ as the saying goes.
Gift Idea: New ‘love seat’ for you both to cosy up on together.
Year Eighteen:
Porcelain – Porcelain is long-lasting and durable, just like your marriage after 18 years together. Made by clay being heated to an extremely high temperature, there’s something special about a beautiful material coming from such humble beginnings. It’s incredibly elegant too, and lends itself to everything from jewellery to home accessories.
Gift Idea: Porcelain plates/bowls, to then have your anniversary meal on to celebrate 18 years.
Year Nineteen:
Bronze again – We’re repeating from the 8th year and bronze is used again to celebrate the 19th year.
Gift Idea: Sentimental item made out of bronze, it could be a statue for the house, or even a bronze jewellery item.
Year Twenty:
China – Now, china is fragile but, when looked after properly, it can stand the test of time. After two decades together, you may have your moments (who hasn’t!?) but if you take care, your relationship can stand the test of time.
Gift Idea: A timeless China dining set
Year Twenty-One:
Brass or Nickel – You’ve passed the two century mark and spent over 20 years of your lives together. The saying ‘Bold as Brass’ might come to mind, which represents being strong, and that’s what your 20 + years of marriage have been.
Gift Idea: Brass jewellery
Year Twenty-Five:
Silver – Silver is a precious metal, and no matter how old it is, if it’s treated properly and polished regularly, it will continue to gleam. There is no modern alternative, showing how timeless silver is as a 25th anniversary gift.
Gift Idea: Silver jewellery
Year Thirty:
Pearl – For three decades of committed marriage, it’s the timeless pearl. Pearls are a symbol of hidden beauty – they are cultivated over time within the not-so-pretty oyster, but once you open it up you find something precious inside.
Gift Idea: Pearl jewellery
Year Thirty-Five:
Coral – Coral is a very precious substance and was once believed to have magical properties to protect against illness and danger. It is still precious and protected today so think carefully when it comes to choosing a coral-inspired anniversary gift and maybe choose something inspired by the beautiful colour or shape of coral as opposed to the real thing.
Gift Idea: Take a trip, to swim in the coral reef.
Year Forty:
Ruby – Ruby which falls under a red colour chart, red being a colour often associated with love, and a rich red ruby is the perfect way to symbolise your love.
Gift Idea: Ruby stone jewellery
Year Forty-Five:
Sapphire – The traditional, modern and gemstone gift given is the stunning blue sapphire. Beautiful blue sapphires were once the preserve of royalty, making them a luxurious, aspirational item. Give the gift of sapphires to celebrate an impressive 45 years together, as it’s used for traditional and modern anniversary celebrations.
Gift Idea: Sapphire jewellery
Year Fifty:
Gold – After a lifetime together, there’s only one gift that can do it justice – gold. Gold is one of the most precious metals and symbolises lots of things, including prosperity and strength.
Gift Idea: Gold jewellery
Year Fifty-Five:
Emerald – Green is considered to be the most calming of all colours, and represents growth. After 55 years together your life may not be as hectic as it once was, but you’ve grown together so give emerald or emerald-inspired gifts to recognise that.
Gift Idea: Emerald jewellery or why not book a trip to the Emerald island, Ireland.
Year Sixty:
Diamond – As one of the strongest materials on Earth, diamonds flourish under pressure and are extremely hard-wearing – just like your relationship will be after six decades of marriage. It is considered to be invincible and is associated with love and wealth.
Gift Idea: Diamond jewellery
Year Sixty-Five:
Sapphire – Just like your 45th, your 65th anniversary calls for sapphire gifts.
Gift Idea: Sapphire jewellery
Year Seventy:
Platinum – Platinum is a metal that resists wear and is incredibly hard to tarnish, making it the perfect pick for 70th wedding anniversary gift. It’s one of the rarest metals, making it exclusive and is a symbol of endurance.
Gift Idea: Platinum jewellery
Year Seventy-Five:
Diamond – Just like your 60th, your 75th anniversary calls for diamond gifts.
Gift Idea: Diamond jewellery
Year Eighty:
Oak – Timeless and classic oak, just as your marriage will be by the time you reach eighty years of marriage.
Gift Idea: Oak furniture, this could be engraved for your wedding date.
Year Eighty-Five:
Wine – Who doesn’t love wine! Wine can be rich and robust, to sweet and sentimental.
Gift Idea: Cheers over your favourite bottle of wine together or even the wine which you had at your wedding day.
Year Ninety:
Stone – Long-lasting and durable, just like your marriage has been for 90 years.
Gift ideas: Personalised stone which kept be kept in your garden and reminder each time you look at it.
We hope we have inspired you, with our anniversary ideas.
Congratulations to all of you. We wish you a long and happy marriage together!