The Wedding Diaries: The Paper Anniversary

Exactly one year ago today, Dominique and I were doing this:

And without wanting to get too soppy it was truly the happiest day of my life, celebrated joyously with our closest friends and family and a memory that I will truly cherish forever. We had been together for a long time before that day but ever since I think we’ve both felt even closer, even more of a team and a year on, I know we’ll stay that way forever.

Anyway enough of that, today is officially our Paper Wedding Anniversary, but as I can never remember which anniversary is which I thought I’d do a little research and give all you panicking former grooms the low down on the traditional anniversary names (and therefore what sort of present you should, traditionally speaking, be looking for!

So for the first ten years of marriage there’s a handy rhyme:

The 1st  is PAPER, on which you can write 
The 2nd is COTTON, all crisp and white,
The 3rd is LEATHER, a bag or some gloves,
The 4th is BOOKS, Lady Chatterley’s loves!
The 5th is WOOD, a box full of dreams,
The 6th is IRON, metal not steam
The 7th is WOOL, soft and warm
The 8th is BRONZE, metal in an elegant form
The 9th is COPPER, and 10th is TIN,
If you have got this far you are bound to win.

But if you’re not one for rhymes or if you really have been married a long time here’s a little list to set you on the right track!

1st – Paper
2nd – Cotton 
3rd – Leather
4th – Linen
5th – Wooden
6th – Iron 
7th – Copper
8th – Bronze
9th – Pottery
10th – Tin
11th – Steel
12th – Silk & Fine Linen
13th – Lace
14th – Ivory
15th – China
20th – China
25th – Silver
30th – Pearl
35th – Coral
40th – Ruby
50th – Gold
60th – Diamond
65th – Blue Sapphire
70th – Platinum
80th – Oak
85th – Wine
90th – Stone

And I decided I should definitely stay in line with tradition, at least for our first official anniversary with this rather special bit of paper for my Harry Potter loving wife!

Happy Anniversary Wifey!