Preventing the Stagnation of Wedding Anniversaries: A Guide for All Couples on How to Celebrate from the First Year Onwards

2021.02.17 published

The wedding anniversary that comes every year. Make it a day to look forward to!

Once you become a couple, a new anniversary appears: the "wedding anniversary."

Whether it be the date of registration or the date of the wedding ceremony, each couple has their unique day, but it’s undoubtedly the most important anniversary for every couple.

Since married life isn't always filled with romance, it would be wonderful to make your once-a-year anniversary a special day that revives the memories of your wedding day.

@kiide69

Surprisingly, many couples tend to skip it, saying "I forgot!"

However.

After listening to those around me, I found that surprisingly many couples say they don’t do anything special for their wedding anniversary.

(And I admit, I am one of them…)

“We put in a lot of effort to celebrate the first year, but gradually stopped after that.”

“We’ve been so busy with work and parenting that we completely overlooked it.”

“I was annoyed that my wife seemed to take the day as a given, so I stopped doing anything.”

The reasons vary.

It's understandable that as married life goes on, the way we celebrate anniversaries can become monotonous, but it’s sad to see a precious wedding anniversary forgotten.

If you're not already expressing your love openly like couples abroad, you might feel even more motivated to cherish that anniversary!

While it's hard for a person to suddenly think, “I did nothing for last year's anniversary, but let’s do something extravagant this year!” reviving lost traditions takes energy.

(But if you can do it, that would be fabulous…!)

@haruno45

It’s good to decide in advance what to do for anniversaries!

To prevent your wedding anniversary from fading away, there are tips you can implement from the first year.

That is, to "decide what to do every year on your wedding anniversary."

If you have it planned, there’s no need to agonize over how to spend the day, allowing you to wait for the anniversary with pure excitement.

In this article, I will introduce ways to celebrate your wedding anniversary starting from the first year♡

@haruno45

What you should do on your wedding anniversary ① Gifts according to the year

Wedding anniversaries have names for each year from the first to the sixtieth (！).

☑ 1st year: Paper Wedding

☑ 2nd year: Cotton Wedding

☑ 3rd year: Leather Wedding

☑ 4th year: Flower Wedding

☑ 5th year: Wood Wedding

How about giving each other gifts according to these names on your anniversary?

For example, for Paper Wedding, you might consider gifts like a planner or an album. For Cotton Wedding, handkerchiefs or socks.

Deciding on a budget and exchanging gifts each year sounds like a lot of fun!

@yuih_wd

Since a couple’s finances become shared after marriage, more couples are opting for gifts they personally want on their birthdays.

Thus, on your wedding anniversary, you can enjoy exchanging gifts with themes decided by each other!♡

@ari_wdg

By the way, not every year has a name; after the 15th year, it's every five years.

☑ 15th year: Crystal Wedding

☑ 20th year: China Wedding

☑ 25th year: Silver Wedding

☑ 30th year: Pearl Wedding…

However, for couples who have cherished their 15th anniversary, exchanging gifts yearly is likely to persist.

It also sounds fun to decide on the themes together for the four years in between.

What you should do on your wedding anniversary ② Annual Letter

Are you familiar with the term "Annual Letter"?

An Annual Letter is a special diary in which you write messages to each other every year on your wedding anniversary.

The husband writes from the left side cover while the wife writes from the right side, contributing one page each year towards the center.

There are 50 pages prepared, making it a grand exchange diary that completes over 50 years♡

Isn’t it incredibly romantic?

On your wedding anniversary, you can take out the Annual Letter and read through the messages exchanged on past anniversaries.

It can feel a bit embarrassing, but it’s a lovely way to share your journey together as a couple.

If you’ve already spent several years married, how about pasting photos onto the pages for the years gone by?

After all, there are 50 years worth, so it’s never too late to start♡

Of course, you can also exchange letters every year without sticking to the Annual Letter format!

What you should do on your wedding anniversary ➂ Commemorative Photos

The third custom you should adopt for your anniversary is taking commemorative photos.

Most families only take family photos for significant milestones like births or children entering school…

But by making it a tradition to take photos on your wedding anniversary every year, the family’s history expands year by year, creating invaluable memories.

While you may not notice changes when you see each other daily, looking back at the photos from each year will allow you to notice each other's transformations, fostering feelings of gratitude like "Thank you for this year, and I look forward to the future."

For taking commemorative photos, you can:

☑ Go to a photo studio

☑ Use a traveling photographer

☑ Take selfies

However, it’s recommended to opt for a photo studio or traveling photographer.

This way, you won’t have to worry about the camera angle or timing, leading to natural smiles.

For traveling photography, it’s great to have them come to a memorable location from that year or even to your home.

Besides ordinary family portraits, definitely try out creative shots that you can only do because you’re taking commemorative photos every year.

The "Love Story Photo" idea involves enlarging and printing a photo taken on the previous year’s anniversary and using it as a prop for your new family photo.

It creates a family portrait filled with love and the history of your family within one single picture.

If you make the "Love Story Photo" shoot the main event of your anniversary, it will certainly make you look forward to each anniversary even more!

No more overlooking the anniversary!

To cherish each wedding anniversary yearly, I have shared the "ways to celebrate" you should decide on from the first year.

① Gifts according to the year

② Annual Letter (letter exchange)

➂ Commemorative photos

If you decide to engage in these three events each year, you won't struggle with your wedding anniversary anymore.

Taking a day off for your wedding anniversary, doing family photo sessions during the day, enjoying a special dinner and gift exchange at night, and sharing letters before bedtime would make the perfect way to spend the day.

I hope you’ll give it a try starting from your next anniversary♡

(I will also work hard to revive our wedding anniversary!)