Wedding anniversary

Married persons who regard the date of their marriage as important may mark the anniversary of their wedding in some special way.

Broader groups in society, especially the families, and even more especially the children of such a couple, may help to celebrate such occasions; this is particularly common on the 40th, 50th, and 60th anniversaries.

Retailers (especially jewellers), sensing a profit opportunity, have encouraged gift-giving on such wedding anniversaries, and may often suggest a hierarchy of types of gifts to reflect the importance of longer years of marriage (and perhaps of greater ability to purchase more expensive gifts).

Standard lists

Standard associations of such anniversaries have come to include:

25th anniversary: silver
30th anniversary: pearl
35th anniversary: coral
40th anniversary: ruby
45th anniversary: sapphire
50th anniversary: gold
55th anniversary: emerald
60th anniversary: diamond
70th anniversary: platinum

A sample of a slightly more ambitious (but less-widely recognised) list, exhibits the practicality of certain cheap but frequent gifts in the early years of marriage, combined with the ratcheting up of value:

Anniversary	American	British	Modern
1	paper	cotton	clocks
2	cotton	paper	china
3	leather	leather	crystal
4	linen, silk	fruit, flowers	appliances
5	wood	wood	silverware
6	iron	sugar	wooden
7	wool,copper	wool,copper	desk item
8	bronze	bronze, pottery	linens, lace
9	pottery	pottery, willow	leather
10	tin, aluminum	tin	diamond
11	steel	steel	jewellery
12	silk	linen, silk	pearls
13	lace	lace	textiles,furs
14	ivory	ivory	gold
15	crystal	crystal	watches
20	china	china	platinum
25	silver	silver	sterling silver
30	pearl	pearl	diamond
35	coral, jade	coral	jade

The following wedding anniversaries are the same for American, English and Modern:

40 ruby
45 sapphire
50 gold
55 emerald
60 diamond
65 blue sapphire
70 platinum
75 diamond (historically) or double diamond (contemporary) -Diamond anniversaries were very rare occasions usually reserved for the 75th anniversary. Queen Victoria's 1897 celebration of a Diamond Jubilee for the length of her reign popularized the use of diamond for 60 years.

80 Oak

Other traditions introduce specific gifts for every single anniversary; in certain German traditions some half- and quarter-anniversaries are also celebrated, and the suggested gifts can become quite bizarre and extravagant.

External links

Anniversary Gifts - Compiled from discussions on alt.wedding

Marriage | Wedding | Anniversaries

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Wedding anniversary

Standard lists

See also

External links