Wedding Anniversaries

1st	Paper	13th	Lace
2nd	Cotton, calico, straw	14th	Agate, ivory
3rd	Leather	15th	Glass, crystal
4th	Flowers, fruit, books, linen, silk	20th	China
5th	Wood	25th	Silver
6th	Sweets, iron	30th	Pearl, personal items
7th	Wool, copper, rubber	35th	Coral, jade
8th	Bronze, pottery, rubber	40th	Ruby, garnet
9th	Pottery, willow, china, glass, crystal	45th	Sapphire
10th	Tin, aluminum	50th	Gold
11th	Steel	55th	Turquoise, emerald
12th	Silk, nylon, linen	60th	Diamond, gold
		75th	Diamond, gold

1st	Clock	13th	Textiles / Furs
2nd	China	14th	Gold Jewelry
3rd	Crystal / Glass	15th	Watch
4th	Appliance	20th	Platinum
5th	Silverware	25th	Silver
6th	Woodenware	30th	Diamond Jewelry
7th	Desk Accessories	35th	Jade
8th	Linen / Lace	40th	Ruby
9th	Leather	45th	Sapphire
10th	Diamond Jewelry	50th	Golden Jubilee
11th	Fashion Jewelry	55th	Emeralds
12th	Pearls	75th	Diamond Jubilee

Gather scraps of fabric, from the anniversary couple's lives, such as a favorite shirt and dress, their child's baby blanket, wedding gown and bridesmaid's dresses, tie, and make a patchwork memory quilt.

Send a special package for a special anniversary: a photocopy of the front page of the newspaper on the couple's wedding day (get it from the library); a vintage record; a bottle of champagne and two crystal goblets; a money tree covered with crisp one-dollar bills (as many bills as years they have been married).

A fun anniversary gift for good friends is to take photographs of the celebration Make an album and present it to the anniversary couple.

For an unusual first wedding anniversary present (paper), buy paper party items, such as plates, napkins, tablecloths for each holiday throughout the year - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, NNew Year's, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day. Your gift will be a year of parties. As a bonus, since you will have an entire year to collect these items, you will be able to buy most of them for half-price the day after the holiday.

Find a photo of the anniversary couple taken in their "courting" days; have it matted in a complimentary color and put it in a lovely frame.

Make a collage depicting the anniversary couple's lives up to their marriage. Include photos starting with baby pictures, newspaper clippings, a high school sports letter or insignia; start by putting Mom's mementos on the left, Dad's opposite and work in to their wedding picture crowning the center.

Have a "This Is Your Marriage" party and have surprise guests from the couple's past: Best Man and Maid of Honor, high school coach, college roommates, teachers, coworkers, etc.

Recreate the couple's honeymoon. If they spent time in Hawaii, throw a luau; give the guests leis. If they went to the country, serve foods indigenous to the area, i.e. New England apple pie and Maine lobster. Encourage the guests to dress appropriately for the theme.

Visit the Gift Registry

at The Knot to find the perfect gift.

Register for yourself or find your friend's registry.

Rose Ceremony

In the Rose Ceremony, the Bride and Groom give each other a Rose. Two roses are all that is necessary. The Rose Ceremony is placed at the end of the ceremony just before being pronounced husband and wife. In the old language of flowers, a single red rose always meant "I love you". The Rose ceremony gives recognition to the new and most honorable title of "Husband and Wife".

"Your gift to each other for your wedding today has been your wedding rings - which shall always be an outward demonstration of your vows of love and respect; and a public showing of your commitment to each other.

You now have what remains the most honorable title which may exist between a man and a woman - the title of "husband" and "wife." For your first gift as husband and wife, that gift will be a single rose.

In the past, the rose was considered a symbol of love and a single rose always meant only one thing - it meant the words "I love you." So it is appropriate that for your first gift - as husband and wife - that gift would be a single rose.

Please exchange your first gift as husband and wife. In some ways it seems like you have not done anything at all. Just a moment ago you were holding one small rose - and now you are holding one small rose. In some ways, a marriage ceremony is like this. In some ways, tomorrow is going to seem no different than yesterday. But in fact today, just now, you both have given and received one of the most valuable and precious gifts of life - one I hope you always remember - the gift of true and abiding love within the devotion of marriage.

_________ and _____________, I would ask that where ever you make your home in the future - whether it be a large and elegant home - or a small and graceful one - that you both pick one very special location for roses; so that on each anniversary of this truly wonderful occasion you both may take a rose to that spot both as a recommitment to your marriage - and a recommitment that this will be a marriage based upon love.

In every marriage there are times where it is difficult to find the right words. It is easiest to hurt who we most love. It is easiest to be most hurt by who we most love. It might be difficult some times to say "I am sorry" or "I forgive you"; "I need you" or "I am hurting". If this should happen, if you simply can not find these words, leave a rose at that spot which both of you have selected - for that rose than says what matters most of all and should overpower all other things and all other words.

That rose says the words: "I still love you." The other should accept this rose for the words which cannot be found, and remember the love and hope that you both share today.

__________ and ________, if there is anything you remember of this marriage ceremony, it is that it was love that brought you here today, it is only love which can make it a glorious union, and it is by love which your marriage shall endure."

Wedding Cakes by Sprinkles Custom Cakes
View a slideshow of their spectacular wedding cakes
Located in Winter Park, FL

Beginning in early Roman times, the cake has been a special part of the wedding celebration. A thin loaf was broken over the bride's head at the close of the ceremony to symbolize fertility. The wheat from which it was made, symbolized fertility and the guests eagerly picked up the crumbs as good luck charms. During the Middle Ages, it became traditional for the couple to kiss over a small cluster of cakes. Later, a clever baker decided to amass all these small cakes together, covering them with frosting. Thus, the modern tiered cake was born.