Now why would your marriage celebrant be interested in your first wedding anniversary! For me it’s because I think your First Wedding Anniversary is one of the most important anniversaries you will celebrate. It sets the tone for the rest of them. I like to gift my couples something special for their first anniversary celebration and love to hear back from them on how they spent their day. I thought I would share a couple of these very romantic stories with you.

The traditional gift is paper and for most this seems like an incredibly boring gift idea but one couple created a fabulous anniversary gift, something they will both use forever. They wrote 15 ‘Open When…’ letters for each other. ‘Open when you need to know how much I love you, open when you don’t feel beautiful, open when you need a laugh, open when you miss me, open when you’re mad at me, open when you need a date night’ and so on…. These precious letters were delivered in a beautiful box and then put in a safe place to be read as needed. Another overseas bride carried a Tupperware box filled with daily messages, which she presented to her groom on their wedding day.

The phenomenal power and awesome effect of a love letter is also something that is often underestimated. When you are writing a letter you can take your time, reconsider and rewrite your words until they perfectly reflect your thoughts and feelings. It’s the same when you’re reading a love letter, you can read it over and over again. Each time you again enjoy and savour those wonderful words of love and affection. If you are looking for a special gift that will earn you endless brownie points, write a love letter to your lover.

Michael and Alyssa were married under a tree on their farm. Not just any tree but an ancient and stunningly beautiful tree, which held many special memories for them both. On their first anniversary they decided to celebrate by standing under the tree and reading their wedding vows to each other again, at the same time the ceremony was held the previous year. They plan to do this every year to remind each other of their intentions for the growth of their love and marriage.

Starting your own wedding anniversary traditions and rituals is a great way to make these celebrations really unique and especially meaningful for you. Hopefully you will have many of these anniversaries to celebrate and reminisce over.