How to Celebrate your Wedding Anniversary

So, congratulations, you’ve made it another year! Whether it’s your first wedding anniversary or your 51st anniversary, every year is a special accomplishment that needs to be celebrated.

Although the default setting might be to go for a fancy meal or throw a party if it’s a big anniversary, those options aren’t for everyone. Sometimes what you want is a nice, chilled way to show your other half that you love them and you appreciate them. After all, that’s what an anniversary is all about.

There are unlimited ways to celebrate your wedding anniversaries, but after a few years, it can be harder and harder to think of new or interesting ways to celebrate your marriage. Don’t worry, that’s why we’re here to help point you in the right direction. Are you ready? Let’s dive in.

Surprise your spouse

First and foremost, it’s always a good idea to start with a surprise. Whether it’s a huge surprise party or surprising them with a delicious meal cooked with love, everyone likes to receive something unexpected.

One of the classic ways to surprise your spouse which is always a crowd pleaser is breakfast in bed. Sneak out of bed early – don’t wake them up with an alarm – and put together a delicious tray of breakfast goodies, some coffee, or even a mimosa. It’s a great way to kick off the day and will put them in a lovely mood for the rest of your anniversary.

It doesn’t have to be a full brunch menu, even if you get some tasty pastries from a local bakery, it’s the forethought that counts and the surprise that goes a long way.

Separate from the food angle, you can surprise your spouse with tickets to their favourite band or a new play. Maybe you’ve organised a quick getaway to a place they’ve been talking about. Maybe you both escape to a spa and get away from it all while still enjoying some quality time together. It’s up to you two, you know this person, back yourself to surprise them!

Get personal

What a lot of people forget about when trying to get inspiration for wedding anniversaries is that it’s a day about the two of you. You know this person better than anyone else, so make it personal. Sure, flowers and chocolates are nice, but it’s not really anything groundbreaking or unique to your special person.

Take inspiration from your first date, your wedding, from a holiday you’ve taken together, from a disastrous anecdote, and use that as the base for your wedding anniversary plans. For example, recreating your first date a decade on provides a warm nostalgia, but also gives you the chance to see how far you’ve come and reminisce.

Maybe one of your holidays sparks a particularly potent memory and you can find that cuisine or music from that culture and have a themed night in. It’s all about drawing on your life together and the things that you love – it’s all about the pair of you after all!

Love through the stomach

The reason going out for a meal, getting a nice takeaway or cooking each other a lovely dinner are all common wedding anniversary plans is because they’re surefire hits. Pretty much everyone loves food and when it’s either made by a loved one or you get to sit down and eat it with a loved one it makes it that much sweeter.

Whether you’re a terrible baker but know that your spouse loves lemon cakes or you remember them mentioning a new restaurant in town, picking up on those little tidbits of information and making them a reality is something beautiful. It’s all about effort and thought.

Of course, if you are going out, don’t forget to book regardless of how quiet you think it might be, and if you’re cooking at home, make sure you can get hold of all the ingredients before you commit to a plan.

Fancy isn’t always better

Finally, when it comes to celebrating your wedding anniversary, the fancy option isn’t always the best option. If you and your spouse love little hole-in-the-wall joints or dive bars, then going for a Michelin starred meal isn’t necessarily going to be a fun celebration for you.

Similarly, just because everyone else is having 25th wedding anniversary parties, that doesn’t mean that you have to as well. Your anniversary is about you and your partner, no one else. Do what you guys want to do. If you want to sit in your comfies and eat Chinese food, do it. If you want to hop on a flight and relax on a beach, do it.

Much like your wedding day, your anniversary should be about the two of you doing what you love, together.

Final tips

Let’s round out this article with a few final tips for getting the most out of your wedding anniversary.

• It’s basic, but do not forget your anniversary. Go into your phone calendar and set a reminder for the week before. It’s not cute to have to run out after work and grab a card and flowers from a petrol station because you forgot. Be better than that, your other half deserves it!
• Don’t feel the pressure to go big if that’s not you guys. If your wedding was a lowkey affair and that’s the vibe that you love, why would you go have a big blow out party for your anniversary? Families and friends mean well when it comes to these kinds of suggestions, but at the end of the day, it’s your anniversary, not theirs.
• You don’t need to one up the year before. If you try to do this you’re going to be broke, exhausted and out of ideas by the ten year mark. Keep it simple and keep the day focused on love. That’s the main point anyway. Chances are if you’re feeling the pressure to beat the previous year, so is your other half. Instead, lay it out on the table and organise something together.

The Sweetest Anniversary Surprise Ever

Go grab your husband / fiancé / significant other and give him an eyeful (aka: not so subtle hint!) of Nathan and Jenna’s gorgeous anniversary session. Shot by Kerinsa Marie Photography & with blooms designed by Violet Floral Design – this gift of flowers and breakfast is too precious!

From Tricia of Violet Floral Design – “Picture this: You open your sleepy eyes to the Saturday morning sunlight pouring in on your comfy duvet. You begin to smell the delicious scents of coffee, ripened fruit, and fresh garden blooms. As you sit up in bed to yawn and stretch you hear the love of your life saying ‘cover your eyes sweetie.’

He walks in with a beautiful hand-tied bouquet that he designed for you, filled with your favourite flowers and a handwritten card. Isn’t this a dream?”

Violet Floral Design – “In Jenna’s case it was real life. Her sweet and thoughtful husband of 2 years, Nathan, decided to pamper her with a few of her favourite things in the comfort of their adorable mid-century modern house in Denver, Colorado on the morning of their 2nd anniversary. I’m not sure I can think of anything more romantic!

Nathan asked their friend and talented photographer Kerinsa Marie Photography to capture their memorable morning and knew that one of Jenna’s favourite things: fresh flowers, needed to make an appearance. That’s where I came in! Nathan asked me to make something lavish and also to bring in some loose flowers so that he could design Jenna a little bouquet.”

“I designed a large, lush, soft arrangement for Jenna to enjoy and Nathan gathered stems and carefully tied a striped Midori ribbon around the most thoughtful bouquet ever made to bring to his beautiful wife.

For the design I created I went for a flirty and feminine colour palette of romantic reds mixed in with some blush tones, hot pinks, and neutral whites and ivories. Their home had the most perfect natural light so to keep with the clean feeling of their décor, I situated the blooms in a vintage Fenton Hobnail milk glass vase to really make the flowers pop.”

Bouquet Recipe:

3 Pink Peonies
7 Red Ranunculuses
7 Fuchsia Anemones
7 White Anemones
5 Pink Majolica Spray Roses
5 Blush Veronica
A Handful of Seeded Eucalyptus

Photography: Kerinsa Marie Photography // Floral Design: Tricia Egan of Violet Floral Design // Ribbon: Midori  // Location: Private residence in Denver, Colorado.