Thursday, September 10, 2009

Special Gifts For Special Love

By Rene A Lacape

Weddings are joyful events for married couples. Wedding anniversaries are celebrated every year afterwards. With the continuance of success in marriage, couples celebrate wedding anniversaries with contentment and passion.

Apart from the celebration itself, presents are another important element which needs to be taken into consideration. It is a tradition for family members and friends to present their loved ones with gifts on their wedding anniversary to mutually celebrate the joy and happiness shared by the couples in overcoming all obstacles and complications during the years of their marriage. Therefore, the gift item itself must be special, personalized, meaningful and most importantly, it must be able to portray the uniqueness and strength of the couple's commitment and relationship.

It was during the Middle Ages that this tradition of giving gifts on wedding anniversaries started. However, things were very different back then compared to today. In those days, there were guidelines in giving gifts. Different items of different materials were given on different year and bear a symbolic significance. The substance and value of gift would increase as the year increase which depicts the strength and maturity of the marriage.

For instance, during the medieval times, a husband will present his wife with a wreath of silver to celebrate the 25th anniversary or also known as the Silver anniversary. To mark the Golden or 50th anniversary, he would similarly crown the wife with a wreath of gold. This practice, believed to be originated from Central Europe, had since been adopted by many until now. During the Victorian Era, the 60th anniversary was appended to the original 75th diamond anniversary when the English Empire Monarch, Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee on her 60th anniversary of her coronation in 1897. Therefore, people during the era will present their spouse a gift of precious diamond to commemorate their 60th wedding anniversary celebration.

The first attempt to document anniversaries was done by Emily Post in her Blue Book of Social Usage. She had listed 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 50th and 75th as the 'Eight Anniversaries Know to All' and had compiled the corresponding item to each anniversary. In the 1930's, people had started to only celebrate the milestone anniversaries which are the 1st, 10th, 20th, 25th, 50th, and 70th anniversaries and they had determined what sort of anniversary gift were given during that period of time.

The key to buying the perfect wedding anniversary gift is to do a bit of research before you buy. You can always look up books, magazines or websites to gain ideas for the gift. Apart from that, those in the wedding industries such as wedding reception and party supplies vendors can also provide you with some fresh ideas. Whatever your budget, preference or theme, these ideas can also be tailored to it. You can even use the olden day's idea and customize it to your liking such as giving 50th anniversary gift made from gold to your parents such as gold plated frames that held their favorite wedding shot 50 years ago. You can even spoil them with a new set of gold wedding band have it engraved with their name and wedding date.

You may be keen to stick to the traditional gifts according to the list; others might like something modern and stylish. Some irregular ideas for wedding anniversary gifts are also stocking the market and such as the gift sets and memorial candles can also be interesting since they are traditionally used during weddings. Some more ideas that you can reuse are china set, silverware, spa treatment, holiday gateway for two, home appliances, leather goods, jewelries and ornaments.

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