What is the significance of wedding anniversaries?

There are always good reasons to celebrate in life and wedding anniversaries are great ones. If aging as a person requires no effort, accumulating the years of marriage to your loved one represents its share of challenges which deserve to be highlighted. This is why wedding anniversary wishes are so important to people who are officially tying their destiny together.

It is in the work entitled Ceremonies and religious customs of all the peoples of the world dating from 1783 that we find the first writings on a practice associated with the years of marriage. There is mention of silver weddings, celebrated after 25 years of marriage, and golden weddings, celebrated after 50 years of living together . Has this tradition of wedding anniversary wishes been around for a long time? Difficult to trace exactly but several historians agree on a pagan custom rather than a religious one.

To those of silver and gold were then added the diamond wedding at 60, a phenomenon linked to greater life expectancy from the end of the 19th century. But why limit yourself to celebrating weddings every 25 years when you can do it every year? It was also at the time of the industrial revolution and the rise of commercialization that lists on the meaning of wedding anniversaries began to circulate. Each birthday was associated with a plant, animal or mineral material and we found these lists in almanacs or the popular press with slight variations depending on the country.

The cotton wedding is celebrated one year after the union of the newlyweds . This fragile fiber refers to a certain precariousness of a couple regarding their future. Cotton strengthens when woven tightly, a beautiful metaphor that illustrates the importance of standing shoulder to shoulder in the face of the challenges of life as a couple. The following weddings are those of leather (2 years), wheat (3 years), wax (4 years) and wood (5 years). The allusion to wood for the meaning of the 5th wedding anniversary is also very interesting since it is a resistant material which grows thanks to well-anchored roots, an analogy to a relationship which is built on foundations solid. Our list of wedding anniversaries focuses on those that are usually celebrated the most. However, you can view the list of 100 anniversaries here.

Clem and Millie Miltz celebrated their wedding anniversary in 2014 after 80 years together. It can certainly be said that these two Ontario residents have captured the imagination with their years of marriage. It is difficult to imagine that this record will ever be broken unless life expectancy continues to increase. Regardless, the important thing is not to make it to 100 years of marriage but rather to ensure that the health and beauty of your relationship continues through the years. There are certainly a thousand and one ways to celebrate your wedding, but giving a piece of jewelry is probably one of the most meaningful. At Flamme en rose, we create jewelry to celebrate wedding anniversaries that we affectionately call our love jewelry.