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Wedding anniversary

Married persons who regard their marriage as important may mark the anniversary of their wedding in some special way.

Broader groups in society, especially the families, and even more especially the children of such a couple may help to celebrate such occasions.

Retailers (especially jewellers), scenting a profit opportunity, have encouraged gift-giving on such wedding anniversaries, and may often suggest a hierarchy of types of gifts to reflect the importance of longer years of marriage (and perhaps of greater ability to purchase more expensive gifts).

Standard associations of such anniversaries have come to include:

• 25th anniversary: silver
• 30th anniversary: pearl
• 35th anniversary: coral
• 40th anniversary: ruby
• 45th anniversary: sapphire
• 50th anniversary: gold
• 55th anniversary: emerald
• 60th anniversary: diamond

A sample of a slightly more ambitious (but less-widely recognised) list, exhibits the practicality of certain cheap but frequent gifts in the early years of marriage, combined with the ratchetting up of value:

• 1 paper
• 2 cotton
• 3 leather
• 4 linen
• 5 wood
• 6 iron
• 7 wool
• 8 bronze
• 9 pottery
• 10 tin
• 11 steel
• 12 silk
• 13 lace
• 14 ivory
• 15 crystal
• 20 chinaware
• 25 silver
• 30 pearl
• 35 coral
• 40 ruby
• 45 sapphire
• 50 gold
• 55 emerald
• 60 diamond
• 65 blue sapphire
• 70 platinum

In German usage wedding anniversaries have many associations, such as the following, adapted from the German BambooWeb:

• 0 - green wedding or white wedding
• ½ - dream wedding
• ¾ - beer
• 1 - paper
• 2 - cotton
• 3 - leather, fruit, fir tree, wheat
• 4 - silk, amber, linen, wine, wax
• 5 - wood, diligence (if the couple have children), cattle (if the couple have no children), rubber, windsock
  • The couple have become used to one another, and the marriage appears stable. Carved wooden figures symbolise the stability.
• 6 - tin, sugar
• 6¼ - mutton
• 7 - copper, wool, brass
• 8 - sheet metal, corn poppy, nickel, stone, earthenware, salt, bronze
• 9 - ceramics, porcelain, Faïence, glass, crystal, cattle, water, pasture
• 10 - roses, wood, bronze, glass, sheet metal, tin, cattle
  • The marriage, in full bloom, occasions gifts of red roses, the flowers of love.
  • In northern Germany neighbours and relatives of a couple married for 10 years decorate the entrance to their house with wooden garlands made of yokes.
• 11 - steel, coral, carnival
• 12 - nickel, silk, earth, linen
• 12½ - parsley, bronze, violets
• 13 - violets, lily of the valley, salt, lace
• 14 - ivory, blue, agate
• 15 - crystal, clothing, rags, glass, bottles
• 16 - sapphire (compare 45 and 55)
• 17 - orchids
• 18 - turquoise
• 19 - Cretonne, mother-of pearl
• 20 - porcelain, chrysanthemum
• 21 - beechwood, opal
• 22 - bronze, tourmaline
• 23 - beryl, titanium
• 24 - satin, silk
• 25 - silver
  • The marriage has lasted a quarter of a century. On this day silver decorates everything. The marriage should remain of lasting worth.
• 26 - jade, oak
• 27 - jute, mahogany
• 28 - carnations, nickel
• 29 - velvet, ebony
• 30 - pearl
  • The years of marriage follow each other like pearls on a string: accordingly a husband will give his wife a pearl necklace.
• 31 - basan, lime-wood
• 32 - soap, lapis lazuli, copper
• 33 - porphyry, tin
• 33½ - garlic, vegetables
• 34 - amber, emerald
• 35 - canvas, coral, jade, linen, clothing, ruby
• 36 - moon, muslin, emerald
• 37 - malachite, paper
• 37½ - aluminium
• 38 - fire, mercury (quicksilver)
• 39 - sun, crepe
• 40 - ruby, garnet, emerald
  • After four decades of marriage the fire of love remains unextinguished; accordingly a ruby enhances the wedding ring.
• 41 - birch, iron
• 42 - garnet, mother-of-pearl
• 43 - lead, flannel
• 44 - stars, topaz
• 45 - brass, sapphire, edelweiss, platinum, tourmaline, gilt
• 46 - lavender, marble
• 47 - cashmere, sapphire
• 48 - amethyst, diadem
• 49 - Uranus, cedar
• 50 - gold
  • The marriage has become as precious, glittering and secure as gold, the noblest metal. Often a renewed religious blessing takes place.
• 51 - willow
• 52 - topaz
• 53 - Uranus
• 54 - Zeus
• 55 - sapphire, platinum, jewels, emerald
• 60 - diamante, diamond
  • Diamonds symbolise love, strength and brilliance for all eternity.
• 61 - elm
• 62 - aquamarine
• 63 - mercury (quicksilver)
• 64 - heaven
• 65 - iron
  • The married couple have experience the vicissitudes of almost an entire human lifetime: often that demands an iron will.
• 67 - stone
• 70 - platinum, grace, copper
  • The grace of God gives the couple a long, very seldom granted, life together.
• 72½ - jewels
  • A long life together, with many sorrows and joys, will soon end. Its value far exceeds that of the most expensive jewels.
• 75 - crown jewels, radium, stone, alabaster, grace, iron
• 80 - oak
• 100 - heaven

Compare: Golden Jubilee, hierarchy of precious substances.