Art of Jewelry

Wedding anniversaries are an ideal occasion for a married couple to celebrate the years of their togetherness and their love for each other. Earlier, people used to celebrate their 25th and 50th anniversary with a craze referring them as silver and golden jubilee anniversary respectively. The tradition of giving the anniversary gifts has come up with the feeling of expressing the love and gratitude to each other. But now every anniversary is celebrated with the same enthusiasm.

In the early years of marriage, couples exchange the general household items that help in starting the new home together. The expensive luxury items are given in the later years of marriage when the couple has already acquired things they need for the home. More expensive and luxury products have their own significance in the lives. However, some years of anniversaries are associated with a theme. Like the first marriage anniversary is associated with paper. It signifies the strength of the interlocked fibers and some modern thinkers believe it a symbol of timeless eternal love for the partner. The 1st anniversary gifts can be chosen from precious stones and metals. Gold jewellery, pearls and peridot are the relevant things for the first anniversary gift.

The second anniversary is related to cotton. It is because the cotton is always linked with durability and prosperity. And, the associated color of second anniversary is red; therefore, red gemstones and flowers are the best options available to incorporate in the anniversary gifts. Some modern thinkers associate the second anniversary with china and its relevant anniversary gifts are tee-shirt, a personalized anniversary plate or mug etc.

Leather is the theme of third anniversary as it is highly durable which is similar with the durability of the marriage. The leather products like jackets, wallets, hand bags, leather bound book or any other leather product is the associated anniversary gift for the third year of marriage. The related color of third anniversary is white or green. So, if you like to give jewellery as anniversary gift, jade gemstone and pearls are the best anniversary gifts. Similarly the fourth anniversary symbolizes fruit and flowers. Traditionally, this theme stands for fruitful blossoming relationship. Hence, less romantic and sensible gifts are the appropriate to be chosen as anniversary gift. Blue and green are the colors of fourth anniversary; hence blue topaz is another option available at your disposal.

Apart from these suggested options, personalized anniversary gifts can be the given as they express the feelings of the partner and makes the present meaningful. And, it is totally your personal preference how you want to give the present to your spouse; either you give the anniversary gift in front of all the guests or give it personally in private. But, the presentation of the gift makes it special for each other.

Jewellery, dinner services, cutlery, ornaments and keepsakes were always the traditional 25th anniversary gifts – invariably either made of silver or silver plated. This reward for the quarter century has no doubt been appreciated down the years, but silver goes in and out of fashion and if we’re honest, many of the gifts are not the most practical around – and may not always sit comfortably with their self-assembled pine lounge unit.

So we have three ideas to play with: silver the metal, silver the colour and the twenty-five year theme. Once you know which route to take and what your budget is, each can be used as the basis of a fabulous gift that will still be fondly remembered when they’re approaching their golden anniversary.

Let’s start with silver. As a precious metal it’s obviously going to be expensive in its solid form, but there’s no reason why something silver plated can’t be given. At the very least, you’ll know they won’t melt it down or pawn it – a key consideration with some couples. Silver-plated champagne flutes and picture frames will always go down well. They have the unmistakeable air of celebration about them and will be used for decades to come. It’s normal to place a humorous photo of the couple in the frame, but it’s not advisable to pre-fill the flutes, especially if you’re wrapping them.

Now we move on to silver the colour. Most metals have a silver hue to them, but chrome and palladium make particularly good substitutes. Articles plated with these metals will still count as silver anniversary gifts, but will probably cost a little less than their sterling equivalents. You can really let your imagination run wild with this colour in mind, as more or less anything reflective, like a mirror, will pass the silver test. And make sure you get silver wrapping paper and ribbon, too.

Since it’s 25th anniversary gifts you’re after, why not step back in time twenty-five years? You don’t need to reference silver at all! You can order a newspaper from the day of the wedding, get a CD of hits from that year or even go for a 25-year-old malt whiskey.

All in all, the silver anniversary can open up a host of gift ideas. There really only need to be one hallmark involved – the hallmark of a successful marriage. And twenty-five years is certainly that!

You may have heard over the years that there is a different type of gift that is customary to give on each wedding anniversary, depending on the number of years of marriage. For instance, traditionally the first anniversary is occasion for a paper gift and the second cotton, while the fifth anniversary is the perfect milestone for giving a gift made of wood. Under this traditional anniversary gift giving paradigm, the gifts tend to be more valuable as the years go on, with the tenth anniversary gift reaching the splendor of tin or aluminum and the fifteenth anniversary being a gift of crystal. And only after a quarter of a century of marriage do the gift types begin to suggest jewelry, starting with the beautiful precious metal silver on the twenty-fifth anniversary. The precious metals and fine gems take over from there, with the traditional fortieth anniversary gift being ruby, the forty-fifth sapphire and the fiftieth gold. After sixty years of marriage, the traditional anniversary gift is a diamond, a highly valuable gem representing stability and longevity.

These days, of course, most spouses tend to deviate from the traditional anniversary gifts completely. Instead, many people opt for giving gifts more luxurious than the customary paper, tin or cotton, and men often give jewelry for anniversary gifts long before the twenty five year milestone. Someone has even composed a modernized version of the traditional anniversary gift giving decree, updated with diamonds appearing for multiple anniversaries and suggestions overall reflecting more valuable gifts. Regardless of whether you adhere to a traditional series of anniversary gifts or not, gifts are meant to reflect the sentiment that you are celebrating.

An anniversary gift is a personal gesture, and one that can leave people feeling particularly pressured to come up with the perfect idea. Perhaps this explains why the traditional anniversary gift list originated in the first place. Many will argue that a gift such as a brilliant ruby or diamond ring would make any woman happy, and for the most part this may very well be true. But the most important aspect in giving an anniversary gift is that the gift reflects what you think would make the other person happy. For some people, diamond eternity rings make the perfect gift, for others it may be tickets to an event, or just a home cooked meal. You are the one person who knows your spouse better than anyone else, and the perfect gift idea is one that reflects that.