Today’s blog is all about anniversaries in honor of my eight year anniversary with my sweet hubby today. We tied the knot eight years ago, at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market, at the young age of 21 and 22. We were fresh out of college and had spent the past four years at different colleges. We were more than ready to start our lives together. We spent so much time planning our wedding day and I look back on the day with such sweet memories. I’m so glad that we also prepared for our marriage during our engagement. We had deep conversations about our goals and dreams for the future, discussed our roles in our marriage partnership and completed a pre-martial course with our pastor. 
For those of you that are dating or engaged, I thought about planning for future anniversaries while wedding planning and I came up with a few ideas of traditions to start on your wedding day. The goal is to start a new tradition on your wedding day and then continue it every year on your anniversary. This will help you remember your sweet wedding day every year and keep you young!
- A lot of couples like to write letters to each other before the ceremony. These letters can be exchanged the night before the wedding, delivered hours or minutes before the ceremony, during a First Look, or read to each other during the ceremony. If you choose to write letters on your wedding day, you could write them in a nice journal and continue writing letters every year. It would be so sweet to have the letters in one place to show how your love and life grows over the years. This love letter journal could be a testament of your love for your future children and grandchildren.
- In lieu of a unity candle during the ceremony, consider placing your favorite bottle of wine in a wooden box with a few love notes to each other, including hopes for the future. Nail the box shut and keep it sealed until your first anniversary. 365 days later, open the box together, enjoy the wine, read the notes, and then replace the box with a new bottle and new notes for next year. Make sure you leave the notes from the previous years inside the box to be read every year!
- If you or your fiancé are musicians, you might already be planning to play or sing a song during the ceremony. Oh, this is so romantic! Every year, play a recording of that same song and dance together in your living room. Remember those same feelings you had as the first time you heard it. If you aren’t musically talented (like me), you can play your First Dance song every anniversary and dance together in your home. I recommend hitting repeat a few times.
- The most typical way to celebrate a wedding anniversary is to look through wedding photos, album, or to watch the wedding video. This is such a great way to relive your beautiful day! A fun way to keep it fresh is to replace the photos in the frames on your walls with new wedding pictures. You can admire different wedding photos every year as you walk through your halls, brush your teeth, do the laundry, cook dinner, etc.
- Have you hired your caterer yet? I’m sure you did a yummy taste test and picked your favorite foods to serve to your favorite people at the wedding reception. On your anniversary, consider going grocery shopping together and recreating your wedding meal together. If a restaurant or a small catering company provided the food at your wedding, you might be able to buy the same exact meal for two people. You could even wear your wedding dress and tux to dinner… just be careful not to spill.
- Are you planning a glamorous honeymoon? Or a cozy, close to home trip? Either way, I would love for all couples to be able to take a replica trip every anniversary to their honeymoon location. You could reflect on your first days (and nights) as husband and wife. If you can’t make it back to your special destination every year, Google maps can be a great alternative! Use the Earth feature to get real views and stroll/click through the same streets of your honeymoon. You could also look on YouTube for videos of your special location.
- One more idea. Buy white lingerie to wear on your wedding night. For the rest of the year, keep it tucked away in the back of a drawer. It’s only to be worn once a year. Added bonus, it will encourage you to stay in shape throughout the years!
There are so many ways to celebrate anniversaries, including the typical list of presents to be given each year. These are just a few unique and special traditions that could be started on your wedding day and continued every year. If you have any other ideas, I’d love to see your thoughts in the comments!
Our wedding photos were created by KT Crabb Photography
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