A good friend of mine is meeting with his pastor this evening so that he and his bride can submit letters detailing ten reasons why they are marrying each other. In a year, the pastor will send the letters to them in the mail as a sweet reminder of all of the passion and excitement they feel right now.
I love the idea of using your wedding planning process to build in romantic traditions that you can use to celebrate your love year after year. In addition to sending yourself letters, try some of these ideas to make sure your first (and fiftieth!) anniversary is bursting with romance and passion:
- Let Them Eat Cake! Many couples defrost a slice of their wedding cake to eat during their one-year anniversary, but why not carry the tradition over indefinitely? Choose a timeless cake flavor you can make yourself, so that you can celebrate each year of wedded bliss with the same sweet treat.
- Relive the Memories. Watch your wedding video, flip through your scrapbook and scan through photos to remember all of the good times. Some couples even arrange for the videographer to film wedding guests giving advice specifically for after the first year, and then they wait to watch the video until their first anniversary.
- Mini-Ceremonies. While you rehearse your wedding ceremony, think about little parts of the tradition that you could relive at each anniversary celebration. Even if it’s just you, your spouse, a bottle of wine and a box of Chinese takeout, you could both stand up and renew your vows, slipping your rings on each other’s fingers again and repeating your favorite part of your big day.
- Watch Your Love Grow. Immediately after your ceremony, plant a tree in the backyard. Take a photo with it each year on your anniversary so you can document how your love has grown since the day you said, “I do.” If you rent, use a houseplant or plant your wedding flowers at every place you live to keep the tradition going.
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June 22nd, 2009 at 9:07 am
The idea of writing letters is awesome. Great idea. Eating the cake on your 1 year anniversary is great.. but make sure you properly store it in the fridge. If you don’t, it’ll taste like freezer.. pretty disgusting.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Love the idea of writing letters to read on your anniversary. Perhaps couples could keep the tradition (and the romance) going by composing new letters each anniversary to be read on their next anniversary.
As an alternative to leaving the letters with someone, couples could use a service such as Send Out Cards (www.SendOutCards.com/joditt) to create a beautiful personalized card that would be printed and mailed for them on a specified date.
I also love the idea of planting a tree or houseplant as a living reminder of your commitment to each other.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Cute and original ideas! Sending this link to all my favorite couples