Beyond the Wedding Ceremony: the meaning of anniversaries

I recently celebrated my wedding anniversary with my husband. We exchanged cards and gifts (sugar for our 6th anniversary!), followed by a lovely lunch out.

I find anniversaries always make me feel so reflective, so here's a post below adapted from a previous Instagram post on the importance of celebrating anniversaries and how weddings aren't 'just a day' or 'one big party'. They mark a pivotal moment in our lives and are remembered long after the day itself - especially on anniversaries. I hope you enjoy my musings!

I'm reminded of our wedding day every single day. We have a photo gallery of our family wedding photos right by the front door, along with a vase containing my dried wedding bouquet and a Welsh love spoon engraved with our names hanging on the wall.

While these daily reminders never fail to make me smile, I become even more reflective on anniversaries. First and foremost, anniversaries remind us that weddings aren't just about the day itself; they're a meaningful snapshot in time that trigger beautiful memories and connections with family and friends for years after.

My dried bouquet, Welsh love spoon and anniversary cards from loved ones.

It's the poring over the wedding photo album, the re-reading of your vows and speeches and remembering the bits that made your friends cry, the cards from your family and the Whatsapp messages from your mates in the group chat. When someone shares a photo from the day you'd not seen before. It's remembering those who came who are sadly no longer with us and the new lives created since then. It's reminiscing about 'what were we doing this time that day?' , remembering what headlines had been in the news around that time, and wondering if you'd have chosen the same outfits, food, music and decor if you were doing it all over again today (I've since grown out the pixie haircut I had back then!)

And I hope for those I've had the privilege of marrying and those I'll marry in the future that they'll at the very least remember how they felt as they heard their unique story being relayed back to them, when they said their vows to each other and committed to a shared life together - where their love is celebrated day after day and year after year.

Our Wedding Day in 2019! At Oaks Farm, Surrey. Image by Emily & Steve Photography.

If you're looking for a wedding ceremony that will be remembered long into the future with every anniversary, I'd love to hear from you.

Mair Garland is a humanist wedding celebrant based in London and specialises in bilingual ceremonies in Welsh and French.

Follow Mair on Instagram @garlandceremonies.