Celebrating our Wedding Anniversary

Two years. It's gone by in a flash! Cotton is the traditional gift for a second anniversary, so predictably I bought Andy a shirt. But I also made him a cross stitch. I'd been planning to do this for months, but of course I left it to the last possible minute. I ended up bunking off work on our anniversary to finish and mount it before Andy got home.

Heavily influenced my Pinterest I plotted a chart and pinched my Mum's collection of silks to stitch with. It's not perfect but I'm happy with it. Andy seemed to like it too.


Of course I saw this as a perfect opportunity to wear my wedding dress again. The chill in the air had me reaching for my tweed jacket, but it didn't feel any less fabulous!

We opened cards, looked though our wedding album, and read our guest book. He gave me the biggest bunch of flowers, and then cooked supper.

The bunch of flowers was so big it had to be split between three vases, and with all the cards up, our lounge felt very much like it did just after the wedding. Lovely.

Making daisy chains with my niece
 
This should be done every spring. A daisy crown was made for me and I wore it all afternoon, answering only to 'Your Majesty'.


Pottering in the garden

It's that time of year when I start to  pay attention to my much neglected garden. After a visit to a local garden centre to pick up a box shrub and a rather lovely metal yellow watering can (an absolute essential for any garden) I've planted some seeds, pruned a few shrubs, re-potted a few things, had a general tidy up and made a few plans for some new plants and shrubs. I can lose hours just doing bits and pieces, lost in my own little world, it's the best therapy there is.

Have you had a good week?

It was a six months ago now, but for our first anniversary we headed back to the scene of the crime - spending the night in the hotel where we were married.

Apparently it's not socially acceptable to wear your wedding dress in public the after the wedding day itself, so I had to make do with my 'day after' dress instead.

No matter what I knew I was going to wear this dress on our anniversary, even if we'd spent the evening in front of the TV (actually that's not true, if we'd done that I totally would've worn my wedding dress).

Anyway, I went with black shoes, a silver beaded bag, and a dark red pashmina, and painted my nails in my 'wedding red'. I wore the earrings I would've worn on our wedding day if Andy hadn't surprised me with pearl studs (and necklace) on the eve of our wedding.


Andy arranged for private dining in the McCallum Room where our ceremony was held. I had no idea we were eating in there and might have cried a tiny bit when I realised.

We sat opposite each other on a long table, with candles, a vase of red roses, and a white table cloth scattered with rose petals and tealights.

Our meal was delicious! The stunning medieval building and the excellent food were the main reasons we picked The Swan as our wedding venue. We've always been impressed with the food and quality of service, and Lavenham is such a beautiful village - worth a visit if you're ever in Suffolk.


The hotel bought back so many lovely memories - even the smell of the place took me back to our wedding day. The food was outstanding, the gin was crisp and cold, and the company wasn't bad either.

It was a super way to celebrate our first anniversary, and it felt nice to be wearing my day after dress again. Only six months until our second...

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary at the weekend. The traditional gift to give your spouse is paper.

When it comes to paper gifts I found lots of lovely ideas. I remember one of my friends gave his wife the sheet music of their first dance in a frame. And somewhere in the depths of my memory he gave her a print of the place he proposed (Blakeney Point, Norfolk) too.

They were the first of my friends to get married and strangely I don't know what any of my other friends gave each other after that (although I now intend to find out)!

I wanted to give Andy something personal. The best part of our wedding day was exchanging our vows. We felt like the only people in the room, lost in the moment together.

I decided to create a memento using our vows and one of our wedding photos. I love this photo, I thought it was perfect as it has a wandering off into the sunset to live happily ever after feel about it.


I added our vows, his at the top, mine below using the same fonts and heart detail from our invitations. I then uploaded the image to Photobox and ordered a single print, which I framed and wrapped up. It's printed on paper, albeit photographic, so to my mind it fits the theme.

Andy loves it and put it on the window sill in the lounge, where he can see it everyday.

I also gave him The Good Wife series one DVD boxset, the name seemed apt even if the subject matter isn't, and a set of Uno cards. On a recent weekend away Andy played for the first time and enjoyed it (he won a lot), the paper reference was too hard to ignore, especially as we often play cards together.


For his card I made the most of Moonpig and used my vows (again) for the design. Inside I added a date card for a meal at a steak house, to give us an evening out to look forward to next month.

Before deciding on my final gifts, I had a bit of a poke about the internet for some inspiration and I fell in love with this paper cut frame from Not On The High Street. But I realised if I bought it, it would be because I wanted it rather than because I thought Andy would love it.


Personalised First Wedding Anniversary Papercut  |  Not On The High Street  |  £30.00

Personalised Song Lyrics Print  |  Not On The High Street  |  £34.00

I was taken by this idea of using lyrics from your wedding song. Thinking Out Loud is our first dance, so this kinda had me at 'hello', but again this would've been more for me than Andy.

I love the line 'we found love right where we are', because for years Andy and I used to drink in the same pub but our paths never crossed. The romantic in me thinks that when we did meet, it was exactly when and where we were supposed to, and not a moment sooner.

What did you / would you give as a paper gift?

Today is our first wedding anniversary. We're celebrating with a meal at the hotel we got married in. I like to think of this as our hotel now, we own it. Or at least that's how it feels.

I got the impression that the first year of marriage was hard, I don't know where this idea came from, it was just there, lurking. I obviously heard or read it somewhere and it stuck.

On my hen night, as I settled down for a sleepover at my best friend's house, I asked the girls 'is the first year really hard?'. They said no, just keep communicating and doing what you're doing. They were right (of course they were, they're a wise bunch - crazy, loyal, fun, and fabulous too but that's another post entirely).

And it's true, the first year hasn't been hard. It's been great.

Lots of people say that a marriage certificate, a piece of paper, doesn't change a thing but I disagree.

Andy and are closer than ever. I feel like I belong more than I ever have. And it's because of that day we shared a year ago - that amazing, magical, perfect day. In some ways even sharing the day itself brought us closer together.

I loved getting married. But I love being married even more.

That's not to say there haven't been difficult moments, there have, and the girls were right, communication was the all important factor. I'm certain there will be more tough times mixed in with the good along the way, but in exchanging our vows we made a promise to each other, to share the joys and the sorrows together, and it's a promise we both take seriously and value highly.

No matter what life throws our way, we're a team for the rest of our lives together.

I mentioned in my previous post that receiving things with my name on makes me happy. And what better way to follow that than to share my new make up bag, a Christmas gift from my husband.

It's roomy and stylish, and IT'S GOT MY NAME ON IT!!

It's made by Tillyanna and sold via Not On The High Street. I had to have a little looky-see at the full range. I know that loads of sellers offer to personalise items these days, but it's as if this range was made for me!


This cushion (I do love a cushion) needs no explanation, but I'd have to get one for Socks too!

And this cushion uses the same font that I used on our wedding invitations. I'm thinking it would make a lovely anniversary gift, but I'll have to wait, the first is paper, followed by cotton for our second.


It also comes as a tote bag #justsayin'