Wedding Anniversary Years: Every Anniversary Name & Gift, Year by Year

Every wedding anniversary has a name. Some you will already know: silver for 25 years, ruby for 40, golden for 50. Others catch people out. The sixth anniversary is sugar, the eighth is salt, and the tenth, rather unromantically, is tin. Each material was chosen to say something about that stage of a marriage, from the fragile paper of year one to the unbreakable diamond of year sixty.

This guide covers the lot. Below you will find the traditional UK name and the modern name for every wedding anniversary year, a gift idea for each, and a closer look at the big milestones with suggestions you can personalise with your own names, dates and messages.

What is each anniversary called?

There are actually two lists. The traditional list has Victorian roots and gives most years a symbolic material, starting humble (paper, cotton) and growing more precious as the years stack up. The modern list was drawn up in twentieth-century America and tends to be more practical, which is why it offers clocks for year one and appliances for year four. Neither is more correct than the other, so treat them as two sources of inspiration when you are choosing anniversary gifts by year.

Here is the full run-down. Where a year has no traditional UK name, most people simply follow the modern one.

Year	Traditional UK name	Modern name	Gift idea
1	Paper	Clocks	A personalised print of your wedding date or first-dance lyrics
2	Cotton	China	A printed cushion with your names and date
3	Leather	Crystal or glass	An engraved leather wallet, keyring or notebook
4	Fruit and flowers	Electrical appliances	A botanical print personalised with your names
5	Wood	Silverware	An engraved wooden photo frame or chopping board
6	Sugar	Wood	A personalised treat jar or wooden keepsake
7	Wool or copper	Desk sets	A cosy throw or an engraved copper keepsake
8	Salt	Linen or lace	A personalised salt and pepper set or tea towel
9	Copper	Leather	A copper-toned print or engraved leather gift
10	Tin	Diamond jewellery	An engraved keepsake tin for ten years of memories
11	Steel	Fashion jewellery	An engraved stainless steel hip flask
12	Silk and fine linen	Pearls	A silky-soft cushion or pearl-detail jewellery
13	Lace	Textiles	A lace-mounted wedding photo in a personalised frame
14	Ivory	Gold jewellery	An ivory-toned print with your wedding details
15	Crystal	Watches	Engraved crystal glassware for two
16	–	Silver holloware	A silver-toned frame with a favourite photo
17	–	Furniture	Something personalised for the home you have built together
18	–	Porcelain	A porcelain mug printed with names or initials
19	–	Bronze	A bronze-toned keepsake or print
20	China	Platinum	A personalised china mug set or plate
21	–	Brass or nickel	An engraved brass compass or keyring
22	–	Copper	Engraved copper mugs for evening drinks
23	–	Silver plate	A silver-plated trinket dish, engraved with a message
24	–	Musical instruments	A framed print of the song that is "yours"
25	Silver	Silver	An engraved silver-plated photo frame
26	–	Original art	A personalised print telling the story of your years together
27	–	Sculpture	A personalised ornament or keepsake
28	–	Orchids	An orchid in a pot alongside a printed message
29	–	New furniture	A personalised cushion for their favourite chair
30	Pearl	Diamond	A pearl-themed print or keepsake box
35	Coral	Jade	A coral-toned print marking 35 years of dates
40	Ruby	Ruby	Ruby-red glassware engraved with your names
45	Sapphire	Sapphire	A sapphire-blue keepsake with your wedding date
50	Golden	Gold	Gold-rimmed champagne flutes, engraved
55	Emerald	Emerald	An emerald-green print marking the year you married
60	Diamond	Diamond	An engraved crystal decanter or pair of glasses
65	Blue sapphire	Blue sapphire	A framed family photo spanning the generations
70	Platinum	Platinum	A personalised photo album of seventy years

1st wedding anniversary: the paper anniversary

Paper suits year one rather well. The marriage is new, the story has just started, and there is only one page written so far. It also happens to be one of the easiest materials to make personal.

A print of your wedding date, the lyrics from your first dance, or a map of the place you married all work beautifully, especially framed and personalised with your names. If your first year has flown by in a blur, a keepsake that pins down the date itself is a lovely way to slow it down. You will find these and more in our 1st anniversary gifts collection, and because you see a live preview of your personalisation before you buy, you know exactly how the finished piece will look.

10th wedding anniversary: the tin anniversary

Tin sounds like an anticlimax after a decade of marriage, but the meaning behind it is sound. Tin protects what is kept inside it, which is why the classic tenth anniversary gift is a keepsake tin: somewhere to store ten years of tickets, photos and scribbled notes.

An engraved tin box with your names and wedding date makes the point nicely. A tenth anniversary print counting the years, or an engraved hip flask for the traditionalist who would rather toast the decade, are strong alternatives. Browse the full range of 10th anniversary gifts for ideas you can personalise with a date or message.

25th wedding anniversary: the silver wedding

The silver wedding is the first of the truly big milestones, and the tradition of marking 25 years with silver is said to go back centuries. It is the anniversary most likely to involve a proper party, which means gifts often come from family and friends as well as from each other.

An engraved silver-plated photo frame holding a wedding photo is the classic, and hard to beat. A print marking 25 years, personalised with both names and the original wedding date, works well as a gift from children to parents. Engraved glassware for the celebration itself covers the couple who insist they need nothing. Our 25th anniversary gifts collection has options for all three approaches.

40th wedding anniversary: the ruby wedding

Forty years is the ruby wedding, and the symbolism is easy to like: a deep red stone standing for a flame that has kept burning. Ruby-red is also a generous colour to design around, which makes this one of the easier milestones to shop for.

Ruby-red glassware engraved with the couple's names and the year they married is a favourite. A ruby anniversary print, personalised with the wedding date and a short message, suits couples who prefer something for the wall over something for the cupboard. For more, have a look through our 40th anniversary collection.

50th wedding anniversary: the golden wedding

Fifty years of marriage is the golden wedding, and it deserves the fuss. Like the silver wedding, this is usually a family occasion, and the best gifts tend to be the ones that acknowledge everything those fifty years have held: the children, the grandchildren, the houses, the lot.

Gold-rimmed champagne flutes engraved with the couple's names give the toast something to be drunk from. A golden anniversary print with the wedding date and a line about the family they have built makes a moving gift from children or grandchildren. A framed photo from the original wedding day, personalised underneath, is the sort of thing that gets pride of place for the next decade. Start with our 50th anniversary gifts collection.

60th wedding anniversary: the diamond wedding

Sixty years is the diamond wedding, an association often traced back to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Couples reaching it in the UK can even receive a congratulatory card from the King, which tells you how rare and remarkable a milestone it is.

Gifts here are nearly always from family. An engraved crystal decanter or pair of glasses nods to the diamond theme without the diamond price tag. A framed print celebrating sixty years, personalised with names, the wedding date and the family tree that grew from it, is often the one that brings a tear. See our personalised 60th wedding anniversary gifts for pieces made for exactly this occasion.

What is the golden wedding anniversary?

The golden wedding anniversary marks 50 years of marriage. Gold is the symbol on both the traditional and modern lists, chosen for its value and its resistance to tarnish, which feels about right after half a century together. Golden weddings are usually celebrated with a family gathering, and gifts typically pick up the gold theme: gold-rimmed glassware, gold-accented prints and keepsakes personalised with the couple's names and wedding date.

What are the modern anniversary gifts?

The modern anniversary list is a twentieth-century American addition that runs alongside the traditional one. It swaps some of the more abstract materials for practical gift categories: clocks for the 1st, china for the 2nd, appliances for the 4th, diamond jewellery for the 10th, watches for the 15th and platinum for the 20th. From the 25th anniversary onwards the two lists largely agree, with silver, ruby, gold and diamond marking the same milestones on both. Use whichever list gives you the better idea. Nobody is checking.

How do you choose a gift that feels personal?

Treat the material as a starting point rather than a rule. What makes an anniversary gift land is not the tin or the silver, it is seeing your own names, your wedding date and your words on it. Everything we make can be personalised, you see a live preview before you order, and each piece is made to order and dispatched in 1 to 3 working days.

If you would rather browse than follow the year, our full anniversary gifts collection covers every milestone. You can also narrow it down with anniversary gifts for him, anniversary gifts for her, or anniversary gifts for couples if you are buying for the pair of them. Whichever year you are celebrating, make it theirs.