Anniversary traditions are important in marriages. A wedding anniversary puts a pin on the calendar to remind you of one of the most important days of your adult life. Anniversaries present couples with the opportunity to reflect on their relationship thus far while the traditions allow couples to come together to celebrate one another’s achievements and love.
It doesn’t matter whether you are celebrating your 1st anniversary or your 10th, every anniversary that passes is a chance to look back and reflect how marriage has shaped you and your spouse. Taking a peek at the past, without letting it rule your lives, can be a significant part of understanding your relationship.
Anniversaries should be happy and carefree. However, they often educe mixed emotions. There is a lot of pressure to do something extraordinary to make the occasion, particularly during those first years of marriage when there is the need to outdo every preceding anniversary.
However, it is also inevitable that life will get in the way. Busy work schedules, chores, kids- life just has a way of conspiring against us and all too often, our relationships are the ones that suffer. So anniversaries are the perfect excuse for you to focus on your relationship and even set objectives for the coming year.
And it’s not just the happiest of couples that should commemorate their anniversaries. If you and your spouse have been struggling and have been through a rough patch, an anniversary can be just what you need to heal the wounds between you and your partner. The day serves as a heartwarming reminder of the day you met and doing something special can illustrate your love and commitment despite the challenges.
Why should you care about wedding anniversary traditions?
Though daunting, anniversaries are all about regrouping the relationship. So it doesn’t matter what you do or plan. A tradition as simple as sharing homemade dinner and talking about the days you first met, dated, fell in love, and finally got married can be a way of reminding yourselves why you got together in the first place.
Of course, it is so much easier to look forward to the big day if there are fanfare and traditions involved. The act of exchanging gifts or creating new memories and traditions is more important than you can imagine. When anniversary traditions are established early on, these rituals take on a more significant meaning as the marriage progresses.
And as time goes on, the rituals become traditions and milestones that you and your spouse can rely on when times eventually get tough. So what might anniversary traditions look like in a marriage? Here are some examples:
Celebrate the small stuff
As a couple, you must celebrate all the big and small wins. Anyone married for some time will tell you that marriage is not all rainbows and unicorns. Marriage is full of ups and downs. As annoying as the downs are, they give your relationship grit or the ability to weather the storms.
Your anniversary is the perfect time to look back at all the trials you have tolerated. These trials, as unwelcome as they have been, are part of your divine storyline. Taking a step back on your 30th or 3rd anniversary to look at how much you fought together as a couple to survive will always deepen your connection and center you.
The year may have been filled with uncertainties, fights, and difficulties but taking a step back on your anniversary to look at how much you fought together as a couple to survive will always deepen your connection and center you.
Learn something new together
For your relationship to make it to the 80th anniversary both spouses have to be proactive when it comes to traditions, which means making an effort to help the love and affection that you have for one another deepen and mature. That cannot happen if you do not connect or grow together which is why it is important to start being intentional about anniversary traditions early in the marriage.
Deepen your love and affection by making it an anniversary tradition to spend time together by taking part in a shared activity or interest. The joint project can be anything that suits you both-bungee jumping, traveling, cooking, or making your own special craft beer literally anything!
Make the traditions a family affair
It can be very easy when you have kids and work demands to deal with to let your anniversary traditions fall by the wayside. But when you disregard your anniversary traditions, the message that you are unintentionally communicating is that your relationship or spouse doesn’t matter as much.
Here is some hard solid truth for you-happy couples don’t blow off anniversary traditions. Observing them is an acknowledgment of how much your spouse and family mean to you. As such, if you can’t find to step away on your own, consider including the family in the celebrations.
Throw a party
It doesn’t matter whether you go big or plan a small shindig with your crew. A party, particularly if you and your spouse are super social, is a great tradition to start on your anniversary. Invite all the people that have supported your relationship over the years. They may want to toast to your marriage, funny or earnest while reminding you all the little things you might have forgotten about each other.
Final Thoughts
What did you do for your last anniversary? Give your spouse a card? Prepare a small dinner at home- no biggie? Did you even remember your anniversary at all? If you didn’t, then you need to change all that.
Wedding anniversaries are just as important as the wedding itself. Celebrating your anniversary and paying special attention to it proves that your marriage or relationship is a priority. Marking the date that you vowed to be with your partner forever allows you to remember the day vividly.
Believe it or not, your memory of your wedding day will change the longer that you are married. This is because our past is often colored by our present. Anniversaries can help you create new traditions that will make your relationship stronger and more committed.
Catalina Grigorasi
