Golden Anniversary: Move Over Golden Birthdays Here’s a Modern Take on the Golden Anniversary
Love is golden, and there’s one anniversary celebration in your life you get to deem your golden wedding anniversary! How to calculate your golden anniversary, and fun ideas to celebrate it!
When is your Golden Anniversary?
We’re taking a playbook from the golden birthday concept with a modern take on the golden anniversary.
During my senior year of college, I celebrated my 22nd birthday. When I told my roommate I was going to be 22 on the 22nd and didn’t really have plans, her jaw dropped.
“It’s your GOLDEN BIRTHDAY! We HAVE to come up with big plans!”
She did, I had a lovely surprise party. Thank you the best college roommates ever for that! But before that happened I sat perplexed and asked “What is a golden birthday?”
For those who don’t know, here’s the definition of a golden birthday. It’s when the year you’re turning matches up with the number of the date of your birth. So you could be turning one on the first of the month, and that’s it for you. So any birthday date 1-31 could contain your golden birthday. Day of the month + the same age number = golden birthday!
I’d never heard of this concept before college. But it’s stuck with me ever since that many come up with golden birthday ideas and extra plans to celebrate the big occasion.
The Golden Anniversary
By definition of the golden birthday, your golden anniversary is the year your wedding date matches up with the amount of years you were married.
We were married March 10th, so our 10th anniversary as a married couple was our golden couple year.
Alternately, many people count the 50th anniversary as the golden anniversary. It’s such a milestone accomplishment that many celebrate this golden milestone with a 50th wedding anniversary party.
We think both deserve the title, so feel free to count the date of the years you have been together, as well as a 50th anniversary as the golden anniversary!
Family Birthday
We often refer to our anniversary as our family birthday. It’s the day our family was born and started! Also, our 10th wedding anniversary happened to be our golden anniversary, which I know is a big one! There are all kinds of stats that if you make it this far, you’re through the hardest years and have set a foundation for happiness. That makes my heart sing! I know we still have eternity ahead of us, but I’m so proud of the happy life we’ve built and the foundation for marriage we’ve set.
Because of the family birthday reference, I couldn’t help but realize we’d be turning 10 on the 10th this year: I was INSTANTLY skyrocketed back to college and the golden birthday conversation.
The Golden Anniversary
Traditionally. the golden anniversary is celebrated on your 50th wedding anniversary.
We’re clearly not even close to 50 years together. But, we’re taking a playbook from the golden birthday concept and decided to modernize the golden anniversary and make it match the year you’re celebrating + the date of your celebrating. So this year, it’s Happy Golden Anniversary to us!
Which of course, called for part of our annual anniversary pictures to be golden themed. We followed the color scheme, leaned into gold ink and a gold-colored frame for props, and went with gold gifts for our inspiration.
I knew we wanted something more formal to celebrate this big milestone. So our 10-year anniversary pictures included an almost black-tie dress code with a golden twist.
Formal Dress Anniversary Pictures
I decided a year ago that I’d look for a golden dress to celebrate this big anniversary with some 10th anniversary pictures with some pomp and circumstance! The joke was on me, the world shut down and there weren’t many cocktail and formal dresses produced this year. Luckily, a little time on Amazon lead me to the most perfect golden dress for the occasion. For anyone wondering, here’s the link to my gold formal dress.
We had Jacob wear the same suit he wore on our wedding day. I’m impressed that it’s still in great shape and that he can still rock it! We are huge fans of custom suits, and this tall lean guy has loved this one for 10 years!
10th Wedding Anniversary Pictures
We have the best time taking formal anniversary pictures! Your 10th wedding anniversary is the perfect time to get some updated pictures and go a little fancy!
I made sure to include some cake to celebrate, a few 10 balloons, and signs.
But most of all, I made sure we recreated a few pictures from our wedding day. Because it really was the best day of our lives, and one worth honoring and celebrating.
And at the same time, I’m so glad we only minimally worried about our wedding and focused more on our marriage. Because I’m a lot more proud of the 10 years of marriage and the current relationship than I am of the wedding day. So marrying the two, and celebrating that love is golden felt like the best way to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.
50th Wedding Anniversary Ideas
If you’re at the big 50 and looking for a thoughtful 50th wedding anniversary idea, I’d still recommend a golden themed photo shoot to document the special couple!
This is also a great time to throw a golden anniversary party and invite loved ones to shared 50th anniversary wishes. That’s such an accomplishment and a beautiful example of marriage! I remember attending on for my grandparents, and we all loved the slideshow with pictures from their marriage ceremony.
Grab the golden napkins, golden wreaths, golden streamers, and maybe some confetti. It doesn’t take much, just some golden decorations, some of the couple’s favorite foods, and some guests who know and love them.
Golden Anniversary Gifts
We hope this is an easy one, but anything with gold fits the bill! Think traditional gifts like gold jewelry (a necklace or cufflinks), pictures in a golden frame, or a piece of home decor with gold accents.
Whether you’re celebrating your golden anniversary on the number of year you were married that matches your wedding date, or it’s your 50th anniversary, we congratulate you and this big milestone anniversary!
Like this Golden Anniversary-themed photoshoot? You may like other anniversary photo shoots we’ve done every year!
In Our First Year of Marriage We…
In Our Second Year of Marriage We…
Anniversary #4: Documenting the Highlights of Our Fourth Year Together
Fourth Anniversary #4 Photo Shoot: Part 2
Celebrating Anniversary #6
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Thank you for this post! I asked my boyfriend of 25 years if we could get married on our “golden anniversary”, which happens to be the 26th of July (just a few months away)! You and I think alike. I love the golden balloon photo, definitely going to make that photo happen on our wedding day.
That’s so cute! I love that you made your wedding day so intentional! Congratulations!