Words for the card, the toast and the caption — sorted by milestone, plus what to write when you have to say something in front of people.
In this guide
- For a first anniversary
- For the milestone years
- For your own partner
- Quotes worth borrowing
- Writing a toast for someone else's anniversary
- What to write when you barely know them
For a first anniversary
- “One year of you, and the best part is how ordinary it already feels.”
- “Same vows, more evidence.”
- “A year ago you promised me all of this. Turns out you meant it.”
- “Year one: survived, thrived, would do again.”
For the milestone years
- “Ten years, and I would still choose the same Saturday.”
- “Twenty-five years of you doing the difficult things quietly.”
- “Fifty years. The rest of us are still taking notes.”
- “Whatever it is you two have, please write it down.”
For your own partner
- “I did not know what I was promising. I am glad I promised it anyway.”
- “You are still the person I want to tell things to first.”
- “Thank you for the years I will not remember individually and would not trade.”
- “Every year I understand the vows a little better.”
Quotes worth borrowing
- “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” — Mignon McLaughlin
- “Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but of looking outward together.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- “You don't marry someone you can live with. You marry the person you cannot live without.”
- “Grow old along with me; the best is yet to be.” — Robert Browning
Writing a toast for someone else's anniversary
Three parts: how they met, one story that shows what they are like together, and one line about what the rest of us learn from them. Two minutes. Practise it out loud once, and do not read it from a phone.
Say their names. Toasts that never name the couple are speeches about marriage.
What to write when you barely know them
Keep it short and warm and about them rather than about marriage in general: “Congratulations on twenty-five years — it is lovely to see two people who so obviously still like each other.” Sincerity at four lines beats a paragraph of borrowed philosophy.
From Sagevow
A personalised keepsake — names, date, the vows themselves — outlasts every other anniversary gift on the list.
