Wedding Anniversary Stones - What Year Are You?

Wouldn't it be nice to receive wedding anniversary stones and/or gems every year? Maybe a nice ring? Nice earrings? Nice pendant?

Although this may not be practical, traditionally, a certain number of years of marriage are celebrated with special anniversary stones or gems. The most common celebrations are for the first, tenth, 25th and 30th and higher wedding anniversaries.

But if you would like to celebrate any number of years of marriage with the gift of a traditional stone or gem , then here is a list of wedding anniversaries:

1st Gold

2nd Garnet

3rd Pearl

4th Topaz (blue)

5th Sapphire

6th Amethyst

7th Onyx

8th Tourmaline

9th Lapis Lazuli (or alternatively an amethyst)

10th Diamond

11th Turquoise

12th Jade

13th Citrine

14th Opal

15th Ruby

16th Peridot

17th Wristwatch

18th Cat's Eye

19th aquamarine

20th Emerald

21st Iolite

22nd Spinel

23rd Imperial Topaz

24th Tanzanite

25th Silver

30th Pearl

35th Emerald

40th Ruby

45th Sapphire

50th Gold

55th Alexandrite

60th Diamond

65th Blue Spinel

70th Sapphire

75th Diamond

80th Ruby

Did you notice there are anniversary stones for every year, except once you get to 25 years! Then you get a new stone only every five years. What is with that?

If you want to celebrate your wedding anniversary or someone else's you can get these anniversary stones made into any number of gifts. You are not restricted to rings and pendants from a traditional jeweler at the mall. For many people, these just end up in a jewelry box or drawer some where, but there are different ways to give a stone or gem as a special gift.

Also, what if you want to make anniversary number 7 the special one, for example? You don't often see a variety of jewelry with Onyx in it. So, sometimes you have to seek out a jewelry maker or jewelry crafter with their own creative studio, for something a bit more original if you want to go by the traditional list of celebration stones.

There are many crafters who can create stunning one of a kind pieces of jewelry, or embed your stone into any number of items. If you don't want the special day to go by without notice, but your partner is not big on jewelry, why not purchase the stone and have it embedded into a beautiful wooden frame with a special photograph?

You can get very creative for your one of a kind special gift. Example: For my husband's grandparents 60th wedding anniversary, we were all stumped as to what to get them. They had everything, and although there was to be a special party, with relatives flying to England from all over the world, we wanted to do something a bit more special.

The chances of all those relatives, being together, from all corners of the world, was not likely to happen again. So, we obviously were going to have to have pictures. We got a photographer, to take group pictures but we wanted something more.

His grandparents, had a special garden at their house they had been in for over 50 years. So, we took a piece of a branch of a special tree he had grown from very small, and we sanded it smooth. It was actually a small knot of the tree, about 4 inches around. After it was sanded smooth, we waxed it, and then had a jewelry maker, create a small plate, where we had a small diamond (for the 60th wedding anniversary) mounted on this little plate with a special note engraved from us. It was mounted to a natural flat spot on this knot of wood. It was very stunning, and totally different from anything you would get in a store.

They had this, along with the beautiful picture of that special time, and are very happy. They had it proudly displayed on their mantel for years, and loved the special wooden knot for the diamond, as both of them were not big on jewelry, and loved their garden and trees, but we were all determined to give them the traditional anniversary stones. Which is this case was a diamond.

You can create modern, original and yet traditional gifts with anniversary stones and gems. You just have to get creative! Note: If you get to anniversary number 75 you will get another diamond! You can never have too many diamonds!