The first wedding anniversary is paper. It is the cheapest theme on the traditional list and, awkwardly, the one people find hardest — because "paper" sounds like a card and nothing else.
It is not. Paper covers prints, photographs, books, tickets, letters and anything printed, which makes the first anniversary one of the easier ones to do properly on a small budget.
Why paper?
The traditional list assigns a material to each year, starting fragile and getting more durable — paper, cotton, leather, then on through wood, tin and silver to gold. The usual reading is that a marriage in its first year is still new and easily torn, and the materials toughen as the years do.
Whether or not you find that meaningful, it is a useful constraint. A theme narrows the field, which is exactly what you want when the alternative is "anything".
Paper gift ideas
| Idea | Why it works | From |
|---|---|---|
| A photo print of the wedding | The obvious one, and still the most given | £9.99 |
| A collage of the first year | Covers the honeymoon, the move, the dog — not just the day | £9.99 |
| A hand-drawn portrait of the two of you | Reads as artwork rather than as a photograph | £17.95 |
| A print of the venue or the place you met | Good when you have no photo you both like | £17.95 |
| Your vows or first dance lyrics, set as a print | Paper in the most literal sense | £17.95 |
| A letter | Free, and frequently the one they keep | — |
| Tickets to something | Paper by a generous reading, and nobody objects | — |
The modern list says clocks
There is a parallel "modern" list, largely a twentieth-century invention, which gives clocks for the first year. Most people ignore it. If you want to use both, a printed piece with the wedding date on it satisfies paper and gestures at time, which is as neat a compromise as the two lists allow.
What to actually put on it
If you are having something printed, the details that people keep are usually the small ones rather than the obvious ones:
- The date, obviously — but the venue and the town too.
- A line from the vows or the first dance, rather than the whole thing.
- Where you met, or where you got engaged, alongside where you married.
- Nicknames rather than full names, if that is how you actually talk to each other.
Timing
Anything made to order needs lead time, and a first anniversary is a fixed date you cannot move. Our standard UK delivery is 4-6 working days on top of making the item, so order a couple of weeks out rather than a couple of days. If you want to approve the artwork before it prints, allow longer again. Current times are on our delivery page.
Common questions
What is the first wedding anniversary?
Paper, on the traditional list. Clocks, on the modern one.
Is a photo print too obvious?
It is the most common first anniversary gift and it is common for a reason. If you want it to feel less obvious, use a photo from the year rather than from the wedding day — most couples have hundreds of the wedding and almost nothing framed from the months after it.
What if we do not have a good photo together?
Plenty of couples do not. A print of a place, your names and date as artwork, or a portrait drawn from two separate photos all avoid the problem. Combining people from different pictures is a routine request.
How much should a first anniversary gift cost?
Paper is the low-cost year by design. Most people spend under £50, and the theme gives you permission to.
See personalised anniversary gifts, made to order in our Twickenham studio.