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Celebrating your Golden Wedding Anniversary in 2013

MAR 06 2013
Celebrating your Golden Wedding Anniversary in 2013

When the golden boys and girlsof 2013 were contemplating their weddings in 1963, Britain was a very different place, but there was a great deal happening. Britain suffered the worst winter since 1947 with snow which started to fall on Boxing Day 1962 and lay on the ground until April in some areas. Huge cuts on the railways were ordered by Dr Beeching, and as if by way of protest The Great Train Robbery then took place in August! In June the Profumo affair broke with the resignation of the then Minister for War, and Kim Philby defected to the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war. Further afield, John F. Kennedy was assassinated and French President Charles de Gaulle vetoed Britain’s application to join the EEC.

In the world of music The Beatles reached number one in the U.K. charts for the first time with 'From Me to You' and they released their first album 'Please, Please Me' later in the year. It followed on from their single success by reaching the top of the album charts in May. Later in the year 'She Loves You' was released and topped the charts immediately. Although the Beatles were an overnight phenomenon, the world of music was rich with talent at this time. Cliff Richard starred and sang in 'Summer Holiday' during the summer of 1963 and Gerry and the Pacemakers had hits with 'You’ll Never Walk Alone', 'I Like It', and 'How Do You Do It'.

Favourite Films of 1963 included 'Summer Holiday', 'From Russia With Love', 'It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' and Alfred Hitchcock’s 'The Birds'.

In the world of fashion, there was a return to more natural, soft flowing looks and a move away from the tighter waistlines that had been in favour. Harsh lips and eyes were replaced with an altogether softer, smoother line. The dress of the year, as chosen by the Fashion Writers Association, was a Mary Quant creation in grey wool, just below knee length, and worn with a cream chiffon blouse.

The average cost of a house in 1963 was just £3,160 and a new Ford Cortina would set you back £675.

Celebrating your Golden Wedding Anniversary Today

There are a variety of very successful ways of celebrating such a special occasions and the choices include

a)      a formal dinner, which can be a lot of fun, and a great opportunity to for everyone to dress up in their finery. It is bound to be an evening that everyone will remember!

b)      a grand party where everyone including friends, relations, neighbours and hangers on are all invited and have a wonderful time

c)      a quiet intimate gathering of selected friends and family, which might suit the more retiring or those who are not as well as they used to be

d)     a lunch, which is not dissimilar to the evening meal, but lunchtime can be easier to arrange and suit those who have to travel some distance.

e)      an afternoon tea, which has come back into fashion in a big way in many establishments, and can be great fun to organise, or indeed, to create for yourself

There are a myriad of decorations that you can choose for your venue and your tables. As gold is the only colour theme you can seriously consider, you may feel you might be limited in your choices. Don’t worry, gold features in all manner of decorations, and there are so many that are directed particularly at 50th wedding anniversaries that you will be spoilt for choice.

Our advice would be to consider first the atmosphere that you want to create, and the venue that you plan to use for the celebrations. Then think about room decorations, table decorations and cake decorations separately. It's easier to organise things in bite sized chunks! If you can find all the decorations that you want in a similar style that is wonderful, but often very difficult to achieve. However, maintaining the same colour theme throughout is far more important, and even if the style varies, the effect you will achieve will be stunning.

There are other thinks to think about as well, such as invitations, transport, and of course, the menu. 

Perhaps the key to a truly great event is to ensure that there is an element of something personal in what you provide.  This can be achieved very simply by ensuring that you include personalised items. You should also try to find a way to capture special moments, and the thoughts and feelings of the people who have come together to celebrate this special occasion. With a little thought and preparation these warm and loving emotions from friends and family can be collected together in a single book or album on or before the celebration itself. This can become the most treasured of gifts.

It’s quite usual on occasions such as these for someone to say a few words about the couple celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary. With fifty years of experiences and anecdotes to draw upon it should be relatively easy to have the assembled crowd laughing and crying in equal measure. It is also very important that the couple themselves get the chance to speak if they want to. Don’t leave this to chance – if you are going to call one or both of them to speak make sure that they are happy to do so, and are well prepared.

Posted by: So Raise Your Glasses