Guides
The
anniversary.
Hosted by the children as often as by the couple — which changes who the invitation comes from, and everything that follows.
How do you plan an anniversary party?
Decide who is hosting first — for a fortieth or later it is frequently the children, and that changes the invitation's host line and who guests reply to. Send five to six weeks ahead, three months for anything requiring travel. The distinctive opportunity is that this is the one occasion where the original wedding is a design source.
01
The timeline.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 4–6 months before | Host agreed, venue booked. For a golden or diamond, expect family to travel |
| 3 months before | Save-the-dates if guests are travelling |
| 8 weeks before | Design — ask whether the original invitation still exists |
| 5–6 weeks before | Send |
| 2 weeks before | Numbers, speeches, and the running order |
02
The pieces.
- The invitation — with the host line settled first.
- Menu and place cards — almost always a seated dinner.
- A timeline or memory piece — the years, the places, the children. This is the piece that makes people cry, and it is unique to this occasion.
- Table names — years, or places the couple have lived.
- A guest book card — messages the couple keep.
Ask whether the original invitation survives. A fiftieth-anniversary suite that quotes the 1977 invitation — its typeface, its border, its wording — is the single most affecting thing this house gets asked to make. It costs nothing to ask, and families are often astonished to be asked.
03
Common questions
Should the children be named as hosts?
Do guests bring gifts?
Is a vow renewal the same thing?
The years, made visible.
An anniversary suite can carry the original wedding's typeface and colours into a new design — the same house, decades later. That is a commission, not a template.
See anniversary design