Silver Wedding Anniversary

Mr and Mrs - still smiling after 25 years

Staying married to someone for 25 years is a cause for celebration. On 5 September 1987 Joe and I got married at All Saints Church in Peterborough and it was one of the best days of my life (the birth of my children being the others).

Staying happily married to someone for 25 years is even more cause for celebration. It doesn't mean you haven't had your ups and downs. Those are natural. But it does mean you've come a long way as a couple. And that's definitely not a given.

What is a given is that when you wake up and realise you've been married for 25 years, you wonder where the years went and how you got to this place that 25 years ago had seemed so far away. 

And yet, here it is, your silver wedding anniversary. 

So Joe and I decided that we had to do something really special to mark the occasion - and that meant going back to our wedding hotel, the Haycock Hotel in the gloriously named Wansford-in-England. We had our reception there in the marquee which, sadly, no longer exists and everything about the day was perfect.

The Haycock Hotel

We booked the same room we had on our wedding night. It boasts a magnificent four-poster bed and Queen Victoria once stayed there. Of course, it had been redecorated since 1987, but the room was essentially the same and walking into it brought loads of memories flooding back.

The beautiful four poster bed

Me on the four poster bed 

We were lucky with the weather. It was hot and sunny, just like it had been on our wedding day. Except that it had rained in the morning and I'd cried. The sun came out just in time for us to go to the church. It stayed out all day and into the evening. 

We booked dinner at the hotel and had a bottle of celebratory champagne before going down to the restaurant. The hotel gave us an ice bucket to put it in. It tasted heavenly and put us in a good mood. 

Champagne on ice

We dressed for dinner - and that was part of the fun. I wore a gold beaded dress with gold accessories and Joe looked very smart in a black linen jacket which he wore with a vintage tie.

Me and Joe dressed for dinner

We had the perfect table, set in the corner of the restaurant overlooking the garden. Our waiter, who came from Bulgaria, was very attentive and looked after us all evening. He gave us a complimentary bottle of wine which was an added bonus. 

The food was delicious and the atmosphere of the restaurant was cosy and romantic. There was a another couple there celebrating their first anniversary. We congratulated each other. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful day and I felt very lucky to have such a wonderful marriage.  

Joe and I in the hotel restaurant

So Happy Silver Wedding Anniversary Joe - and thanks for a fabulous 25 years.