{new traditions}

For the most part Chris and I tend not to give each other extravagant gifts for holidays or milestones. Rather than buy each other something, we have usually taken a trip or purchased something together that would benefit the both of us such as an item for our home.  We never had an official date for the beginning of our relationship so our one year wedding anniversary was the first opportunity we have had to celebrate this kind of milestone. 

We decided that our first wedding anniversary would be a great chance to start a new tradition that we could honor every year on our wedding date.  We agreed that rather than getting gifts*, we would purchase a small print or piece of framed art each year in hopes of creating a memorable gallery wall years later.  We also decided to write notes to each other and attach them to the back of the frame to be read on our anniversary five years later- meaning we won't read year one's note until the fifth year anniversary and year two's note until the sixth year, etc.  

Originally we decided on this beautiful photo of a Palm Springs sunset available on art.com, but when I went to purchase it two weeks ago it had mysteriously disappeared from the site!  In a scramble to find something we loved just as much to replace it and ultimately coming up empty handed, we chose instead to select a photo from our wedding and have it enlarged to 12' by 16".   Our photographers captured this beautiful image of a pair of lawn chairs that were nestled near the dinner tables at our reception at The Cree Estate and something about this image just felt romantic and private (plus the light in the photo is gorgeous)!

*chris broke this agreement by surprising me with a trip to The Parker for 4 days!