Coming up with the perfect anniversary wishes for a friend on an important wedding anniversary can be really difficult. The basic sentiments are simple. Of course you want them to enjoy long life, renewed love, and domestic bliss. Finding a way to express your anniversary wish without sounding cliché, however, can be pretty hard.

What I didn’t realize, however, was how much harder wedding anniversary wishes are when it’s your own anniversary. For friends, I can usually find an anniversary card that adequately expresses my emotions. With my husband, however, there simply seems to be too much to say. We have spent so many years together and have been through so many good and bad things that I couldn’t find the words to say how much I loved him.

Fortunately, I started thinking about my anniversary wishes quite a bit before our actual anniversary party. There was a lot of time, and in that time I was able to formulate my thoughts. Soon, I really knew exactly what I wanted to say to her. After that, it was only a matter of planning out the anniversary card.

That proved pretty difficult. I wanted to make a handmade anniversary gift card, but I didn’t have very good skills with crafts. If I had wanted to send my anniversary wishes by computer, it wouldn’t have been very hard. I’m pretty good with text layout stuff, but when it gets to hands-on activities I’m much less skilled.

Fortunately, I have very nice handwriting. After practicing for a few weeks, I was able to ornament my scripts in a consistent and beautiful way. I figured that, even though I’m not very good at drawing and I wasn’t sure which photos to use in the anniversary card, I can at least express my anniversary wishes with beautiful writing. I decided to get him a picture frame as part of his anniversary present and let him put his favorite anniversary photo on it. It saved me the difficulty of having to pick one out by myself.

The card turned out alright. I think what he liked most was to see how much effort I put into expressing my anniversary wishes. My husbands is a sucker for positive attention. He loves it when I tell him how much he means to me. I’m glad that I put in the effort that I did. It was definitely nice to make her so happy.

White House hopeful Barack Obama brought his motorcade to a halt Friday to dash out and buy a dozen white roses on his 16th wedding anniversary prior to a “romantic dinner” with wife Michelle.

Following a campaign rally here, the lengthy convoy of police outriders, Secret Service cars, staff vans and press buses ground to a stop behind Obama’s black-tinted SUV outside “Penny’s Flowers.”

The Democrat spent 20 minutes inside, chatting with shop employees, picking out the roses and making a short declaration to accompanying reporters welcoming the adoption in Congress of a financial rescue package.

“These are beautiful, I like the arrangement and everything, it looks nice,” he told employee Mary Darcy after she handed him the roses arranged with baby’s breath and wrapped in cellophane.

The 47-year-old presidential candidate planned to present the flowers to his wife ahead of their anniversary meal in Chicago Friday evening.

Outside the florists, Obama delighted onlookers waiting behind yellow police tape by stopping to shake hands before getting back in his Chevrolet Suburban.

But barely two minutes later, the motorcade had halted again with Obama unable to resist getting out to meet a crowd of young schoolchildren lined up at the roadside, screaming in delight at the candidate’s unexpected arrival.

In Michigan on Thursday, the Illinois senator told supporters that he had “a gift all picked out” for his wife of 16 years.

He said he was looking forward to a “romantic dinner” — although the attendant Secret Service agents, press pool and inevitable crowd of onlookers might spoil the intimacy.

Max Hand says that after nearly 50 years of marriage, it’s important to have a few surprises left in a relationship.

Pat Hand says she knows her husband, and she would never have guessed he could pull off a shocker like the one he threw at her Saturday.

The couple went to the Fall in Chelan car show, and she never once suspected that he had anything to do with that 1948 Plymouth coupe lined up with all the other beautiful old cars.

Sure it was the same model, and the same baby-blue color as the one they drove to Coeur d’Alene on Dec. 30, 1958, to get married. There was the same winged emblem painted on it.

Indeed, the more she inspected this car, the more it reminded her of their first car. “Oh my gosh, Max, Bonnie, you’ve got to see it. It’s just like ours! It even has the same name as the car we had when we got married!” she recalls telling her husband and sister after spotting “The Blue Goose” painted in small letters above the gas intake.

Then her son told her to check out the owner, listed on the windshield.

When she saw her own name, she figured her husband had spotted the car before she did, and quickly arranged this little joke for her.

“Then he hands me the title to the car, and it hit me. I started bawling and laughing, and everyone around me started clapping,” she said.

Max Hand, of Oroville, Okanogan County, said he couldn’t have asked for a better reaction from his wife.

“It turned out to be a perfect presentation. The weather, the whole thing couldn’t have been more perfect, it worked out so well,” he said.

It took him more than a year of planning to arrange the surprise birthday and anniversary gift for his wife.

He bought the car last year in April and had it shipped to Idaho, where their daughter picked it up for them and stored it in her garage for a time. “We were sneaky. My whole family was involved in this — all the kids, her brother-in-law and sister,” he said.

But Hand couldn’t keep it in his daughter’s garage for long.

He owns Max’s Service Center in Oroville, and he wanted it in his own shop so he could work on the car after work or when he got a bit of free time. That meant people who came by for work on their own cars would see it and might mention it to Pat. Instead of trying to keep it a secret from everyone, he told anyone who came into the shop that he was trying to surprise his wife. “I told them, ‘If she finds out, it’s your fault,’ ” he said.

Hand said they were getting down to the wire when he brought it to Johnny’s Body Shop in Oroville for the paint job, and they didn’t get it out until Friday morning, the day before the car show.

Their son arranged to haul it to Chelan, telling his mother he was going to Wenatchee to look at a car.

Hand said he could have waited until their anniversary in December, but with a car show in Chelan the day before her birthday, he decided this would be a better way to surprise her.

Both went to high school in Manson, Chelan County, so Chelan is almost like home.

Pat is impressed that he kept the secret from her for so long. “He’s a talker. It must have been hard for him,” she said. And the gift? “It’s just awesome. He’s a sweetheart.”

A Mount Pleasant are renewing their wedding vows on Isle of Palms after a decade of marriage.

Oluyomi Asabi Apampa was born in Charleston, South Carolina in the early 70s. Olatunbosun Omotunwashe Abolarinwa was born around the same time in Lagos, Nigeria.

“Meeting and being married to Oluyomi Asabi is the greatest thing that could happen to any man. Out of the billions of men out there on this planet earth, I happened to be the favoured one who deserved a great gift,” Ola said.

Not to be outdone his wife returned the compliment:

“Being married to Olatunbosun is more than having a husband, but rather a friend for life. He is like an angel sent to me from God. His sense of humour always puts a smile on my face whenever I am around him. Olatunbosun is very supportive, encouraging and a loving husband any woman will want to have.”

The Cinematography in this wedding video is absolutely amazing. A bride would be so lucky to have her wedding documented so well.

Wedding speeches and toasts can be difficult, but anniversary toasts are even harder. After all, at a wedding you can always capitalize on the excitement of the moment to inspire you. All you really have to do is congratulate the bride and groom and say something clever or cute. You can be sure that people will applaud. On an important anniversary year – such as the 10th, 20th, or 50th anniversary, You need to come up with something better. You really have to capture the spirit of the event.

When one of my friends was having his 20th anniversary party, I was definitely in a state of panic. Although I had already found good anniversary presents, I had no idea what I would say. He was one of my best friends, and had been for several years, so I knew that I had to make the perfect anniversary toast. Nonetheless, as the deadline approached I was getting nothing. All of the anniversary speeches that I tried to write seemed clichéd somehow. I really did care for both of them a great deal, and wanted to show that with my words, but I am a lousy public speaker.

In desperation, I search the web for anniversary toasts. There were quite a few and they got me started, but I couldn’t put on those personal touches that completed them. Then suddenly, I hit on a solution. I used one of those anniversary toasts as a template and pretended that I was writing a speech for someone else to give. The difference might sound trivial to you, but for me it made all the difference. Suddenly, I wasn’t stuck on the anniversary toast anymore. I knew exactly what to write. I even had an entertaining anecdote to throw in, loosening up the crowd with laughter before I delivered my heartfelt congratulations. All in all, it seemed to be a masterpiece.

There was something about being prepared that made it easier to give the speech. I thought that, even after preparing anniversary toasts, it would be hard to speak in front of all those people. A nice dinner and a few glasses of wine, however, make it much easier. Everyone was in a very warm, generous mood. Somehow, because it was friends and family, I felt free to speak my mind and open myself up. The anniversary speech went off without a hitch. Everyone there seemed to love it.

Want to find some great anniversary celebration ideas to be sure it is a day to remember. We often think of the beginning of things as some of the best times in most relationships, so it makes sense that these dates are times to reflect, remember, and to remind the one you love that you still love them as much as the day you said ‘I do’ or made any other type of commitment to each other.

Your anniversary celebration ideas can be as original as you are, and that is what will make yours all the more special. You can do many traditional ideas for celebrating anniversaries, but they won’t mean as much if they don’t have some special connection to the past of you and your loved one. Think of things that you love to do together, or even things you did when you first met. Was your first date on the golf course or did you meet through a bowling league? Those things can give you great ideas for celebrating your love and commitment.

Most assume that the big anniversary celebration ideas have to be just as big as the number. While there is no harm in taking a trip together for your anniversary when your marriage hits fifteen years, there is no rule saying that this is what you have to do. You may not have the time or the money, or you may just not be in the mood to travel. Cooking a special meal together and spending an evening alone without the kids can be just as nice. Don’t go by the number, but where you and your spouse are in your lives when you come up with your own anniversary celebration ideas.

Some couples are not that romantic with each other, but that doesn’t mean their relationship is not strong and solid. Some of these couples will decide that the anniversary celebration ideas that work best for them is to have dinner out, and then perhaps just invest in something that means a lot to them. That might mean an improvement to the house, a lease on a new car, or anything that they think is practical. Just remember to say I love you, and remember why you were together in the first place, and just about any ideas you have for celebrating your anniversary should be just fine.

Vow Renewals have become especially popular for major anniversaries. Consider having a vow renewal every year. Now, I’m not recommending you go out and drop thousands of dollars on a new wedding dress every year. But consider taking your husband to a nice park or beach and reciting your vows. It is a sweet way to remind each other of the commitment you both have made. It also is a great way to kick off an anniversary date night.

Mr. and Mrs. L.V. Rudder of Calhoun Falls celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on September 24, 2008. The couple were married on September 24, 1938 in Abbeville, SC. Frances is the former Frances Cobb. She is the daughter of the late John and Annie Sanders Cobb of Calhoun Falls. L.V. is the son of the late Luther and Lexie Thompson Rudder of Calhoun Falls. They have seven children, L.V. Rudder, Jr. and wife Elaine and Margaret “Peachie” Johnson and husband Vernon, all of Calhoun Falls, Steve Rudder and wife Marilyn of Abbeville, Shirley Smith and husband JR of Oglethorpe County, GA, Lexie Blackmon and husband, the late Howard Blackmon of Elberton, GA, Mary Staples and husband, the late Gene Staples of Greenwood, and the late Alice Boggs and her husband Wendel of Calhoun Falls. They have 18 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren. Mr. and Mrs. Rudder are both retired from Burlington Mills and are members of Northside Baptist Church in Calhoun Falls. The attribute their long lasting marriage to trusting in God. To be a South Carolina Wedding of the Day email your photo and information to info@weddings.sc

Mr. and Mrs. H.G. McMullan celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on September 14, 2008 with a reception at the Union Baptist Church hosted by their children. They were married on September 10, 1948 at the Iva First Baptist Church parsonage. Milton and Florine Ozmint and the Reverend and Mrs. D.B. Webber attended their wedding. Mrs. McMullan is the former Mildred McGee. She is the daughter of the late E. Wilton and Mary Lou McGee. Mr. McMullan is the son of Clifton E. and Clara Sue McMullan. The couple’s children are Rosalin McMullan of Iva, Larry and Rita McMullan of Iva, Johnny and Phyllis Smith of Anderson and Mike and Marlene Harris of Anderson. They also have three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Mr. McMullan is retired from Duke Power Company and Mrs. McMullan is retired from Anderson County School District 3. The couple attribute their long lasting marriage to faith in God and faith in each other. To be a South Carolina Wedding of the Day email your photo and information to info@weddings.sc