Anniversary Capsule

If you’re looking for a timeless and creative idea to celebrate future anniversaries with your fiancé, consider an anniversary time capsule. The time capsule contains items that you collected before the wedding that capture special memories from your relationship. Later down the road, you open the capsule together on a milestone anniversary.   After opening your capsule, you’ll love reminiscing and revisiting the memories that brought you so close together.

There are so many different items you could put into your capsule. While it is nice to include the basics such as photos taken throughout your relationship or letters you wrote to each other, try digging up some items that are more sentimental as well. Maybe you had a go-to restaurant for your dates so you include a take-out menu inside your capsule. You can add magazine clippings or newspaper headlines relating to significant events and ticket stubs from movies that you saw together. Another idea is to include a playlist of your favorite songs that you listened to and a playlist of the songs for your wedding.  Years down the road it might be fun to see how much has changed, or how much has not.

You can ask family and friends to get involved as well—they might have some surprisingly important things for you to include in your capsule. Everyone remembers the big steps—the first date, the first time you told each other how you really felt, the proposal, even the wedding day. So, collect all the laughs and cries and smiles so when you open your capsule, you’ll be reminded of all the little things that brought the two of you together.

Once you start to gather all of the items of your anniversary time capsule, you have to decide on what is going to hold all of your memories. If you have heavy or large items, you might want to use a large wooden box (which you can engrave) or a decorative chest or even a plastic container.  Keep in mind that you won’t be opening it for a while, so make sure you put everything in carefully and maybe even place some of the items in Ziploc bags so they don’t ruin. Once you pack up your capsule, choose a place to store it. It’s probably not a good idea to bury it, as things can ruin if they are underground. A good place to store the capsule is an attic, basement or spare closet so that it is out of the way but still accessible if you move before you open it.

The last step before your capsule is complete is to pick a time to open it. Some couples opt to open the capsule on their first wedding anniversary while others choose to wait to their fifth anniversary.   If you’re really patient, consider waiting until your tenth or even twentieth anniversary. The longer you wait the more rewarding it will feel and the more sentimental it will be. When you finally open your capsule, look at the changes in your life from then to now. Do you have kids? Any pets? A new job? Your capsule will show you just how wonderful your life together is.