Diamond wedding anniversary: 60 years and the names of all anniversaries

Only a few couples experience sixty years of marriage. The name of this anniversary is chosen accordingly: it belongs to the material that is considered imperishable.

The diamond wedding anniversary is the sixtieth wedding anniversary. In Germany and Austria it counts among the great marriage jubilees, together with the silver wedding after 25 and the golden wedding after 50 years.

The names of the wedding anniversaries follow a quiet logic. At the beginning stand paper, cotton and wood, materials that can be shaped and damaged. Over the years they become nobler and more durable: silver, pearls, ruby, gold. After sixty years it is the turn of the material considered almost indestructible.

The diamond is the hardest natural material. On the Mohs scale it reaches the maximum value of 10. Its name goes back to the Greek adámas, the unconquerable. Both make it the image for a bond that has carried through decades.

Then there is the light. A diamond refracts and gathers it like hardly any other stone. Its effect comes from clarity and cut, and exactly that suits a long marriage: it works through what it is.

Diamonds in Glass has given its glass line the same name: Adamas. For a house that permanently encloses real diamonds in glass, the unconquerable is the starting point.

The names of the wedding anniversaries are custom, not an official list. Individual years vary depending on region and source. The overview gives the most common names in the German-speaking countries, with variants in brackets.

After sixty years a couple owns almost everything one can own. A gift for this jubilee therefore does not have to add anything. It has to mean something: a sign for the shared time that can be looked at, worn and passed on.

• It takes the jubilee at its word: a real diamond, not a symbol for one.
• It stays as it is. Material and craftsmanship survive further decades.
• It can be passed on, to children or grandchildren, as a memory of this marriage.
• It fits into everyday life: a pendant or earrings are worn, an object for the display cabinet is mostly only looked at.

A diamond in glass takes the image of the diamond wedding anniversary literally. At Diamonds in Glass a real diamond is permanently enclosed in a glass sphere that is made by hand in Austria. The stone remains visible from every direction, and the curved glass acts like a lens that makes it appear larger than its carat weight would suggest.

For couples whose jubilee is celebrated by the whole family, a joint gift is a natural choice. Children and grandchildren contribute together, and the piece later becomes part of the family history itself.

Sixty years call for a sentence that does not exaggerate. Three wordings you can write on a card:

• Sixty years, and your light is brighter than on the first day.
• What lasts this long deserves a name that stays: diamond.
• For sixty years in which you chose each other. Anew every day.

Silver wedding after 25 years

The first great celebration. Silver stands for a bond that has proven itself and gains lustre over time when it is cared for.

Ruby wedding after 40 years

The red ruby stands for love and passion. After four decades it is a sign that both have remained. What such an evening can look like is shown by the story Forty years, unchanged in our lookbook.

Golden wedding after 50 years

Gold does not tarnish and does not corrode. It is the image for permanence, and the golden wedding is for many couples the greatest celebration of their marriage. The diamond wedding anniversary goes one step further: from the permanent to the imperishable.