Wedding anniversaries can play a positive role in reviving the love that brought two people together in matrimony.
When couples celebrate their anniversary, they strengthen their relationship, which can help rekindle their love for one another. Al-Riyadh daily spoke to several Saudi couples and experts on the best way to celebrate the occasion and what expectations couples should have.
Experts say it is important that both spouses keep such occasions as simple as possible; they do not have to buy each other expensive gifts because the ultimate goal of celebrating such an occasion is to allow both spouses to have time together and bring back good memories.
Ahmad Al-Khudair, 23, said he and his wife celebrated their wedding anniversary the first few years of their marriage but stopped afterward. “We don't have time like we used to have. Today, we have children and my wife is busy taking care of them all the time while I travel a lot,” Al-Khudair said while adding that another reason they stopped celebrating their anniversary was that their families were against it as they believed it went against social norms.
Although he believes that celebrating wedding anniversaries is important because it revives the feelings and memories of the first time a couple met, Al-Khudair said work obligations prevent him from celebrating the occasion.
“I hope one day I will be able to revive this occasion with my wife and allow our children to participate in it and learn,” he added.
Athari Al-Hussaini, 26, said she only celebrated her wedding anniversary with her husband the first two years of their marriage. On the third year, she was pregnant with her second child and celebrating their anniversary was not on top of her priority list.
“I completely agree that the anniversary can have a magical effect on the marital relationship. But it's something new to me; no one from my family did it before,” Al-Hussaini said.
“Today's generation considers it a must; my cousin who got married three years ago never fails to have a big wedding anniversary every year. She and her husband usually travel abroad or go to a fancy hotel to celebrate their anniversary,” she added.
Ali Al-Ruwaili, 19, said he used to enjoy celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife but lost interest due to his wife's demands for expensive gifts.
“On our first anniversary, I gave my wife some perfume and a card that said ‘you are the perfume of my life' but to my surprise, she did not like the gift and told me she thought I would get her something more expensive, meaning gold. After this experience, we have not celebrated an anniversary,” he said.
Sociologist Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Dakheel said he does not believe in celebrating wedding anniversaries because they are not part of Saudi traditions nor is there anything in the Shariah that calls for holding such celebrations.
“Our religion encourages us to build our marital relationships on love and harmony. We have the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and we should learn from this example how he treated his wives. We don't need to set aside a day to remind ourselves of our duties toward our wives,” he said.
“Any marriage can go stale, this is a normal thing. That is why it is important to rejuvenate one's love in other ways; for example, by holding small parties and exchanging gifts and allowing others to participate. It does not have to be restricted to husband and wife only; children and other family members can take part too,” he added Sheikh Muhammad Al-Jirani, a former judge, said the main cause of divorce in the Kingdom is an absence of love and passion. The latest divorce figures put the number of divorce cases in the country at 29,150 or one divorce for every five marriages.
“Some husbands don't care about strengthening their relationships with their wives. I remember a case where a woman filed for divorce because her husband loved and took care of birds more than her. Husbands shouldn't take their wives' feelings lightly and should be more passionate and loving with them because that will lead to marital harmony,” he said.
