Wedding Anniversary name origins

[countrykid]

Does anyone know how the names of wedding anniversaries came into being. The 1st anniversary being cotton, the second paper leading eventually up to more significant ones such as Silver being 25th, Golden 50th and Diamond representing 60 years of marriage.

Cheers to all who answer

[Quizmonster]

These were almost entirely concocted by business people - eg American jewellery associations - in order to line their own pockets! Originally, anniversary presents in the early years of a marriage were just practical things to help the young couple build up their household goods, but someone spotted an opportunity for profit and here we are today with all these nonsensical notions.

[countrykid]

Thanks for that