Nautical Locket by birdzNbeez on Etsy
Isn’t it pretty? That nautical locket right there is the first locket I’ve ever been given by a love (the one from my dad at age 4 1/2 doesn’t count). That that love happened to be my wife, giving it to me on the eve of our second wedding day makes it all the sweeter.
As you might remember from the spring, I gave Alex a Nautical Etsy Wedding Gift, too: a pocket-watch-style compass. With both of us wanting to give the other something for our wedding day, but not sure at which wedding to give them at, we decided I would give Alex a wedding gift at our UK wedding (her home town, all the more special) and she would give me my wedding gift in California (my home town, all the more special). So, you might imagine me having given mine six months before that I was all the more excited and curious in anticipation when October rolled around!
The one thing I did guess was that it would be anchor-themed. I am her compass and she is my anchor and with one half of that gift in place, I wondered what Alex would find for me. Apparently, she says, when you type in ‘anchor’ into Etsy–you get a lot of results! Alex said she had a lot to choose from and went back and for about how much money to spend ($22 + shipping in the end), how ‘nice’ it should be, and sifted through a lot of shabby-looking anchors. What she chose is a beautiful locket that is not a precious metal, but one that I can wear every day if I wanted and bang around as it happens without worrying about damaging or if losing it would cost us a fortune. The pricelessness comes from when it was given and by whom. I love how practical and thoughtful she is!
Still needs a picture… birdzNbeez on Etsy
Alex didn’t just have the locket up her sleeve though. She had found something else:
Anchor against the Sky by bettysnaps on Etsy
I really love original art work. My rooms before Alex and our apartment now are covered in pieces we’ve picked up throughout our lives and travels, from artist friends who were going to discard that sketch or that print to student work from UCSC to paintings of Alex’s hometown. I love knowing that whatever image it is was considered and labored over and loved, before it came to our house. I think Alex was quite pleased with herself when she found this anchor print and just can’t get over how incredible it is! It’s just, like, really frickin’ cool.
There is also something fitting about her giving me something for our home. Now that I’ve been married & married again to this amazing woman, I’m kinda ready to make our home more ours. Any gendered or wifely-duty jokes aside, I do believe regardless of gender that there is something about making a home together that becomes greater when you’ve stood up in front of those you love and made that commitment to each other.
In that way, Alex’s double gift was even more perfect: we each have something to remind us of the other when we’re apart, and a touchstone to what we’ve created together in our home.
But before we get to sappy here with the gifts, I can also report that Alex gave me these gifts in the hotel room on the night before our wedding. Not the most romantic of places, but practical–and private–nonetheless!
The locket is so beautiful! Love the print. Awesome you got to have that private moment to exchange something that you’ll get to have as a memory of that day forever. The gifts we exchanged in private the morning of our wedding was one of my favourite things – and not because we got gifts, but because we now have tokens of a very special moment before such a big event in our lives together.
ps: Love the nautical theme, you’re my anchor/you’re my compass thing. Ya’ll are just too cute!
Love love love this nautical charm. So romantic.