Every anniversary has a material. Yours has a galaxy.

Lists differ a little from book to book; this is the one most British guides agree on.

Honestly: our piece is paper, a fine art print, so it is a true first anniversary present. The gold details make it a natural fit for a golden fiftieth. For the other years it is not the material on the list; it is the day the list is counting from.

You give us the wedding date, the time of the ceremony or the first dance, and the place. We find the catalogued galaxy nearest the point that was directly overhead, and frame its telescope photograph with your names, your date or a line from the vows.

• First anniversary: paper
• Tenth anniversary: tin
• Fortieth anniversary: ruby
• Fiftieth anniversary: gold

Plenty of couples remember the date and forget the material until the week before. The list is a custom, not a rule: no one checks whether a fourth anniversary present was really linen. What a partner notices is whether the present says you remembered how it began.

That is why one piece can do for any year. It is printed on paper, so it works for the first; the gold lettering suits the fiftieth; and the wedding day itself is the subject every time. Some couples start one at their first anniversary and add another at the tenth, for the night they met.