Gifts for a first Christmas married

A wedding vows print for Hayley and Marcus, their vows in two columns, framed on a wall

The first Christmas after a wedding often comes with a second round of "what do you get a couple who have just been given everything on a list?". A print made from the day itself avoids the list. Each of the three below records one specific thing about the wedding, and you see the finished artwork before you order.

The words: a vows print

Vows are said once and then live in a notes app. The vows print sets them like a page from a book: the couple's names and the date at the head, then both voices side by side or one above the other. There is room for about three hundred words each with two voices, or around five hundred for a single speech or reading. If the words run past the sheet, the page tells you roughly how many to trim. The painted backgrounds include a snowfall, if you want it to feel like Christmas without saying so.

Where to find the words: the couple's own copies, the officiant or celebrant, or the person who did the reading.

The sky: a star map of the wedding night

The star map print is calculated for a place, a date and a local time, from a catalogue of real stars. Use the venue and the time of the ceremony or the first dance. If you do not know the time, leave it blank: the sky is drawn for ten at night and only the date is printed, so the print does not claim a time nobody knew. For a daytime ceremony the stars above the horizon at that moment are still shown, with a note that daylight would have hidden them.

If one of them follows astrology, the birth chart gift page shows how to make a pair of charts, one for each of them, that match on the wall.

The Moon: when you only know the date

The Moon print needs nothing but the date, and the phase barely changes over an evening, so an approximate time is fine. You can show just the Moon, or add its phase, how much of it was lit, and the seas and craters named across it.

The place

For the venue itself, the map print marks the exact spot on a real street map; our where-we-met map guide shows how it works for a wedding venue too.

Practical points

  • Names print exactly as you type them, so Mr & Mrs, Mr & Mr, Mrs & Mrs, or first names only all work.
  • Two or three prints from the same day can hang as a set; the vows, star map and Moon prints are made in the same range, so you can match the lettering and paper.
  • If a speech or a voicemail from the day means more than the vows, the voice message gift page shows how a recording becomes a print.
  • Everything is printed to order in the UK. Check the delivery estimate on each product page before you count on it arriving for Christmas.

See all anniversary and couples prints.