50th anniversary speeches and toasts

Celebrating 50 years: a half century of love

Many would consider the 50th anniversary a miracle. The 50th wedding anniversary marks a point when a couple has spent more than half their lives together. People who have been married 50 years often say they grew up together, weathering the storms of young adulthood, children, job changes, debt and multiple addresses. It is definitely a milestone worth celebrating.

And here are some tips to help you with what to say on this special occasion.

The significance of 50 years: a few statistics

Did you know that only about one in 20 marriages make it for 50 years?

The Census Bureau reports that in 2012, only 6 percent of married couples had remained hitched for 50 years or more. Furthermore, a UK study found that couples married 50 years were 200 times more likely to reach the age of 100 than to get divorced.

The Golden Anniversary is a major deal. Being married 50 years is a landmark newlyweds dream about. Those married 20 years wonder about. Those married 30 years puzzle over, and those married 40 years pray for a miracle!

So if you are attending a 50th anniversary celebration, here are some ideas of ways to honor the occasion.

Toasts and messages for the 50th anniversary couple

Limericks or poems you can use as a toast or in a card.

Reaching 50 years of wedded bliss
Is quite a feat in times like this.
A lifetime together
Despite problems to weather
Has strengthened your bond that began with a kiss.

To (Husband's name) and (Wife's name) . . . you should take a bow
For reaching this milestone, staying true to your vows.
Through kids, jobs and carpools
You’ve followed those life rules
That kept your love going for 50 years now.
. . . . Congratulations!

Staying 50 years together as one
Is a feat that is not often done.
You've built a good life
As husband and wife
And beat all the odds while having some fun.
. . . . Congratulations!

Short toasts and sayings for the anniversary couple

A marriage like yours stands the test of time.
At the 50-year mark, you've aged like fine wine.
. . . . Congratulations!

50 years of laughs and fun
And may the best be yet to come.
. . . . Congratulations!

To our friends (or use names) who married 50 years ago
May your love and devotion continue to grow.
How have you done it? We want to know.

(These lines would be particularly appropriate if you are introducing the couple so they might make a few comments.)

Personal messages between spouses

Five decades together! Yet each day I still send
All my love to you, my soulmate and friend.
Now we're starting on our second 50 years!

Five decades together . . .
And along the whole way
I've been blessed by your love
From that very first day.

How quickly time passes!
Days turn into months . . . Months into years.
Now 50 years have passed since our wedding in XXXX
And I've been blessed beyond measure for every single day.

50 years we've been married.
Seems like a lifetime . . .It's certainly been an adventure.
Three (?) children, 7 addresses, 8 different dogs (pets) . . .
Great and not-so-great jobs.
A lot of laughs . . . a few tears.
And I wouldn't trade a minute of these 50 years.
It's been a wonderful life because of you.

50th anniversary speeches and toasts -- stories and quotes

If you are speaking at a 50th wedding anniversary party and are not sure what to say, try starting off your remarks (hopefully brief) with a clever quote about marriage. The selections below range from funny to endearing. Open your talk with a quote and then apply it to the couple. Also, short quotes repeated later in your speech are a great way to tie your talk together around a theme.

The quotes below include many whose source is unknown. The author is listed where available.

Love yourself first

The late Senator Ernest Hollings was asked about his long, successful marriage with his wife Peatsy. Always one to show his dry a sense of humor, the senator replied, "We're both in love with the same person."

In every good marriage, it pays sometimes to be a little deaf.
-- Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Love is sharing your popcorn.
-- Charles Schultz

Marrying a man is like buying something you've been admiring for a long time. You may love it when you get it home but it doesn't always go with everything else. So, you make a adjustments till everything is just right.
-- Unknown

50 years ago he stole her heart and so she planned her revenge. She took his last name.
-- Unknown

It's not love that makes a relationship complicated; it's the people in it who do.
-- Unknown

Love is like a headache or a backache. It doesn't show up on an MRI or X-ray but you just know it's there.
-- George Burns

A good marriage is like a casserole. Only those responsible for it really know what goes in it.
-- Unknown

A successful marriage is an edifice that must be rebuilt every day.
-- Andre Maurois.

Love is a two-way street constantly under construction.
-- Carroll Bryant.

Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.
-- Joan Crawford

Husband and wife come to look alike at last.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Married couples who love each other tell each other a thousand things without talking
-- Chinese proverb

Real love amounts to withholding the truth even when you're offered the perfect opportunity to hurt someone's feelings.
-- David Sedaris

Marriage is not just spiritual communion and passionate embraces. Marriage is also three meals a day and remembering to carry out the trash.
-- Joyce Brothers

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
-- Carl Gustav Jung

When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can love them for who they are.
-- Donald Miller

True love is the only heart disease that is best left to "run on" -- the only affliction of the heart for which there is no help and none desired.
-- Mark Twain

Marriage is like vitamins: we supplement each other's minimum daily requirements.
-- Kathy Mohnke

Of all the home remedies, a good wife is best.
-- Kin Hubbard

The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret.
-- Henry Youngman

What we find in a soulmate is not something wild to tame but something wild to run with.
-- Robert Brault

Love doesn't mean anything if you're not willing to make a commitment,; Then you have to think not only about what you want but about what the person you love wants. Not just now, but in the future.
-- Nicholas Sparks

You don't marry someone you can live with.
You marry the person you cannot live without.
-- Unknown

To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.
-- Mark Twain

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterwards.
-- Ben Franklin

Sometimes, perhaps, we are allowed to get lost so that we may find the right person to ask directions of.
-- Robert Brault

If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart. I'll be there forever.
-- Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne)

Heart with inscription 50 years of life and love

A 50th Anniversary is indeed a reason to celebrate. Original image by Melinda Eszlinger from Pixabay.

Celebrating 50 years: the bottom line

When a couple is celebrating 50 years of marriage, the company of family and friends is the most cherished gift you can give them. Enjoy the moment. It's a once-in-a-lifetime event!